White Heat Part 19

No black soldier in Higginson's regiment: See Grimke, November 27, 1862, The Journals, The Journals, p. 405. p. 405.

"It needs but a few days": November 27, 1862, Civil War Journal, Civil War Journal, pp. 4748. pp. 4748.

Emerson, he recalled had squirmed: See TWH to Charles Eliot Norton, March 30, 1892, Houghton.

"He will be a marked man": John Greenleaf Whittier to Mary Curzon, December 24, 1862, Houghton.

"How absurd is the impression about these Southern blacks": December 1, 1862, Civil War Journal, Civil War Journal, p. 53. p. 53.

"At first glance, in a black regiment": Part, Part, p. 131. p. 131.

"His comprehension of the whole problem of slavery": Army Life, Army Life, p. 48. p. 48.

"It is the fashion with philanthropists": November 21, 1863, Civil War Journal, Civil War Journal, p. 175. p. 175.

"to impress on them": January 7, 1863, Civil War Journal, Civil War Journal, p. 79. p. 79.

"And he evidently feels towards them all": Grimke, "Life on the Sea Islands," p. 669.

"it always seemed to me" "What was the use of insurrection": Army Life, Army Life, pp. 192193. pp. 192193.

And when he wrote publicly of them: See, for instance, TWH, "Leaves from an Officer's Journal," p. 521; the journal was printed in Army Life Army Life with some changes. with some changes.

"This spontaneous outburst of love and loyalty": Rogers, "Letters of Dr. Seth Rogers," p. 340.

"My Country 'Tis of Thee": See letter from Harriet Ware, January 1, 1863, in Pearson, Letters from Port Royal, Letters from Port Royal, p. 130; see also "Higginson's Black Brigade," p. 130; see also "Higginson's Black Brigade," Springfield Republican, Springfield Republican, January 1, 1863, p. 1. January 1, 1863, p. 1.

Higginson stood silent: see Grimke, January 1, 1863, The Journals, The Journals, p. 430. p. 430.

"It made all other words cheap": January 1, 1863, Civil War Journal, Civil War Journal, p. 77. p. 77.

Not as good as at home: See Taylor, "Memoir of Susie King Taylor" in Reminiscences of My Life in Camp, Reminiscences of My Life in Camp, p. 18, and Grimke, January 1, 1863, p. 18, and Grimke, January 1, 1863, The Journals, The Journals, p. 430. p. 430.

"A man fell at my elbow": Army Life, Army Life, p. 56. p. 56.

"n.o.body knows anything about these men": TWH, "The War in Florida," New York Times, New York Times, February 10, 1863, p. 2. February 10, 1863, p. 2.

"Ah.... We called him Bob": Army Life, Army Life, p. 66. p. 66.

"You may make a soldier out of a slave": TWH, "Safety Matches," p. 4.

"good ill.u.s.trations": Report of Col. T. W. Higginson, First South Carolina Infantry (Union), February 1, 1863, in U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, series 1 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1885): 14:197. series 1 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1885): 14:197.

"our abstract surmises": Report of Col. T. W. Higginson, in The War of the Rebellion, The War of the Rebellion, 14:198. 14:198.

"who are bent on making him incapable": "Col. Higginson's Estimation of Black Soldiers," Springfield Republican, Springfield Republican, February 6, 1863, p. 2. February 6, 1863, p. 2.

"and in rather exalted language": "The Blacks in Battle," New York Times, New York Times, February 10, 1863, p. 4. February 10, 1863, p. 4.

With Jacksonville secure: See Rufus Saxton to Edwin M. Stanton, March 14, 1863, in Moore, The Rebellion Record, The Rebellion Record, doc.u.ment 132. doc.u.ment 132.

"Higginson, the romantic, had raised money": Cornish, The Sable Arm, The Sable Arm, p. 150. p. 150.

"It was the first time in the war": Army Life, Army Life, p. 89. p. 89.

"A more fatal order for the place": See Moore, The Rebellion Record, The Rebellion Record, doc.u.ment 148, p. 638. doc.u.ment 148, p. 638.

"Jacksonville is in ruins": New York Tribune, New York Tribune, March 28, 1863. March 28, 1863.

"In a struggle for freedom": Garth Wilkinson James, "Memoir," p. 11.

"lean as / a compa.s.s-needle": Robert Lowell, "For the Union Dead," in Life Studies and For the Union Dead, Life Studies and For the Union Dead, p. 71. p. 71.

"Our negro troops are splendid": Quoted in Generals' Reports of Service, in The War of the Rebellion, The War of the Rebellion, 14:133. 14:133.

"Any disaster or failure on our part": TWH to LSH, May 18, 1863, Houghton.

Asked to make a speech: See Grimke, July 4, 1863, The Journals, The Journals, p. 492. p. 492.

"that this was a real war": quoted in Letter from Robert Gould Shaw, June 9, 1863, in Soldiers' Letters, from Camp, Battlefield and Prison, Soldiers' Letters, from Camp, Battlefield and Prison, ed. Lydia Minturn Post (New York: Bunce & Huntington, 1865), p. 249. ed. Lydia Minturn Post (New York: Bunce & Huntington, 1865), p. 249.

