Movie Review: Copperhead

Recently my younger son and I went to the theater and saw the new movie Copperhead (official site; see also Facebook page and page on the Internet Movie Database). It is produced and directed by Ron Maxwell, who gave us the celebrated films Gettysburg in 1993 and (the somewhat less celebrated) Gods and Generals in 2003. But in my opinion, Copperhead stands even above those films in the quality of its production, acting, score, authenticity, and the power of its message. It's been in limited release thus far, so you may have to hunt for a theater to see it in (click here for links to lists of theaters, on-demand sources, and other viewing options). But the effort is thoroughly justified.

Ron Maxwell

In a recent interview, Maxwell explained that "In retrospect, looking back on it, I think the first two films [Gettysburg and Gods and Generals], taken together, are a cinematic meditation on why good men — honorable, ethical men — choose to go to war. . . .  The film Copperhead, which takes place during the same time, and with the same conflict, the American Civil War, explores cinematically why good and honorable, ethical, moral men choose not to go to war."

Copperhead is based on the 19th-century novel The Copperhead by Harold Frederic (1856-1898), who was born and raised in Utica, New York. Both the novel and the film are presented as based on actual events that took place in upstate New York in 1862 and 1863, during the first half of the American Civil War. The main character, dairy farmer Abner Beech, opposes the war being waged by President Abraham Lincoln in the name of preserving the Union. Like other Northern "Peace Democrats," Beech is contemptuously labelled a “Copperhead”--a poisonous snake--by those who ardently support the war and regard his stance as unpatriotic and even treasonous. Peace Democrats like Beech accepted the label, reinterpreting the copper "head" as the likeness of Liberty, which they cut from copper pennies and proudly wore as badges.

A cartoon appearing in Harper's Weekly, February 28, 1863,
disparaging Peace Democrats as "Copperheads"

 Some historians suggest that Copperheadism represented a traditionalistic element in the American population, alarmed at the rapid modernization of society as promoted by the Republican Party, and hearkened back to "Jeffersonian" and "Jacksonian" Democracy for inspiration. While nominally supporting the Union, Copperheads strongly opposed the Civil War, for which they blamed radical abolitionists, and sought immediate peace with the Southern states, whether they stayed in or out of the Union. They regarded the policies of President Lincoln and the Republican Party as arbitrary and tyrannical, and in direct conflict with the letter and spirit of the United States Constitution. Given Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus, arrest and detention without trial of thousands of suspected secessionists in the border states, and other war measures of debatable legality--including, perhaps, the Emancipation Proclamation--there may have been more than a little merit in their position.

Billy Campbell as Abner Beech

But the film Copperhead does not dwell so much on legal issues, politics, or even the Civil War, as it does on how such contentious matters can divide a community and turn neighbors--and even members of the same family--against each other, with tragic results. Most of the people in the rural village where Abner Beech lives strongly support the Union effort against the South, especially Jee Hagadorn, an ardent abolitionist and father of the young lady Esther that Beech's son, Thomas Jefferson Beech, is courting. Neither Abner nor his neighbors are hesitant about expressing their opinions--more or less civilly, at first, but with increasing rancor as the film goes on. Peer pressure and a festering conflict between him and his father eventually impel Tom (or Jeff, as Abner prefers), to enlist in the Union army.

Marching village recruits off to war

In the months that follow, the villagers crowd anxiously around posted boards listing the names of local soldiers killed, wounded, and missing in action. They try to go about their daily work, but tempers fray as emotions build, and the village nearly plunges into a civil war of its own when neighbors confront each other while assembling to cast their votes in the contentious general election of autumn 1862. Not long after, Esther Hagadorn visits the Beech home seeking news of Tom on the very night that torch-wielding villagers, enraged by Abner's stubborn, outspoken Copperheadism, converge on the house--with potentially terrible consequences for both the Beeches and the Hagadorns. Only in the end do the neighbors confront what their once-peaceful community has become, and start mending the wounds.

Jee Hagadorn confronts Abner Beech

No capsule summary of a film's plot can adequately convey its power, though. In Copperhead, sights and sounds work together with the intimacy of the small village to make the viewer feel as if he or she is right there among these modest working people, sharing their passions and their fears. Though the story is set in upstate New York, the film was shot in the countryside of New Brunswick, Canada and particularly Kings Landing Historical Settlement.  I could recommend several venues in upstate New York where the movie might have been shot with at least equal faithfulness to the time and place being portrayed, so I'm not sure why New Brunswick was chosen (lower taxes comes to mind). Nevertheless, that location seems to share much with rural east-central New York in terrain, vegetation, and climate. I've traveled about that part of the state, now live in a west-central farm/college town in New York, and  grew up in a small western-New York town, and felt while watching the film that I was witnessing life as it must have been like right there where I had lived. The movie is filled with scenes of common people at their daily tasks, carried out just as people would in the mid-19th century--milling lumber; caring for livestock; gathering crops; building and repairing homes; attending to business in their little stores and workshops; attending church services and singing hymns; eating together around the table. From my own experience in living history, the costuming appeared to be thoroughly accurate and made the actors and the time they were portraying come vividly to life. The lighting and cinematography are gorgeous and bring the viewer right into story, so that you can almost smell the woods and fields and feel the warmth of the setting sun. The musical score, while not presenting any really memorable themes, was quietly beautiful and lent great dignity to the way of life carried on by the people of the village.

A domestic scene  from Copperhead

 Though most of the leading actors in Copperhead (including Billy Campbell as Abner Beech and Angus Macfadyen as Jee Hagadorn) have respectable filmographies, none is a household name--except Peter Fonda, who turns in a nicely understated performance as the blacksmith Avery. All of the acting is skillful and authentic, and much of it very poignant. Many of the actors are young and just getting started in film, but give wonderfully passionate and sensitive performances. The relative obscurity of the cast is an advantage, in my opinion, as we can interact with the characters as portrayed and without the baggage that big names inevitably carry to the screen.

