Yes, the end of summer is near. A new season is around the bend. I love this time of year—harvest time. Here in Indiana, summer is struggling to hang on. After a few weeks of mild temperatures, the thermometer has shot up into the 90’s again. We’re all anxious to start the holiday weekend. With the hot weather, a trip to the beach on Lake Michigan - at the Indiana Dunes State Park - will be on the agenda.
The kids are all coming in on Saturday. There will be plenty of juicy debates while trading wood for sheep, or brick for ore, during a marathon around the game board of Settlers of Catan. We’ll BBQ on Sunday. Monday is still up for grabs.
What’s on your holiday agenda? Do you spend a quiet end of the summer? Or send it out with a bang? Do you spend it at the lake, the shore, the mountains, camping, on the back deck, or traveling to visit friends or relatives? Will you be doing some reading? Or writing? Or both?
I would love to hear your plans for the long weekend.
Between you, me and the gatepost,
Loree
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| In camp at sunset - Photo by Loree Huebner - Kentucky |
The History Corner with Eric Huebner
By September 1861, the Civil War had reached unprecedented and continental proportions. Fighting has taken place from Virginia to Missouri and New Mexico. Union forces had made halting progress along the border, but defiant Rebel armies stood ready to contest every front.
Perhaps most important to the final resolution was progress made toward implementation of an effective blockade of Southern ports. President Lincoln declared a blockade of the 3,500 mile coast on April 19, 1861. The blockade was part of the so-called Anaconda plan conceived by General Scott to squeeze the Confederacy into submission. At the beginning the navy was pitifully inadequate for the task with only 90 vessels, but the fleet was rapidly expanded.
An important engagement took place at Cape Hatteras on the Outer Banks when Forts Hatteras and Clark fell to the Union Navy 8/28/1861. The Union Navy would extend its power all the way along the coast from Virginia to Mexico with important captures at Port Royal and Ship Island connecting with antebellum forts in Virginia and Florida. Since the South had only limited industry, cutting off overseas trade would eventually cripple the Southern economy and war production.
Have a safe and happy Labor Day – Eric
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| Tenting Tonight - Photo by Loree Huebner - Kentucky |
Lyrics from the original sheet music: Written during the Civil War by Walter Kittredge
Tenting on the Old Camp Ground
We're tenting tonight on the old camp ground,
Give us a song to cheer
Our weary hearts, a song of home
And friends we love so dear.
Chorus:
Many are the hearts that are weary tonight,
Wishing for the war to cease;
Many are the hearts looking for the right
To see the dawn of peace.
Tenting tonight, tenting tonight,
Tenting on the old camp ground.
We've been tenting tonight on the old camp-ground,
Thinking of days gone by,
Of the loved ones at home that gave us the hand,
And the tear that said, "Good-bye!"
Chorus
The lone wife kneels and prays with a sigh
That God his watch will keep
O'er the dear one away and the little dears nigh,
In the trundle bed fast asleep.
Chorus
We are tenting tonight on the old camp ground.
The fires are flickering low.
Still are the sleepers that lie around,
As the sentinels come and go.
Chorus
Alas for those comrades of days gone by
Whose forms are missed tonight.
Alas for the young and true who lie
Where the battle flag braved the fight.
Chorus
No more on march or field of strife
Shall they lie so tired and worn,
No rouse again to hope and life
When the sound of drums beat at morn.
Chorus
We are tired of war on the old camp ground,
Many are dead and gone,
Of the brave and true who've left their homes,
Others been wounded long.
Chorus
We've been fighting today on the old camp ground,
Many are lying near;
Some are dead, and some are dying,
Many are in tears.
Final Chorus:
Many are the hearts that are weary tonight,
Wishing for the war to cease;
Many are the hearts looking for the right,
To see the dawn of peace.
Dying tonight, dying tonight,
Dying on the old camp ground