"the colored troops as such are not responsible": TWH to Charles Sumner, June 20, 1863, Houghton.

After Shaw formally protested Montgomery's tactics: See the Hunter-Lincoln correspondence in U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion, The War of the Rebellion, series 1, 14:469470. series 1, 14:469470.

"Then you die at half past nine": George Crockett Strong to Benjamin Franklin Butler, June 29, 1863, in Benjamin F. Butler, Private and Official Correspondence of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, during the Period of the Civil War Private and Official Correspondence of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, during the Period of the Civil War (Norwood, Ma.s.s.: Plimpton Press, 1917), 3:94. (Norwood, Ma.s.s.: Plimpton Press, 1917), 3:94.

"Montgomery had two soldiers shot": TWH to Richard Watson Gilder, April 16, 1897, NYPL.

"Do not think this rapid organization": TWH to Charles Eliot Norton, June 28, 1863, Houghton.

"as fanatics sometimes did": TWH to Richard Hinton, Higginson Papers, Kansas.

"without mercy": TWH to Charles Eliot Norton, June 28, 1863, Houghton.

"The worst acts of tyranny": TWH to Edna Dow Cheney, September 13, 1865, Smith.

Merriam wasn't finished: See Halpine Report, June 2, 1863, Military Order of the Loyal Legion Collection, box 14, Houghton. See also Poole, "Memory and the Abolitionist Heritage," pp. 210213.

"he is not a man of the sentiments": TWH to Colonel W. W. H. Davis, February 19, 1865, UVA.

Dr. Rogers and Higginson were left: Rogers, "Letters of Dr. Seth Rogers," p. 346. See also, for instance, TWH, "The First Black Regiment," p. 521.

"We presume too much on the supposed ignorance of those men": TWH, letter to the New York Times, New York Times, February 21, 1864, p. 5; see also February 21, 1864, p. 5; see also Army Life, Army Life, appendix D, p. 222. appendix D, p. 222.

"free colored regiments": see TWH to Charles Sumner, June 20, 1864, Houghton. colored regiments": see TWH to Charles Sumner, June 20, 1864, Houghton.

The Fifty-fourth received much more publicity: See, for example, TWH, Ma.s.sachusetts in the Army and Navy, Ma.s.sachusetts in the Army and Navy, p. 83, and TWH, "The Shaw Memorial," p. 194. p. 83, and TWH, "The Shaw Memorial," p. 194.

"Higginson, the senior colonel of the brigade": John Andrew to Edwin Stanton, June 29, 1863, in U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, series 3 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1899), 3:424; see also Keith Wilson, "In the Shadow of John Brown: The Military Service of Colonels Thomas Higginson, James Montgomery, and Robert Shaw in the Department of the South," in Smith, series 3 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1899), 3:424; see also Keith Wilson, "In the Shadow of John Brown: The Military Service of Colonels Thomas Higginson, James Montgomery, and Robert Shaw in the Department of the South," in Smith, Black Soldiers in Blue, Black Soldiers in Blue, p. 324. p. 324.

"It would always be possible": CY, CY, p. 257. p. 257.

"bucked, gagged and, if need be, shot": Hallowell, The Negro as a Soldier in the War of the Rebellion, The Negro as a Soldier in the War of the Rebellion, p. 9. p. 9.

"I never saw any one": Shaw, Blue-Eyed Child of Fortune, Blue-Eyed Child of Fortune, p. 339. p. 339.

"Folly Island gives a fair chance": Civil War Journal, Civil War Journal, pp. 157158. pp. 157158.

"Well I guess we will let Strong": Truman Seymour, quoted in Shaw, Blue-Eyed Child of Fortune, Blue-Eyed Child of Fortune, p. 51. p. 51.

Seymour, a misanthropic man: see TWH to Sydney Howard Gay, May 23, 1864, Butler.

Shaw and his men talked: See testimony of Nathaniel Paige, in Berlin, Reidy, and Rowland, The Black Military Experience, The Black Military Experience, p. 534. p. 534.

"the dear blundering dusky darlings": September 12, 1863, Civil War Journal, Civil War Journal, p. 167. p. 167.

"vacillating and half proslavery": Army Life, Army Life, p. 95. See also p. 95. See also Civil War Journal, Civil War Journal, p. 81. p. 81.

"This makes me hate all arbitrary power": January 29, 1864, Civil War Journal, Civil War Journal, p. 187. p. 187.

"At a time when it required large bounties": TWH to Charles Sumner, November 24, 1863, Houghton.

"They are growing more like white men": February 11, 1864, Civil War Journal, Civil War Journal, p. 183. p. 183.

"I feel that I hv. done my duty entirely": TWH to MCH, January 28, 1864, Houghton.

CHAPTER EIGHT: AGONY IS FRUGAL "I found you were gone, by accident" "I too, have an 'Island'-": ED to TWH, [February 1863?], Letters, Letters, 2:423. 2:423.

"The fascination of summer": TWH, "Procession of the Flowers," p. 656.