Esther Hagadorn and Tom Beech

Some have criticized Copperhead  as "slow-moving," especially early in the film, but I think such care was necessary to introduce and fully develop the characters and the film's sense of time and place. The pace of life in a small, rural, 19th-century community was itself slow, and the character of the people emerged only in the measured rhythm of their daily lives. Much action and sudden, high emotion early in the movie would have run against its carefully crafted texture.

The central theme of Copperhead is what can happen to ordinary people when we let our differences ripen into hatred, and forget the counsels of brotherhood and compassion on which our Lord meant our lives together to be based. The lesson is exquisitely presented in James Chapter 3:

[T]he tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. . . . But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. . . . For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.  And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.  (James 3:5-10, 14-18)

Would that people today take this teaching to heart!  The tenor of our times is remarkably similar to that prevailing mid-19th century America. We are riven with fear, conflicting values, political faction, corruption, and controversy, which paralyze government and make enemies of neighbors and even family members. Instead of reaching out to and caring for each other as unique, priceless children of God, we seem more intent on "winning" the "culture wars,"  whichever side of those we happen to be on. We are divided and pitted against each other by self-serving media, interest groups, politicians, and professional grandstanders. Our country seems every day on the verge of a real, not just a figurative, civil war. In this poisonous climate, we do well to reflect on the lessons presented in a film like Copperhead.  I urge everyone to see it.

Abner Beech embracing his sons.

Battle Hymn of the Republic: Its History and Meaning

Irish Brigade Monument, Antietam National Battlefield

[NOTE: This post was adapted from a recent item on my blog Songs of Praises, which features the best in hymns and sacred music.]

A couple of weeks ago (May 27) people in the United States observed Memorial Day, on which we  remember and honor those who gave their lives while serving our country in the armed forces.  In less than a month (July 1-3), we will mark the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, the costliest and, perhaps, most decisive engagement in the American Civil War.  Dark clouds of wars past, as well as the "wars and rumors of wars" today, are on our minds.  For centuries, people have resorted to sacred music as a way to find meaning, comfort, and inspiration amidst the terrible trials that wars produce. Sometimes a hymn will reflect on what has been lost in past conflicts, especially fallen warriors, and at other times (and often in the same hymn) on the causes for which the war was fought.

War, for a Christian, is among the most troubling features of life in this world. We believe that our God is loving and merciful, yet untold millions of innocent  human beings have been killed, maimed, starved, enslaved, and otherwise suffered in countless wars down through history, a scourge which seems to have no end. God commands us not to kill (Exodus 20:13), but legions of professing Christians have taken up arms, and still do, to defend their homelands or way of life--and too often in the past, most regrettably, to engage in conquest and even to war against each other.  We pray fervently for peace and look forward to the blessed day when "they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." (Isaiah 2:3-4)  And yet, we "put on the whole armour of God" (Ephesians 6:11) and sing rousing hymns that are full of military imagery, such as Onward Christian Soldiers, Who Is on the Lord’s Side?, and Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus, Ye Soldiers of the Cross. Ultimately, perhaps, war is but one facet of the opposition and conflict that came into the world with sin, and will be our lot until Christ returns and banishes Satan forever.

This view suffuses one of Christendom's (and the world's) most famous hymns, The Battle Hymn of the Republic. This remarkable work may be less of a "hymn" as commonly understood, than an anthem, for it became the inspirational "theme" music for the Union (or perhaps more precisely, the abolitionist) cause in the American Civil War. While it reflects on the issues that gave rise to that war and invokes images common to the 19th century soldier's experience, the Battle Hymn elevates the conflict to a higher, sacred plane and speaks to what many Christians believe about evil, the destiny of the world, and our role in fulfilling that destiny. Its refrain even inspires the title and Web address of this blog!

THE HISTORY BEHIND THE HYMN

The text of the Battle Hymn was written in 1861 by Julia Ward Howe (1819–1910), a prominent American social activist and wife of Samuel Gridley Howe (1801–1876), a famed scholar in education of the blind. Samuel and Julia were both deeply involved in the anti-slavery or "abolitionist" movement, in which thousands of Americans had, for more than thirty years, worked tirelessly to end the practice of slavery in the United States through religious and moral persuasion, political agitation, and even spiriting slaves away to the Northern states and Canada from their places of bondage in the South. Many abolitionists had exhausted their fortunes and risked (and some suffered)  prison or death in the cause. The movement grew out of the American religious revival known as the the Second Great Awakening in the 1820s and 1830s, and its most passionate and committed members were motivated by the conviction that "all people were equal in God's sight; the souls of black folks were as valuable as those of whites; [and] for one of God's children to enslave another was a violation of the Higher Law, even if it was sanctioned by the Constitution." (James Brewer Stewart, Holy Warriors: The Abolitionists and American Slavery (1976)). They were also convinced, as were most zealous believers since the Second Great Awakening, that the Millennium was near and that Jesus Christ would return to the earth soon to usher it in. That society could and should be transformed for the better in furtherance of God's purpose, and that it was the Christian's duty to help bring about that transformation, was an article of faith among religious abolitionists and social reformers of that day.

John Brown

By the 1860s the abolition movement seemed--but for the liberation of some thousands of slaves through the "underground railroad"--to have borne little fruit but to set the Northern and Southern sections of the United States implacably against each other. The 1859 assault on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia led by John Brown, a deeply religious abolition zealot who sought to spark a slave uprising--and which was funded in part by Samuel Gridley Howe--only hastened the rupture. Finally, five months after anti-slavery Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States in November 1860, and several Southern states seceded from the Union, the conflict became an open and deadly Civil War.

