Our poem-To be a slave

To be a slave

a slave’s life, a harsh life
one which you did not own
crumpled in his hands
with merciless, painful, whips

the north oppose to our suffering
yet the south protect it
as without us scum
their economies would be nought

then came Lincoln
and the war fought for our sake
with so much pain endured
for our pitiful lives

oh what a pity
to be a slave
all we can do is hope
Lincoln ends our suffering

This poem depicts the life and feeling of a slave before and during the American Civil War. It shows the yearn for a change to America through the war.

Annotation of Poem

Title:
Shiloh- The Requiem

Shiloh is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as an assembly place for the people of Israel
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the Western Theater of the American Civi War, fought on April 6 and April 7, 1862, in southwestern Tennessee.
Requiem: any musical service, hymn, or dirge for the repose of the dead.

The poem is basically trying to moan of the many deaths that happen in the battle of Shiloh through the writing of a musical song or poem. It is also trying to tell the reader that things are not what they are seemed at first sight.
Poem

Skimming lightly, wheeling still,

The swallows fly low

Over the field in clouded days,

The swallows in this poem seem to represent peace and harmony as they observed around however. At the third sentence there seems to be a hint by the poet that they were skimming over the field in “clouded” days. Clouded is often reminded as cloudy day or confused. If we look into the meaning of confused we might be able to interpret that the poet is trying to tell the reader that thing are not what they seem. That the swallows are confused whether “The forest-field of Shiloh” represented peace or did them referred to deaths.

The forest-field of Shiloh -

Over the field where April rain

Solaced the parched ones stretched in pain

Through the pause of night

That followed the Sunday fight

At the forest-field of Shiloh there is an abrupt end. It might have been the poet who wanted to show a change of the situation. Solaced means to comfort. Parched means dry. The rain would have comforted the dry bodies that were stretched all over the fields of Shiloh. Night cannot be stopped which could be possible that the even the rain had no time to moan about those who were suffering on the field of Shiloh for a Sunday fight was followed which means that before they could moan a fight began again.


Around the church of Shiloh -

The church so lone, the log-built one,

That echoed to many a parting groan

And natural prayer

Of dying foemen mingled there -

The church is often remembered as a peaceful area where prayers are made. However, yet there is an irony for the church laid so lone but how come there are groans around the church. This might have been to show the bloody situation of the battle of Shiloh through a depiction of the war; that the deaths and situation of the war were numerous to a point that the groans and moans of the men were heard around the church. A natural prayer could be interpret as there were be no need for prayer for one who is dead if they are right beside of the church. Thus, this part of the poem show the deaths and terrors of the American Civil War had filled up the peaceful church. Death has unified them rather than God. This imagery is haunting—a stark contrast to the sereneness the poem initially creates.


Foemen at morn,

but friends at eve Fame or country least their care: (What like a bullet can undeceive!)

This is a direct challenge to the people that believe that fighting war was for fame and glory of the country. However, the soldiers at war did not remember about the fame or country when in war. There was only their enemy, them and their friends. It was all about the survival in the war. The poet’s warning that glory doesn’t matter once injury occur halts

But now they lie low,

While over them the swallows skim,

And all is hushed at Shiloh.

This is an abrupt ending for suddenly, the scene at the Shiloh changed to a peaceful situation again. The queer tranquility of the fields returned. The poet’s structure and flow of the poem represent a veil over the meanings of the poem, showing that outward appearance and first impressions cannot be the only foundations for conclusion.

The Poem: Shiloh-The Requiem

Shiloh - A Requiem
(April 1862)

Skimming lightly, wheeling still,
The swallows fly low
Over the field in clouded days,
The forest-field of Shiloh -
Over the field where April rain
Solaced the parched ones stretched in pain
Through the pause of night
That followed the Sunday fight
Around the church of Shiloh -
The church so lone, the log-built one,
That echoed to many a parting groan
And natural prayer
Of dying foemen mingled there -
Foemen at morn, but friends at eve
Fame or country least their care: (What like a bullet can undeceive!)
But now they lie low,
While over them the swallows skim,
And all is hushed at Shiloh.

Herman Melville

How did the war conclude

Conclusion of the American Civil War:

The war ended with the Union Army victorious, while the Confederate States lost the war. Slavery was stopped in USA after the war, although there was still minor prescence of slavery. Slavery was prohibited ever since, but the blacks face another problem in USA-Discrimination. And, before the war ended, the president of USA, Abraham Lincoln, was assassinated, making him the 1st President of USA to meet this fate.