"to doubt my High Behavior": ED to TWH, [1863], Letters, Letters, 2:425. 2:425.

"Color-Caste-Denomination-": Fr 836.

"'Tis so appalling-it exhilirates-": Fr 341.

"Agony is frugal-": In Fr 1196.

"I shall have no winter this year-": ED to Mary Bowles, [c. August 1861], Letters, Letters, 2:377. 2:377.

"What Soft-Cherubic Creatures-": Fr 675.

"With narrow, probing, eyes-": In Fr 550.

"A Soldier called, a Morning ago": ED to Samuel Bowles, [August 1862], Letters, Letters, 2:416. 2:416.

"Perhaps Death, gave me Awe": ED to TWH, [February 1863?], Letters, Letters, 2:423. 2:423.

"It feels a shame to be Alive-": Fr 524.

he denounced "as subversive": See the Springfield Daily Republican, Springfield Daily Republican, October 17, 1861. October 17, 1861.

"He is against slavery as the cause of the war": See YH, YH, 2:92. 2:92.

"I like Truth-it is a free Democracy": LL, LL, p. 71. p. 71.

Austin's paying a subst.i.tute: The going rate was three hundred dollars, about six thousand dollars in today's money.

That d.i.c.kinson seldom mentioned the war: In recent times there have been a number of scholars attending to d.i.c.kinson and the Civil War, beginning with Wolosky's d.i.c.kinson; d.i.c.kinson; see also Berkove, "'A Slash of Blue!'" Lee, "Writing through the War" Marcellin, "'Singing off the Charnel Steps'" and Wardrop, "The Poetics of Political Involvement and Non-Involvement." I am indebted to this work. see also Berkove, "'A Slash of Blue!'" Lee, "Writing through the War" Marcellin, "'Singing off the Charnel Steps'" and Wardrop, "The Poetics of Political Involvement and Non-Involvement." I am indebted to this work.

"Though not reared to prayer-": ED to TWH, [February 1863?], Letters, Letters, 2:423. 2:423.

After the poem "Blazing in Gold and quenching in Purple": See Dandurand's pioneering "New d.i.c.kinson Civil War Publications" "Blazing in Gold and quenching in Purple": Fr 321; "Flowers-well, if anybody": Fr 95A.

"These are the days when Birds come back-": Fr 122B. See also TWH, "The Life of Birds," p. 376: In autumn, they come timidly from the North, and, pausing on their anxious retreat, lurk within the fading copses and twitter s.n.a.t.c.hes of song as fading. Others fly as openly as ever, but gather in flocks, as the Robins, most piteous of all birds at this season,-thin, faded, ragged, their bold note sunk to a feeble quaver, and their manner a mere caricature of that inexpressible military smartness with which they held up their heads in May.Yet I cannot really find anything sad even in November. When I think of the thrilling beauty of the season past, the birds that came and went, the insects that took up the choral song as the birds grew silent, the procession of the flowers, the glory of autumn,-and when I think, that, this also ended, a new gallery of wonder is opening, almost more beautiful, in the magnificence of frost and snow, there comes an impression of affluence and liberality in the universe, which seasons of changeless and uneventful verdure would never give. The catkins already formed on the alder, quite prepared to droop into April's beauty,-the white edges of the May-flower's petals, already visible through the bud, show in advance that winter is but a slight and temporary r.e.t.a.r.dation of the life of Nature, and that the barrier which separates November from March is not really more solid than that which parts the sunset from the sunrise.

"if she did not, the longest day would pa.s.s me": ED to TWH, June 7, 1862, Letters, Letters, 2:408. 2:408.

"Fame is a fickle food": Fr 1702; "Fame is a bee": Fr 1788; "Fame's Boys and Girls, who never die": Fr 892.

"Some-Work for Immortality-": Fr 536.

"When I was small, a Woman died-": Fr 518.

"Bereavement in their death to feel": Fr 756.

"The Battle fought between the Soul": Fr 629.

"It sets the Fright at liberty-": In Fr 341.

"No Rack can torture me-": Fr 649.

"Can the Lark resume the Sh.e.l.l-": In Fr 754.

"you may make a soldier out of a slave": TWH, "Safety Matches," p. 4. There is, of course, no telling which came first, the poem or the essay, although it's likely that the poem preceded Higginson's essay; perhaps it is one she sent him that has escaped our notice and he borrowed from. Or Higginson may have used the phrase earlier. (He used it later, in "Some War Scenes Revisited," p. 9.) And, finally, if the phrase was in the public domain, as it may also have been, that both authors linked the bird's resuming its egg to issues of freedom and bondage is mighty suggestive.

"A Slash of Blue! A sweep of Gray!": Fr 233.

"Publication-is the Auction": Fr 788.

"I do not let go it": ED to TWH, [August 1862], Letters, Letters, 2:415. 2:415.

"He fought like those Who've nought to lose-": Fr 480.

"My Portion is Defeat-today-": Fr 704.

"Could you, with honor, avoid Death": ED to TWH, February 1863, Letters, Letters, 2:424. 2:424.