According to various accounts, the Battle Hymn was born in the wake of a public review of federal troops outside Washington, D.C. in November 1861, which Julia Ward Howe attended along with her husband Samuel--now a member of President Lincoln's military Sanitary Commission--and the Rev. James Freeman Clarke. At some point the passing soldiers began singing John Brown's Body, a popular Union marching song that referred both to the famous antislavery martyr John Brown and to a certain irrepressible Union soldier of that name from Massachusetts. John Brown's Body itself originated from a popular religious camp-meeting song known as Canaan's Happy Shore or Brothers, Will You Meet Us?, which carried an old folk tune transcribed (and often attributed to) William Steffe (1830–1890), (of whom no known image exists) and published in about 1856. Although the words to John Brown's Body were thought by the more genteel people of the time as rather coarse and irreverent, Mrs. Howe and her party joined in the singing as the soldiers marched by. Reverend Clarke suggested to Mrs. Howe that she write some new lyrics to the familiar tune, and she resolved to do so. As she later recalled:

I went to bed that night as usual, and slept, according to my wont, quite soundly. I awoke in the gray of the morning twilight; and as I lay waiting for the dawn, the long lines of the desired poem began to twine themselves in my mind. Having thought out all the stanzas, I said to myself, 'I must get up and write these verses down, lest I fall asleep again and forget them.' So, with a sudden effort, I sprang out of bed, and found in the dimness an old stump of a pen which I remembered to have used the day before. I scrawled the verses almost without looking at the paper. [Howe, Julia Ward. Reminiscences: 1819-1899. Houghton, Mifflin: New York, 1899. p. 275]

Howe's Battle Hymn of the Republic was first published on the front page of the February 1862 issue of the Atlantic Monthly (editor James T. Fields (1817-1881), who paid Mrs. Howe $5 for the piece, is credited with having given the song the name by which it is known today). By the time federal forces  took the field for their spring campaigns, soldiers were already singing and marching to the song.

Since the Civil War, the Battle Hymn has become one of the USA's most beloved patriotic songs. It also appears in many hymnals, and is widely sung at church services on such national holidays as Memorial Day and Independence Day. It is probably second in eminence only to The Star Spangled Banner as an American patriotic anthem.

THE MEANING AND IMPORTANCE OF THE HYMN

One cannot fully appreciate the meaning and significance of the Battle Hymn without reading and pondering its text in detail:

    Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
    He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
    He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
    His truth is marching on.

        (Chorus)
        Glory, glory, hallelujah!
        Glory, glory, hallelujah!
        Glory, glory, hallelujah!
        His truth is marching on.

    I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,
    They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
    I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:
    His day is marching on.

        (Chorus)
        Glory, glory, hallelujah!
        Glory, glory, hallelujah!
        Glory, glory, hallelujah!
        His day is marching on.

    I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
    "As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;
    Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,
    His truth is marching on."

        (Chorus)
        Glory, glory, hallelujah!
        Glory, glory, hallelujah!
        Glory, glory, hallelujah!
        His truth is marching on.

    He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
    He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:
    Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
    Our God is marching on.

        (Chorus)
        Glory, glory, hallelujah!
        Glory, glory, hallelujah!
        Glory, glory, hallelujah!
        Our God is marching on.

    In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
    With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
    As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
    While God is marching on.

        (Chorus)
        Glory, glory, hallelujah!
        Glory, glory, hallelujah!
        Glory, glory, hallelujah!
        Our God is marching on.

    He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
    He is Wisdom to the mighty, He is Succour to the brave,
    So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave,
    Our God is marching on.

        (Chorus)
        Glory, glory, hallelujah!
        Glory, glory, hallelujah!
        Glory, glory, hallelujah!
        Our God is marching on.

The Battle Hymn of the Republic is certainly different from most of the works featured in traditional collections of hymns, which tend to focus on the individual and his or her personal transformation through God and Jesus Christ. The Battle Hymn, on the other hand, focuses on the world and the injustice and evil within it, and its impending transformation by Christ, heralded by and working through the armies of His faithful.

The first stanza presents a clear vision of the Lord's return and the fearful judgment coming in its wake:  "glory of the coming of the Lord" (". . . the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Matthew 24:30); "grapes of wrath" ("And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God."  Revelation 14:19); "terrible swift sword" (". . . out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword . . ."  Revelation 1:16).

As has been noted elsewhere, the main element of the chorus--"Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!"-- was probably also inspired by the book of Revelation: " . . . I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God . . ."  (Revelation 19:1).

In the second and third stanzas, the Lord is seen in "the watchfires;" His righteous sentence and His fiery gospel are read in "the dim and burning lamps" and in "burnished rows of steel" (ranks of polished musket barrels). These are things characteristic of soldier life, so the hymn suggests that the army itself constitutes the Lord's "terrible swift sword" and, perhaps, the "Hero born of woman" which is to "crush the serpent" underfoot.

The fourth stanza's reference to the "trumpet that shall never call retreat" also invokes a familiar thing to soldiers of that day, the bugle, and suggests a stern call to duty and action, as well as to Judgment Day, "a day of the trumpet and alarm" (Zephaniah 1:14, 16). Tthat call is not one to be shirked or dreaded by a soldier in God's army, but embraced joyfully: "Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!"

The fifth stanza is the true climax of the hymn, and reveals its core inspiration: Christ, the beauty and glory of his Person. As He died to free all people  from sin, so should we be ready to give our lives to bring freedom to others ("As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free"). While the word "slavery" is never used in the Battle Hymn, its implication is unmistakable, given the times and the circumstances of the hymn's author and authorship.

In thus replacing the words to the earthy marching song John Brown's Body, Mrs. Howe clearly intended to give the soldiers' agonizing work a new and higher meaning: not just the conquest of a menacing adversary, not just restoration of the Union, but a deliverance of millions of helpless souls from the crushing evil of bondage, and redemption of the whole nation from guilt for that terrible sin. As another perceptive observer explains: "[Mrs. Howe's] hymn was an attempt to frame [the soldiers'] sacrifice, to place it within the context of a great and glorious cause. . . . the advance of God’s Kingdom on earth."