Slavery effectively ended in the U.S. in the spring of 1865 when the Confederate armies surrendered. All slaves in the Confederacy were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, which stipulated that slaves in Confederate-held areas were free. Slaves in the border states and Union-controlled parts of the South were freed by state action or (on December 6, 1865) by the Thirteenth Amendment. The full restoration of the Union was the work of a highly contentious postwar era known as Reconstructing. The war produced about 1,030,000 casualties (3% of the population), including about 620,000 soldier deaths—two-thirds by disease.[149] The war accounted for more casualties than all other U.S. wars combined.

The war brought many lessons to the country. But it also marked a new era for the USA for slavery no longer existed. They have ended what people of today might seem as cruelty and unjust. Lincoln’s death was definitely a terrible incident for the USA. But his spirit and determination had always been remembered by the USA citizens. Till this day, he had been ranked one of USA’s greatest president and many would never forget what he had given to America.

The gift of Freedom

What was the attitude of people towards war?

Should I support the American Civil WAR?

The general public’s attitude was divided. Many of the black Americans welcome the war as they felt that they wanted a life that belong to them and not controlled by the Whites. However, many of the richer men felt that the war was pointless. They were satisfied with the situation before the war with the blacks serving them and they felt that the war was just depleting their resources and not helping USA grow as a country. They did not see a point in fighting a war among your own people that is helping the country at all. However, some other whites also felt that the war should be fought. This fight of the war could give human rights to the blacks and advance the USA as a respectable country. For if they were able to show that their country was a fair one, they could rise to the world power. The public’s opinion was divided into many different points of view. But more felt that the war should be fought for a better world.

• What was the feeling of the general public of this time?

The General Feelings Of The Public During This Time:

Some of the citizens wanted the war to end as there were too many casualties and were afraid that the war would land USA into a bad position. However, many wanted to fight for or against slavery and did not want to pull out until a victor has been decided. Some were supportive of the war as they supported their causes while some others simply wanted the war to end and come up with a solution peacefully, without the involvement of violence.

How was the war fought?

Location

The Civil War was fought in 10,000 places, from Valverde, New Mexico, and Tullahoma, Tennessee, to St. Albans, Vermont, and Fernandina on the Florida coast. More than 3 million Americans fought in it, and over 600,000 men, 2 percent of the population, died in it.

Technology

With the invention of guns, the American Civil War was mostly fought long-ranged, with both sides using almost identical guns, based on the current technology of their time. Many types of Field guns. Field howitzers and siege and garrison guns were used. Cannons and artillery were used too, playing a great part in securing the victory for the Union, as it was used in most of the major encounters of the war. There were also many naval battles, showing that the ships of both sides were also heavily equipped for war.

When did the war begin and end officially?

War Begins!

In the winter 1860-1861

Lots of schemes for re(conciliation) were proposed but they failed. In his inaugural address as President, Lincoln appealed the South to stay in the Union. He said he would not interfere with slavery but would not allow them to break the United States by seceding. The South did not answer.


The Confederate States unhappy about the removing of slavery were the first to open fire on April 12 1861 at Fort Sumter(South Carolina). That marked the beginning of the Civil War.

War Ends

Confederate Surrenders

Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865, at the McLean House. In an untraditional gesture and as a sign of Grant's respect and anticipation of peacefully folding the Confederacy back into the Union, Lee was permitted to keep his officer's saber and his horse, Traveller.

Who were the key players involved?

John Brown

Brown moved to Kansas with his family in the mid-1850s to prevent the territory from becoming a slave state. In 1856, he and a band of vigilantes helped spark the Bleeding Kansas crisis when they slaughtered five border ruffians at the Pottawatomie Massacre. Three years later, Brown led another group of men in the Harpers Ferry Raid to incite a slave rebellion. He was captured during the raid and hanged shortly before the election of 1860. Brown's death was cheered in the South but mourned in the North.

Jefferson Davis

A former Senator from Mississippi who was selected as the first president of the Confederacy in 1861. Overworked and underappreciated by his fellow Confederates, Davis struggled throughout the Civil War to unify the Southern states under the central government they had established.

Stephen Douglas

An influential Democratic senator and presidential candidate from Illinois. Although Douglas was the most popular Democrat, Southern party members refused to nominate him for the presidency in 1860 because he had rejected the Lecompton Constitution to make Kansas a slave state. As a result, the party split: Northern Democrats nominated Douglas, while Southern Democrats nominated John C. Breckinridge. In the election of 1860, Douglas toured the country in an effort to save the Union.

