About five years ago, I posed a question on a message board regarding a flag. Richard Holloway responded. And we went from talking about flags to women soldiers. Of course. Unbeknownst to me, he was (and is) the president of the Civil War Round Table of Central Louisiana based in the Alexandria/Pineville area. The next thing I knew, he invited me to speak at a meeting. The last time I taught anything history related was in the spring of 1997 when I did my student teaching. Since then, it's been all math. So yeah, I was hesitant. But then I began to welcome the challenge of putting together a power point presentation on women soldiers. It was exciting. But boy was I nervous when I spoke for the first time at that meeting in March, 2010. I enjoyed the experience and gradually started giving more presentations on women soldiers.
Showing posts with label Pleasant Hill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pleasant Hill. Show all posts
Friday, March 11, 2016
Monday, January 25, 2016
Rosetta's Real Life "Mercy Street" in New Orleans
 |
| http://thecivilwarparlor.tumblr.com/ |
The 5'0" tall, blue-eyed farm girl was financially driven to enlist in the 153rd New York Infantry on August 30th, 1862. As a "man," she would make more money than she ever would as a woman. Rosetta sent a portion of her soldier's pay home to Afton, New York in order to help alleviate the debt her family had accrued. (Uncommon Soldier, p. 9)
In February, 1864, the 153rd was transferred from Washington D.C to Louisiana where they would participate in Major General Nathanial Banks' Red River Campaign. During the ill-fated venture, Federal troops experienced bad water, bad food and fatigue from hundreds of miles of hard marching in the burning heat and suffocating humidity of Louisiana's subtropical climate. The stress of dealing with all of these hardships took its toll as soldiers began to succumb to a variety of diseases. Private Wakeman was one of them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)