OUR CALL TO ACTION?

Perhaps it is well that the Battle Hymn omits specific reference to the racial slavery over which the Civil War was fought 150 years ago, for as it is written the hymn speaks eloquently to us today, and calls us to be defenders of the freedom God intended for all our brothers and sisters. No wonder that the Battle Hymn became an anthem of the 20th century's civil rights movement.  In his final sermon delivered in Memphis, Tennessee on the evening of April 3, 1968, the night before his assassination, Dr. Marin Luther King, Jr. closed with the first line of the Battle Hymn: "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!"  The Battle Hymn has also come to be associated with the American cause in confronting evil and oppression around the world. It was a favorite of British Prime Minister and World War II leader Winston Churchill, for example, and at his request was played at his funeral in 1965.

Some modern Christians are uncomfortable with the militancy of the Battle Hymn and its call to men and women for such deep and forceful involvement in worldly matters. In any such critique we need to be mindful of the social and religious currents, as well as of the desperate moral and political struggles, out of which it arose. Different conditions and attitudes prevail today, when the initiative for social reform has been largely assumed by, or ceded to, secular forces working through governments and their allied organizations. Moreover, and ominously, there is in our society a growing resistance to the involvement of religious elements in public life. Nevertheless, who but those inspired by the love and teachings of Christ are better suited to show the compassion and self-sacrifice today's world so desperately needs?  Do Christian believers simply stand aside and let the relentless tide of evil (violence, class/ethnic/sectarian enmity, abortion) wash over the world while we gaze upwards waiting for deliverance?  To put it in Civil War terms, should we yield the moral battlefield and ground arms until our General appears to do the fighting for us?  Or do we, in Christ's name and spirit, march forward now and do what we can, until He returns, to dispel Satan's lies and extend God's deliverance to all His beleaguered children?  Even if we do so with plowshares instead of swords, the Battle Hymn of the Republic would still be a perfect anthem for our efforts.

* * * * * * *

VIDEOS ABOUT THE HYMN

It's unusual to have multiple videos telling how a hymn came to be, and of its enduring significance--but the Battle Hymn is a very special piece. Here is the story of the hymn as told by the great actor and director Orson Welles:



Here is another fascinating video relating the story of the Battle Hymn by the great-great-great grandson of Julie Ward Howe:

* * * * * * *

PERFORMANCES OF THE HYMN

There are many excellent (and some not so satisfactory) video renditions of the Battle Hymn. Most present only the first, second, and fifth stanzas. I suppose they're the best-known and easiest to understand and relate to for modern listeners, although the fourth stanza is just as clear and inspiring as the others, in my humble opinion.

Most modern renditions also substitute "live" for the original "die" in the third line of the fifth stanza, making the line read: "As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free."  It is unclear when and why this change became commonplace. Perhaps it was in reaction against what some find to be the hymn's unsettling militancy. Others believe that "live" is preferable because it embraces commitment and potential sacrifice of one's whole being, in life as well as in death. Out of faithfulness to the original work I generally prefer its wording, but philosophically I prefer "live" for the reason just given. I find either formulation most inspiring.

Here is the video I thought most impressive musically and visually, featuring full orchestration and a large (though, unfortunately, unidentified) choir:



Good solo performances on video are harder to come by. Here is a good one by Judy Collins, joined by a U.S. Army chorus and the Boys Choir of Harlem in a 1993 concert televised live from Washington, D.C.:



For those who prefer a more spiritual, less military presentation, here's one featuring singer Jim Nabors along with images of Christ and scenes from His life and mission on Earth (in contrast to most other renditions, this one features the first, fourth, and fifth stanzas of the hymn):

* * * * * * *

  . . . [T]hey shall see the Son of man
coming in the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory.
And He shall send His angels
with a great sound of a trumpet . . .
~  Matthew 24:30-31

Civil War Redux?

Maybe I'm reading too much into things, but is this country headed toward another civil war? Contrary to the widespread twaddle back in the 2008 general election about Barack Obama's unifying, "post-racial" vision, his has become the most divisive administration in modern times, fomenting and exploiting controversies that pit "liberals" against conservatives, "blue states" against "red states," blacks against whites, gays against straights, atheists against believers, illegal immigrants against citizens, Main Street against Wall Street, tax consumers against tax payers, etc. etc. Instead of working sincerely to harmonize these contending interests, the administration seems eager to take the side it favors in each controversy and demonize or punish the other. Gone is any notion of governing from the center and effecting change gradually, through peaceful persuasion. Guess that's not the Chicago way.

Moreover, so many recent issues, from illegal immigration to health care to gay marriage, seem to pit the federal government--consisting of the the White House and executive agencies, the Democrat-controlled Congress, and the federal courts (except perhaps, at the moment, the Supreme Court)--against the states and a majority of their citizens. In poll after poll, and in referenda and legislative enactments in states across the country, a majority of Americans have declared their desire for vigorous immigration enforcement, their opposition to mandatory, government-controlled health care, and their conviction that marriage is a status properly reserved for one man and one woman.

Has this opposition deterred Democrat leaders in the slightest from pursuit of their statist, social-transformist agenda? Apparently not. Instead, they arrogantly dismiss it as inconsequential, ignorant, deranged, hateful, and (most often) racist. When such opposition has threatened to obstruct their timetable and legislative goals (as in the recent health care fight), they duck behind closed doors to twist arms and cut deals, and then ram the results through over the carcasses of their more reluctant hangers-on (e.g., Joe Sestak) and maybe a RINO (Republican-In-Name-Only) or two. Despite multiple polls showing record low levels of popular approval for what the President (barely above 40 percent) and Congress (barely above 10 percent) have been doing, they seem blithely unconcerned about being held to account for their "work" at the people's ballot box in November. Indeed, while record numbers of Americans go without jobs in a sputtering economy undermined by exploding, unpopular budget deficits and "bailouts" for the favored few, our President treats himself to lavish parties and endless rounds of golf, and his family to expensive European vacations on the taxpayers' dime.