Robert E. Lee

Arguably the most brilliant general in the U.S. Army in 1860, who turned down Abraham Lincoln's offer to command the Union forces in favor of commanding the Army of Northern Virginia for the Confederacy. Although Lee loved the United States, he felt he had to stand by his native state of Virginia. His defeat at the Battle of Gettysburg proved to be the turning point in the war in favor of the North. Lee made the Confederacy's unconditional surrender at Appomattox Courthouse to Ulysses S. Grant in April 1865 to end the Civil War.

Abraham Lincoln

A former lawyer from Illinois who became the sixteenth president of the United States in the election of 1860. Because Lincoln was a Republican and was associated with the abolitionist cause, his election prompted South Carolina to secede from the Union. Lincoln, who believed that the states had never truly left the Union legally, fought the war until the South surrendered unconditionally. During the war, in 1863, Lincoln issued the largely symbolic Emancipation Proclamation to free all slaves in the South. Just at the war's end, in April 1865, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in Washington, D.C.

Who Started the war?

4th of March 1861

Lincoln took the oath and became President. Less than a month passed before the creation of a Confederacy from the part of the South.

February 1861,

The Confederate States of America, composed of Southern states was created. Jefferson Davis, a Mississippi cotton planter as their leader. There was still a strong opposition (especially from businessmen) to preserve the Union.

In the winter 1860-1861

Lots of schemes for re(conciliation) were proposed but they failed. In his inaugural address a s President, Lincoln appealed the South to stay in the Union. He said he would not interfere with slavery but would not allow them to break the United States by seceding. The South did not answer.

The Confederate States unhappy about the removing of slavery were the first to open fire on April 12 1861 at Fort Sumter(South Carolina). That marked the beginning of the Civil War.

Causes of the War

1. Slavery-



Slavery started in the United States in Virginia in 1619. By the end of the American Revolution,northern states had deserted the institution. However, slavery continued to grow and flourish in the south. In they ears prior to the Civil War, almost all sectional conflicts revolved around the slave issue, hence slavery is a major factor which led to the Civil War.

2.Control Of The Government-

Throughout the first half of the 19th century, Southern politicians sought to defend slavery by retaining control of the federal government. However, they were concerned about the balance of power within in the the Senate.

3.Two Regions on Separate Paths-
The widening of the gap between slave and free states was symbolic changes occurring in each region. The South was devoted to an agrarian plantation economy with a slow growth of population while the North had embraced industrialization, large urban areas, infrastructure growth and was experiencing high birth rates and a large influx of European immigrants. This deterred the Southerners from trying to maintain balance in the government as there was a high chance of more free states joining in the future and the election of a Northern, potentially anti-slavery president.

4. Bleeding Kansas-

Douglas, who was an ardent believer in grassroots democracy, felt that all the territories should be subject to popular sovereignty, which led to an influx of pro- and anti-slavery forces into Kansas. They engaged in open violence of three years. This heightened tensions between North and South.

5. States' Right-

The South realized that their control of the government was slipping away and hence turned to a states' rights argument to protect slavery. They claimed that the federal government was prohibited by the Tenth Amendment from impinging upon the right of slaveholders take their "property" into a new territory. They also stated that the federal government was not allowed to intervene with slavery which had already existed in the states.

6. Abolitionism

In the 1820s and 1830s, the issue of slavery was further heighted by the rise of the Abolitionist movement. Adherents believed that slavery was morally wrong. Some though that slaves should be freed imeediately; some called for gradual emancipation while some just wanted to stop the spread of slavery and its influence.

7. Election of 1860-

Abraham Lincoln won the North Election, Breckinridge won the South while John C. Bell won the border states. Douglas claimed Missouri and part of New Jersey. The North had accomplished what the South had always feared, which was the complete control of the goverment by the free states.

8. Secession Begins-

In response to Lincoln's victory, South Carolina opened a convention to discuss seceding from the Union. On December 24, 1860, it seceded and left the Union. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Lousiana and Texas followed soon after.

There were many reasons which led to the Civil War.

There was no one to blame, events just took place at its own course and soon the war was inevitable.

American Civil War

Welcome to our blog. We are doing the American Civil War for our literature project.

American Civil War


The American Civil War (1861–1865), also known as the War Between the States and several other names was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave statesdeclared their secession from the U.S. and formed the Confederate States of America (the Confederacy). Led by Jefferson Davis, they fought against the U.S. federal government (the "Union"), which was supported by all the free states and the five border slave states.

The American Civil War was the deadliest war in American history, causing 620,000 soldier deaths, and an undetermined number of civilian casualties, ending slavery in the United States, restoring the Union, and strengthening the role of the federal government. The social, political, economic and racial issues of the war decisively shaped the reconstruction era that lasted to 1877, and continue into the 21st century.

Confederacy Flag

Union Flag