The Alice Williamson's Diary
By: Melissa 8-1
Alice was a little girl who wrote this diary. She wrote about what was going on in her hometown and what she has heard.
Feb. 19th 1864 What a negligent creature I am I should have been keeping a journal all this time to show to my rebel brothers. I have been studying all the morning and talking all the evening seeking & sighing for rebels. Our king (old Payne) has just passed. I suppose he has killed every rebel in twenty miles of Gallatin and burned every town. Poor fellow! you had better be praying old Sinner! His Lordship left Tuesday. Wednesday three wagons loaded with furniture came over. I do not pretend to say that he sent them. No! I indeed, I would not. I would not slander our king. Any old citizen can see by going to his (Paynes) palace that his furniture was not taken from Archie Miller's house & other places near by. He always goes for rebels but-invariably brings furniture. I suppose his task is to furnish the contraband camp, i.e. the camp of his angels (colored).
Alice tells us that she is for the South. And a person from the North, called Payne, just passed. She thinks he killed rebels in 20 miles of Gallatin. Then she talks about him talking furniture from peoples houses to furnish his angels.
March 3d. Snow all melted and weather fine. Gen. Payne rode out this evening to look at the stock, in his last trip he killed only one man (citizen, he always kills citizens when he cant find soldiers) swears he will kill every man in Gallatin and Hartsville if bush whacking isn't stopped shortly.
In this entry she talks about Gen. Payne leaving. She says that on Payne's last trip he killed one man. She says that he kills people when he can'tfind soldiers. He says that he will kill everyone in Gallatin and Hartsville if bush whacking isn't stopped.
March 11th Yesterday was the day of elections and as only the union men were allowed to vote nobody knows how it turned out nor do they care. Sallie Montgomery rode out this evening, the pickets would not let her pass, so she slipped them as many do. I suppose they are scared again. Perhaps that scamp John Morgan is about. I only hope he is, for we have not seen a rebel for more than a year and our day must come soon
This entry she says that the election was yesterday and that only union men were allowed to vote. She says that a girl slipped money or slipped by the pickets. A picket is a body of soldiers serving to guard an army from surprise.
April 8th The young man that was shot Friday was from Sumner but no one can find out his name. Mrs. A and W was going from Col. G. and me! I think carrying him out to the pines. They say he wore a look of calm despair. The Yankees pretended that they were tired and sat down on the side of the road but made the soldier stand in the pike: he stood with arms folded across his noble heart (for well I know he was a noble Southron and eyes bent toward the ground as a pale as death while the yankees taunted him with such remarks as 'I will have his boots;' another would name something that he would.
In this entry she says a man was shot Friday. She says he was from Sumner and nobody knows his name. And that theYankees were tired and sat down but the soldiers had to stand.
April 11th Another man was shot today at the race track: the yankee women went to see this one shot too; they say Capt. Nicklen is the one to work the prisoners and they intend to go and see them all shot.
In this entry she says that another man was shot so a Yankee women went to see it. Capt. Nicklen works with the prisioners.
April 20th Yankees moderate; cooled down a little. -- Two men from Wilson, one from Hartsville brought down 3 days ago and put in jail they have not been seen since; if they are not already shot they will be. One of them had a brother shot last week: the charge against him was that he had been a soldier.
In this entry she says that two men were brought down and were sent to jail. One of the men had a brother who was shot because he was a soldier.
April 27th Sis has just come home from Mrs. Lanes: while there she visited the grave of the stranger soldier who was shot Friday. The yankees took his coat and boots off and put him in the grave without coffin or wrappings of any kind.
In this entry she says that the man that was shot Friday was buried without a coffin or wrappings of any kind.
May 2nd A reg. of East Tenneseans have come to hold this Post. They are the meanest men I ever saw; but they have one good trait they make the negroes 'walk a chalk'
In this entry she says that East Tenneseans came and they make the African Americans "walk the chalk"
May 5th A contraband was killed today; he insulted one of Miss B's scholars & a soldier being near killed him. Go it my East Tenn
In this entry she says a contraband was killed because he insulted one of Miss B’s scholars and a soldier killed him because he insulted the scholars.
May 20th Citizens are afraid to speak to each other when they meet. The yankees have said they should not talk together since the late fight in Ten.
In this entry she talks about the citizens are scared to talk to each other because the Yankees told them not too because of a fight.
May 21st The yankees say they won a glorious victory in Ten but we know who won the victory for them being so crabbed. The citizens dare not smile for fear of being thrust into jail 'for rejoicing' as many are.
In this entry she talks about the Yankees won a victory. But nobody was smiling because they didn’t want to be put into jail for rejoicing like many were.