When leaders in a "democracy" show such disdain for a majority of the people and deliberately pursue policies contrary to their needs and desires, they are clearly not committed to democracy, but rather to rule by an "elite" (which includes, of course, themselves) that they deem more informed and more virtuous than the unwashed masses. That the dominant party in Washington (and its hangers-on in state governments like California and New York) has embraced this view has been noted by British commentator Niles Gardner, who (pointing out the American mainstream media's silence about it) highlights "the extravagance and arrogance on display among the White House elites that rule America as though they had been handed some divine right to govern with impunity." Mr. Gardner observes:

The First Lady’s ill-conceived trip to Marbella and the complete disregard for public opinion and concerns over excessive government spending is symbolic of a far wider problem with the Obama presidency – the overarching disdain for the principles of limited government, individual liberty and free enterprise that have built the United States over the course of nearly two and a half centuries into the most powerful and free nation on earth.

It is epitomised above all by the President’s relentless drive towards big government against the will of the American people, and the dramatic increases in government spending and borrowing, which threaten to leave the US hugely in debt for generations. It is also showcased by Barack Obama’s drive towards a socialised health care system, which, as I’ve noted before, is “a thinly disguised vanity project for a president who is committed to transforming the United States from the world’s most successful large-scale free enterprise economy, to a highly interventionist society with a massive role for centralized government.”

The latest indication of President Obama's imperious attitude and indifference to popular judgment is his endorsement for the construction of a mosque and Islamic center only two blocks from Ground Zero in New York City, despite opposition to the plan by a majority of New Yorkers and more than two-thirds of Americans. Legally this is only New Yorkers' business and none of the President's or the federal government's, but he couldn't pass up a chance to lecture us all about religious freedom, tolerance, and the separation of church and state--all of which are beside the point, since the proposed mosque's sponsors could have sought its location at any number of other places than the clearly provocative one near Ground Zero, and rejected an offer by Gov. David Patterson to have the center located elsewhere in the vicinity of the property now at issue. But the President is obviously more concerned about the feelings (and votes?) of the Muslim minority than he is about the integrity of local legal proceedings or the feelings and judgment of most New Yorkers and Americans.

This festering conflict between the White House/Congress/federal government on the one hand, and the states and the majority of Americans, on the other, can't go on indefinitely--something has to give, and unless the "give" happens at the ballot box, it could happen in the streets.

Through history, revolutions have usually precipitated civil wars, because revolutionary leaders--despite their protestations of working for "the people"--don't really care in the least what the people think or want. Revolutionaries only care about what they think and want, and they're perfectly willing to go war against the (unenlightened) masses to get it. The President and many Democrat leaders in Congress, together with their advisers, contributors, and friends in and outside government, have made no secret of their desire to "transform" America into a paradise based on socialist economic and moral values. If they have to drag the majority of Americans, kicking and screaming, toward their vision of what this country should be, so be it. As opposition strengthens at local and state levels and across the nation in the Tea Party and like movements, the federal government fights back in Congress, the courts, and the mainstream media. Who will go down first?

Ten score and 34 years ago, ordinary Americans picked up arms in rebellion against a remote, imperious government in London whose minions had little understanding and no regard for the people on whose freedoms they had been trampling for years with steadily increasing force. Four score and five years after that, a third of the states and millions of their citizens rebelled violently against what they saw as a remote, imperious government in Washington bent on dictating how they would be allowed to live and work. Could it happen here again, as we approach the 150th anniversary (in 2011) of the last Civil War's opening shots? It's hard and unpleasant to imagine, but today even as in the past, ordinary Americans will only stand for so much, and there's ample precedent in our history for armed resistance. God forbid this should come to pass, but it's entirely possible if our federal government is able to continue much longer on its present course. One can only hope in the truth of this observation by the perceptive Mr. Gardner:

There is . . . a political revolution fast approaching Washington that is driven not by mob rule but by the power of ideas and principles, based upon the ideals of the Founding Fathers and the US Constitution. It is a distinctly conservative revolution that is sweeping America and is reflected in almost every poll ahead of this November’s mid-terms. It is based on a belief in individual liberty, limited government, and above all, political accountability from the ruling elites. The Obama administration’s mantra may well be “let them eat cake”, as it continues to gorge itself on taxpayers’ money, but it will be looking nervously over its shoulder as public unease mounts.

Just As I Am

I might be the only Civil War reenactor for whom the highlight of a weekend event is the period church service on Sunday, assuming there is one (service, I mean--there's always a Sunday!). The Union service at this past weekend's reenactment at the Genesee Country Village & Museum in Mumford, NY was extra-special for me, as I hadn't been to this event since 2007, after eight straight years of attendance. Apart from the dynamic presence of our late chaplain Ben Maryniak, who delivered every sermon in his trademark booming voice, what made the church service such a precious experience for me, and kept me coming back year after year, was the "Fear Not Choir." Most years the choir has been composed of 7-10 ladies and usually a few gentlemen, attired appropriately to the 1860s, singing hymns that were commonly sung in American churches around the time of the War Between the States. Especially appealing to me is that their renditions are simple, skillful, and just as you would hear the hymn in a small country church during the 19th century (these services being conducted in what was a small Methodist church built in the 1840s), accompanied only by a small pump organ (that actually dates to that time). Nothing else I've ever heard has so moved me to a spirit of humility, contrition, hope, and appreciation for those who have gone before me.

Having noticed my rapt attention in the congregation every year, and in a spirit of true Christian charity (bordering on insanity), they even invited me to join them! I actually summoned up the nerve to do so in 2007--that's me, second from right in the back row, in the picture below. Unfortunately, I have a terrible voice and don't read music, so I only hope I didn't detract too much from their performance that year! But it was an experience I'll always be thankful for, and will never forget.

