As we seem to wallow in an uncivil war of polarizing words in our nation’s public conversations, I thought I would hark back to the Civil War and the welcomed intervention of Christmas.
I turned to today’s electronic encyclopedia (a word familiar to the 60-plus crowd) for some information. With no prompting, I discovered that the Christmas spirit was alive and well at a terribly divisive time in our country’s young history.
Pay heed, readers. You too might be curious, as I was.
According to Civil War Studies.org, as published in the Smithsonian Associates Civil War E-Mail Newsletter, we owe many of our current traditions to the Civil War.
“Without a doubt, it was the loneliness and insecurities of war that prompted citizens and soldiers alike to re-create the solace and comfort of the homes they left behind. They did this by re-establishing familiar European traditions, thus creating the illusion of love and peace at a time when very little of that existed in their daily lives,” as related in Civil War Studies.org.
I learned that the Puritans, in their inimitably strict and somber way, eschewed the eating, drinking and dancing associated with the celebration of Christmas in Europe. Our self-righteous ancestors approached Christmas in a decidedly different way, using the holiday to think about sin and religious devotion. No jolly old Santa Claus for these fun-less folks.
Christmas celebrations returned in the early 1800s. In 1830, Louisiana became the first state to make Christmas a holiday. Soon other states fell in line. Families began sending Christmas cards, singing carols, preparing special holiday meals and attending winter dances. Children received gifts like hand-carved toys, fruit and cakes. Fortunately, Christmas sales and bustling shopping malls were far into the future.
In 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant declared Christmas an official holiday.
Now back to Civil War, and some heartfelt tales told by Kevin Rawlings, a researcher and professional Santa Claus. He told the following stories:
Most southern children enjoyed few advantages during the Civil War. Some were told that Santa was a Northerner; therefore, Confederate sentries presumably blocked Santa’s way. The same wasn’t true in the North, where children received gifts and treats because the economy was better and improved considerably as the war continued.
In 1861, soldiers were still reasonably well fed and equipped. They gleefully awaited Christmas boxes of treats from home. Officers often allowed extra rations of spirits. Men engaged in greased pig-catching contests—fortunately not a current tradition in the 21st century—footraces, jumping matches and pageants where soldiers dressed as women. Soldiers assembled small evergreen trees decorated with hardtack (biscuit/cracker and pork.
In 1862, Civil War battles became more frequent and violent. Harper’s Weekly illustrator Thomas Nast, an enthusiastic Union supporter, portrayed Santa Claus entertaining Union soldiers by showing Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America, with a cord around his neck. Nast also fixed Santa’s home and toy workshop at the North Pole, a location that escapes any political affiliation.
Officers of the 20th Tennessee treated their men to a barrel of whiskey to mark Christmas 1862, Merriment was marked by drunken fights.
A Confederate officer, Henry Kyd Douglas, wounded and captured at the Battle of Gettysburg, was languishing in Johnson’s Island Prison in Ohio as Christmas approached in 1863. When he opened a package sent by a friend of a bottle of old brandy, he beckoned several fellow soldiers to enjoy the tasty beverage. He then discovered that his Union prison keepers had opened the bottle and filled it with water. This practical joke left Douglas with the fervent hope that the culprit would be shot before the war ended.
The final wartime Christmas in 1864 coincided with the imminent defeat of the Confederacy. President Abraham Lincoln received an unusual gift from General William Tecumseh Sherman via telegram—the city of Savannah, GA after capture by the Union forces. Sherman was not all about braggadocio. His soldiers dressed up their horses like reindeer by attaching branches to the heads of the mule teams and delivered food and supplies to hungry Georgia families.
I started off talking about the uncivil war of words that characterize our public discourse. these days. Our cherished freedom of speech enables discordant and dysfunctional exchange of views. As it should be. I only wish that we could minimize the divisiveness created by unyielding points of view and personal attacks. I suspect I am courting naiveté.
I hope the holiday season brings abundant happiness and good health.
And thank God that Santa Claus transcends any regional identification. Good, compassionate deeds are universal.
Columnist Howard Freedlander retired in 2011 as Deputy State Treasurer of the State of Maryland. Previously, he was the executive officer of the Maryland National Guard. He also served as community editor for Chesapeake Publishing, lastly at the Queen Anne’s Record-Observer. In retirement, Howard serves on the boards of several non-profits on the Eastern Shore, Annapolis and Philadelphia.
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