June 15th In all the doings of the Yanks their fiendish acts today will ballance them all. They brought a man in today and hung him up by the thumbs to make him tell where he came from: he told them but they would not believe him. He fainted three times. They took him down at three o'clock to shoot him. I have not heard whether they did so or not. They would neither give him food or water though he begged for the latter often. This was done by order of 'The Nicklen'.
She says that a man came down and he got hung by the thumbs. They wanted to know where he came from and he told them but they didn’t believe him so she thinks he was shot but she is not sure.
Sept 16 Todays paper brings sad news "Atlanta has certainly been taken: Sherman has ordered every man, woman and child from that place Payne has been ordered from Paduca because he treated the citizens so bad. Why couldn't he have been ordered from here, he did a thousnd times worse here than there I suppose there a few union men at Paduca
In this entry she says that Atlanta was taken. She said Payne was ordered from Paduca because he treated people so badly.
In 1864 people wrote a lot differently. They would spell things wrong. They also didn't complete their sentences. Alice would use just the first letter in a name. Like Paul, she would just write P said this. It was very interesting to read someone's diary.
About General Payne
General Payne was named William H. F. Payne. During the war he was a Captain in the Black Horse Cavalry and he was a major in the Virginia Cavalry. He also commanded the Shenandoeh Valley Campaingn.
The Cripple for Life or The Poor Volunteer
"The Cripple for Life", was recorded by Austin E. Fife. Fife wrote the poem in a soldier’s point of view. This poem tells what it was like for a soldier who was crippled after the war.
"Oh, now I’ve come back to you, Mother, wearied, and wasted and worn,
With my locks matted over my forehead, and all blood-stained and
torn.
No wonder you shrank when you saw me, as if I had struck you a blow,
I’m not looking like that young fellow you parted with three years
ago.
"For he was stalwart and handsome, eager and fierce for the strife,
But this one is wasted and weary, wounded, a cripple for life.
But, Mother, God knows for the Union I’d fight ill the very last breath,
But just twenty-one and a cripple, for me it had better been death.
"Now, Mother, don’t weep, it is cruel to utter one word of regret;
It was all that I had and I gave it; my right arm is left to me yet.
With that and my pension, dear Mother, ‘twill keep the grim wolf form our
door,
And if you’re contented and happy, God help me to ask for no more.
"Not for you, darling Mother, not only, but one there was when I left
Whose eyes were brighter than heaven, and lips like the ripe cherry’s cleft;
‘Twas Maggie, my darling, God bless her; I meant to have made her my
wife.
She promised, but how can I ask her to wed with a cripple for life?
"Hark, hark! who is that I hear sobbing, just now in a chamber close by?
‘Tis Maggie, my dear and my darling. Come kiss me and bid me goodbye.
But, oh, what is that you are saying? My loss only makes me more dear?
God bless you, dear Maggie, you’ve given new life to a poor volunteer."
This poem is about a man who comes back from the war. The man is the narrator. His clothes were all blood-stained and torn. He didn’t look like the same person that went to the war. The man who went to the war was handsome and ready for the fight. And he says that the fellow that came back from the war was wasted and a cripple for life. The guy thinks he should have died because he was a cripple and he was just 21 and he fought for the North. He tells his mom that he gave his all and there was no need to regret anything, because he had money to pay for food and clothing. But then he says that he doesn’t want his girlfriend to marry a cripple for life. But she tells him that his loss is dear and that gave him have new life.
Literary devices enhance poetry, because you can get a better feel of what it was like to be a person who has just come home after the Civil War.
The symbol in this poem is the grim wolf. The wolf means starvation and that he is going to keep starvation away from their house. I think this makes you feel how they talked back then. When I think of this grim wolf I think of a mean thing which this is a mean thing so that’s why they say the grim wolf. Imagery was important for this poem. For example "
locks matted over my forehead, and all blood-stained and torn." You can see that the man has matted clothes on. It lets the reader see what the soldiers looked like when they came home after the war. The rhythm and rhyme made the poem better because you can get into the poem more if it has rhyme and rhythm. The metaphor in this poem "lips like the ripe cherry cleft:" talks about the girl’s lips are bright and red and small.The mood in the poem is sad. The reason is because the guy just lost an arm and he doesn’t want to marry a girl because he doesn’t want her to be married to a cripple for life. The tone of the poem is sad and feeling sorry for you because the guy is feeling sad and sorry for himself.
Lastly, I recommend this poem to anybody. They will like the poem. It is very interesting to learn about a guy who has just come home from the war and is a cripple. You can find other poems like this one on the web. I really liked this poem.
By: Melissa Dunn 8-1
Bibliography
American Folk Poetry, By Duncan Emrich
Bibliography