One of the hymns sung at this year's service was Just As I Am, written in 1835 by Charlotte Elliott (1789 – 1871), an English poet and hymn writer. Miss Elliott, who was a suffering invalid for much of her adult life, has been described as "one of the sweetest though saddest of Christian singers." (Nutter, Hymns and Hymn Writers of the Church, 1915) The same source notes that "[h]er verse is characterized by tenderness of feeling, plaintive simplicity, deep devotion, and perfect rhythm. For those in sickness and sorrow she has sung as few others have done." Just As I Am became an altar call song in the Billy Graham crusades in the late 20th century, and Graham used the hymn's title as that of his 1997 book, Just As I Am: The Autobiography of Billy Graham.

This is one of the most moving hymns I know. It reminds me not only of how freely the Lord receives us, notwithstanding our weaknesses and sins, but how we must approach Him daily: on our knees and in deepest remorse for our failings, yet in full faith that He will gather us to Him if we confess and sincerely repent of our sins. My eyes moistened as I listened to the angelic voices of the Fear Not Choir, rejoicing that my Great, Merciful God is willing--even eager--to receive me "just as I am."

Here is a traditional rendition by an unidentified choir that sounds rather like the Fear Nots (unfortunately, this version isn't accompanied by a real video presentation):



Below is a sensitive solo rendition of the hymn by Christian songwriter and musician Brian Doerksen.



And here are the lyrics to this exquisite hymn. Let us approach our Lord in this way every day, just as we are:

Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidst me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, and waiting not
To rid my soul of one dark blot,
To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, though tossed about
With many a conflict, many a doubt,
Fightings and fears within, without,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind;
Sight, riches, healing of the mind,
Yea, all I need in Thee to find,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because Thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, Thy love unknown
Hath broken every barrier down;
Now, to be Thine, yea, Thine alone,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, of that free love
The breadth, length, depth, and height to prove,
Here for a season, then above,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

You Think You Have Weather Woes?

This week marks the 147th anniversary of one of the most miserable (for Union soldiers) episodes in the American Civil War: the infamous "Mud March" of the Union's Army of the Potomac up the north bank of Virginia's Rappahannock River, in an ill-fated attempt to outflank Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, which was dug in around Fredericksburg.

On December 13, 1862 the Union Army, after crossing the Rappahannock and taking Fredericksburg in a drive south toward the Confederate capital of Richmond, suffered more than 12,000 casualties (to the Confederates' 5600) in a series of futile frontal assaults against rebel troops entrenched on Marye's Heights behind the city. The next day Union commander Gen. Ambrose Burnside (above left) obtained a truce from Gen. Lee to attend to the thousands of freezing Yankee wounded still littering the ground below Marye's Heights, and on December 15 the Federal forces retreated back to their camps on the north side the river. The Battle of Fredericksburg was one of the worst defeats inflicted on Union troops during the War.

By mid-January 1863 Burnside felt growing pressure to resume the Federal advance on Richmond. He devised a plan to march his army several miles to the northwest of Fredericksburg, cross the Rappahannock, and circle around to hit the left flank of Lee’s army still encamped south of the city. December had been cold, but January's weather was relatively dry and mild up to this point, and the roads were in good shape. Prospects for a winter campaign seemed favorable.

What happened next is aptly described in the book Washington Weather, by Kevin Ambrose, Dan Henry, and Andy Weiss (2002, Historical Enterprises):

On the morning of January 20, 1863, the Army of the Potomac formed columns and began the march up the Rappahannock River. Unknown to the soldiers, a massive storm was developing near the southeast coast and had started to move northward. Rain began falling during the evening of January 20 and continued to fall heavily on January 21. Burnside’s army quickly got bogged down in the mud. Temperatures hovered in the upper 30’s, adding a chill to the drenched soldiers. Wagons sank to their wheel hubs in mud and artillery became hopelessly stuck. A team of 12 horses and 150 men could not pull one cannon out of the mud. Also, the soldiers slipped and fell repeatedly, while others lost their shoes in the thick mud. . . .

By January 22, the rain had ended but the entire Army of the Potomac was still mired in the mud. The weather remained cloudy and damp, with temperatures hovering in the upper 30’s to near 40°F. The damp conditions and above-freezing temperatures kept the roads soft and muddy. Ammunition and supply wagons remained stuck fast, and horses and mules died of exhaustion in the mud. The challenge was no longer to cross the river and attack Lee, but instead to get unstuck from the mud and return to camp.

The soldiers who were there always tell it best. Private John J. Ingraham of the 121st N.Y. Volunteer Infantry wrote home:

We had marched two or three miles and the rain turned to hail & from that to snow and then it commenced blowing and we came near freezing. Everything was frozen stiff. We finally got to the Landing by wading through creeks and mud. We got there about dark and we had to pitch our tents in the mud and water 6 inches deep. . . . [T]here was no wood to be got. . . . Went without supper. Everything was frozen and the next morning it was hard work for some of us to talk. That was what made me sick and it brought many of our soldiers in the grave.

Surgeon Daniel M Holt of the 121st N.Y. (as related in A Surgeon’s Civil War, the Letters & Diary of Daniel M. Holt, M.D., ed. James M. Greiner, et al, 1994 Kent State University Press) wrote:

Such mud, you nor I never saw before. Pontoon boats, batteries, ammunition trains and horses formed an unbroken mass—all stuck in the mud… During the three days of which I write, I had no tent to shield me from the rain incessantly falling so that I was perfectly wet through without the means of drying myself, everything was so soakingly wet that we could not make fires, and here against the roots of a tree I stood for three days and nights, with a soaking wet blanket and an India rubber cap to contend against the watery element.

More interesting details, and the climax of the sorry story, are described in the book Civil War Blunders, by Clint Johnson (1997, John F. Blair):

The frustration sometimes caused men to boil over. On one occasion, two of Burnside's corps found themselves at a crossroads. Instead of halting one corps to let the other pass, both commanders ordered their men to continue marching. It looked like a giant demolition derby, with men crashing into each other as they slogged through the mud.

Burnside sought to raise the spirits of his men with the aid of alcohol, as was commonly done. . . The whiskey flowed, at least until a fight started between a Massachusetts regiment and a Pennsylvania regiment. When a Maine regiment tried to make peace, the Massachusetts and Pennsylvania men turned on the third regiment. Soon, more than twenty-five hundred Yankees were having a fistfight in the Virginia mud as watching Confederates and other Yankee regiments roared with laughter.

. . . To add insult to injury, the whole fiasco took place in view of the Confederate army. . . . As the Union soldiers struggled to extricate one muddy leg after another just to keep from drowning, Confederates called across the Rappahannock. They shouted encouragement, telling the soldiers how many more miles they had to walk. They offered to take the pontoons and have them in place when the Union army arrived . . . They even offered to let the Yankees to borrow boards from the plank road on their side of the river if it would help them get to Banks' Ford any faster. Signs proclaiming "This Way to Richmond!" showed up along the march. The Federals were too tired to shoot at their tormentors.

Officers began to tell Burnside to call off the march before all the horses and mules fell over dead, leaving no way to remove their cannons should the Confederates attack. Finally, he gave the order to return to camp. By January 24, the Mud March was over. A march that should have taken no more than four hours at two miles an hour had become a four-day, out-and-back disaster. Hundreds of men--perhaps more--died of exhaustion by the side of the road. Hundreds more deserted and started the long walk north.

Two days after the campaign's collapse, on January 25, President Lincoln relieved Gen. Burnside and named Gen. Joseph Hooker to command the Army of the Potomac. Never again would a major military campaign be conducted during the winter months in Virginia.

As a Civil War reenactor I have marched and slept out in the rain and mud, without any tent or covering but my wool uniform. But I've never done it in the winter months or for days or weeks on end. What the original soldiers endured is beyond my comprehension. As awful as their burdens were, I sometimes think that our safe, affluent lifestyles deprive us of the chance to be tested and become more resilient and resourceful. On the other hand, I'm sure that the men of January 1863 would have instantly surrendered all their resilience and resourcefulness to be warm and dry again! So the next time you find yourself cursing the dampness and cold, just remember how good you've got it!

Merry Christmas to All!--and Especially Our Troops

I would like to wish a blessed and merry Christmas to everyone! No soul should be lonely or forgotten on this holiday--and indeed, none is, because we all have a God who remembers and loves every last man, woman, and child on this earth, every moment of every day of the year. But in the midst of life's challenges we don't always realize it, and it's especially hard for men and women far from family and home at military installations here in the United States, or at bases or in the field in faraway lands. We can imagine Santa visiting them, as in the amusing drawing below by Thomas Nast of Santa distributing packages to Union troops during the Civil War, which appeared on the cover of Harper's Weekly on January 3, 1863 (if you were a soldier would you rather get socks or a jack-in-the-box?--believe me, you'd want the former!):

But as adults we know that Santa won't "really" be there, and that there's nothing our service men and women want more at times like this than to be at home, surrounded by family and friends. Would that we didn't need soldiers and sailors, armies and navies! But until the Messiah returns, we always will. And one thing we can do for them is pray unceasingly for their welfare, their success, and their safe and speedy return home. To that end, I'd like to reprint a marvelous "Christmas Prayer for our Troops & their Families" that appeared on the excellent web site Free Republic one year ago tomorrow:

Lord God, there is no other God but You. You alone are Savior. You alone are Redeemer. When we trust in You, when we fear You alone, there You are, by our sides, protecting, providing in Your ever-perfect Way….especially when we do not understand.

Lord God, You came on that first Christmas as the Prince of Peace – not the Prince of peace as the world defines it but the peace which You bring to tortured souls, the peace which surpasses understanding and the peace between Jew and Gentile that anyone, yes, anyone who proclaims belief in You as Savior and bows to You as Lord may enter into the supreme goodness of eternity with You.

Lord God, You are God, therefore Your ways are not our own. Yours are higher, better. They must be or You are not God. Lord God, the world wants peace, but the peace it seeks is not to be found so long as we are on this earth. When Adam and Eve chose to obey their own wills instead of Yours, they set themselves under the dominion of the evil one, who is greater than we and less, less, less than You!!! This adversary roams the world, looking to destroy, looking to conquer.

Lord God, so long as we are on earth, though we do not want war, times will come and come again where we must stand and fight. Lord God, every generation has paid this high price for freedom in some way and now it is our turn. Lord God, bless each and every military member and family who so valiantly serve this nation and the world, drawing the line and saying no more to those who would exact terror on the rest of us and force us to submit to their way of life or be killed.

Lord God, draw each and every troop and their families closer to You this Christmas. Give them greater understanding of who You are and the mission they serve – for our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. Lord God, show Yourself to them, help them understand how You protect, how You provide and how they can trust in You.

Lord God, be with the families. Send Your angels not only to those on the battlefields, but every family at home this Christmas who has someone they love deployed and especially be with our Gold Star families.. Stand by them and be their comfort this Christmas as they journey through the loneliness of grief. Lord God only You can reach deep inside where the hurt is and slowly, slowly bring the healing. Give each of them a purpose from You which helps them keep going, though often it is the hardest thing they have ever had to do.

And Lord God, be with each of our wounded warriors. Heal them spiritually, emotionally, as well as physically. Give their doctors great wisdom and give them comrades beside them so they may encourage one another. Bless also each of our veterans and let them feel Your love around them this Christmas.

Lord God, provide now the way for victory in this war. The adversary may be more clever than we are, but You are Sovereign and You are Supreme. Therefore we bow to You and ask You to give our Generals, Admirals and Leaders Your strategy to make progress to victory. Lord God, we can’t do this without You. By Your Holy Spirit speak to them. Guide and direct them and bring them all home safely. We are so grateful for their service. In Jesus’ precious and mighty name, Amen

Amen indeed . . . and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all!

150th Anniversary, Harpers Ferry Raid

“Here before God, in the presence of these witnesses, I consecrate my life to the destruction of slavery.”

Thus declared John Brown (1800 – 1859), a local farmer and tanner, at an 1837 memorial service in Hudson, Ohio for Illinois abolitionist Elijah P. Lovejoy, who was killed when a mob destroyed the offices of his newspaper. Certainly no one present when Brown stood and uttered those words could have imagined how prophetic they were, or how devastating and decisive would be their consequences for America more than 20 years later.

This weekend marks the 150th anniversary of one of the most bizarre, yet important, events in American history: John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), a picturesque little town at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers.

After sundown on the evening of Sunday, October 16, 1859, Brown led a group of 16 white and 5 black men (three of whom were left behind as a rear guard) across the Potomac River from Maryland, where they had been holed up in a remote farmhouse for weeks, and into the town of Harpers Ferry on the Virginia side. Their aim was to capture the thousands of weapons stored at the federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, distribute them to legions of runaway slaves that they expected would flock to their banner, and commence a "long march" south through the Appalachian Mountains that would lure slaves away from surrounding plantations and shatter the South's "peculiar institution" once and for all. The raiders took control of the arsenal in the dead of night, almost unopposed--but from there, their fortunes declined rapidly. Brown allowed a train to pass through town, which alerted federal authorities down the line several hours later. By Monday morning October 17, local residents and militia had organized and began a siege of the small brick engine house at the armory where Brown and his remaining party and hostages had holed up. The area became a war zone and more and more of Brown's men, including two of his sons, were shot and killed. Monday afternoon a detachment of U.S. Marines was dispatched from Washington to Harpers Ferry under the command of Colonel Robert E. Lee of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry. After Brown refused a surrender demand on Tuesday morning by Lee's aide-de-camp Lt. J.E.B. Stuart, the Marines battered in the engine house door and violently overpowered the occupants, badly wounding Brown in the process. Brown was later taken to the court house in nearby Charles Town for trial, was found guilty of treason against the commonwealth of Virginia, and was hanged on December 2, 1859.

The whole country was electrified by the Harpers Ferry raid and Brown's subsequent trial and execution. Brown was lionized by northern abolitionists, and used his notoriety before the trial to issue a torrent of propaganda for the cause. After his execution Brown continued to inspire people in the north and was regarded by many as a prophet, a martyr, and a saint. Others, especially in the south, regarded him as a ruthless terrorist. The Harpers Ferry raid was what finally convinced many in the south that they could not remain in the Union and live secure from the depredations of abolitionists and rebellious slaves. Thus, historians now generally agree that through his raid Brown did more than any other single individual to spark the wave of secession and civil war that overtook the country less than two years later.

The whole story of John Brown and his campaign against slavery cannot be told or even summarized in a blog post. But it is among the most fascinating and momentous sagas in American history, and I highly recommend it to my readers. There are many misconceptions about Brown, mostly that he was crazy, a lifelong failure, and an obscure loner. It's probably true that he was mentally "imbalanced" to some degree; he was never able to provide his family with a secure or comfortable living (though he always tried), and he rarely let others' counsel get the better of his own. However, a careful study of his life suggests that Brown was not quite the twisted, hell-bent fanatic or loser that many people think he was. He loved and cherished his family. He was a man of sincere religious conviction who felt himself humbled by God and called by Him to a great work. He was also a man of indomitable energy, unshakable will, considerable organization and leadership skill, and great personal charisma. Several years before Harpers Ferry, he led volunteers in "Bleeding Kansas" confronting pro-slavery invaders from Missouri, and thereby helped secure the territory (and future state) for the free-soil cause (although part of that effort was his leadership of the Pottawatomie Massacre, in which five pro-slavery settlers were hacked to death). His work in Kansas propelled him to national prominence in the abolitionist movement, and he was closely acquainted with its most prominent leaders, including Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Gerrit Smith, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Theodore Parker, George Luther Stearns, Samuel Gridley Howe, and Franklin Sanborn (excluding Douglass and Garrison, these men comprised the "Secret Six," who provided financial and material assistance to Brown in his preparations for the Harpers Ferry raid, and risked prosecution for treason as a result). He met with Harriet Tubman in Chatham, Ontario (home to 2000 free and fugitive American slaves) in 1858 and helped draft a new constitution of government for the United States that included African Americans as full members of society. For more than two years before the Raid, he criss-crossed the country raising money and recruiting men for his venture. Brown's plans may have been grandiose and unrealistic, but his work to realize them hardly reflected an irrational, incompetent, or withdrawn individual.

After his death, Brown's wife took his body for burial to the family homestead in North Elba, New York, which Brown had bought from Gerrit Smith in 1849 with the intent to assist African American farmers that Smith had helped settle in that area. Several years ago Melany and I visited the place now known simply as "John Brown's Farm." Nestled in the Adirondack Mountains, it is beautiful and very peaceful. Over the years it has come to be the final resting place for many of the men who stood and fell with Brown at Harpers Ferry. At the Farm, one gets the impression that these men still stand together on the other shore.

"I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood. . . "

Brown wrote these words on the day of his death. How sadly prophetic they were, for the Civil War he had helped touch off would claim two-thirds of a million lives before his dream of an America without slavery was finally realized.

To learn more about John Brown and the Raid on Harpers Ferry, read Stephen Oates' excellent To Purge This Land With Blood; a Biography of John Brown.