Volume 38, No. 1 – January 2025
Website: www.CivilWarRoundTablePalmBeach.org

The President’s Message:

Our January program will be How the Mexican War Influenced Generals during the Civil War given by Robert Krasner.

I look forward to seeing you Wednesday, January 8^th at 7 PM.

Gerridine LaRovere

December 11, 2024 Program:
A Florida Lad’s Four Christmases
From the Diary of Robert Watson, of Key West

Dec. 25, 1861 (at Pinellas Point, today’s St. Petersburg, as a member of Capt. Henry Mulrenan’s company of Florida Volunteer Coast Guard, the West Avengers)

“Took dinner with Mr. George Rickards and a splendid dinner it was.  We spent a very agreeable day at his house and at night he dad some of the best eggnog I ever drank.”

Dec. 25, 1862 (at Tampa, as orderly sergeant of Co, K, 7^th Florida Regiment, on parole following capture Sept. 2 near Boston, Ky.)

“Christmas day and I was in bed all day from chills and fever.  I ate mothing and as there is no liquor in the place of course I drank nothing.  I have been since ever since last date (Dec. 14^th) and I see no prospect of getting any better for I am in worse health than when I arrived here.”

Dec. 25, 1863 (at Dalton, GA., following action at Chickamauga)

“All the prisoners except the officers were armed with Colt’s 5 shooting rifles.” [the 21^st OVI] and Missionary Ridge “a bullet struck my knapsack at the right shoulder and came out at the left shoulder, making 23 holes in my blanket.” 

“Christmas day and a very dull one but I find a tolerable good dinner.  I had one drink of whiskey in the morning.  There was some serenading last night but I took no part in it for I did not feel merry as my thoughts were of home.  We have been very busy building winter quarters since last date (Dec. 11), and they are now finished and quite comfortable.”

Dec. 25, 1864 (at Charleston, S.C., following his transfer to the C.S. Navey, after firing the Ram Savannah in the Savannah River during that city’s evacuation, and en route to Battery Buchanan at Fort Fisher) Christmas day.

“Turned out at 6 AM, very cold.  We were ordered to hold ourselves in readiness to leave at moment warning.  20 men were sent to the Ram Charleston, all the balance except the Savannah’s crew went to James Island.  I went in a boat to carry a lot of officers and marines, head winds and tides, miserable old leaky boat, very slow.  In coming back we were hailed by the Ram Chicora, went alongside and the officer in charge of the boat went aboard and remained there 1/2 hour and it was raining all the time.   Our officer got in the boat and just as we shoved off he was ordered on board again for he did not have the countersign and they were not satisfied.   He remained 1/2 hr longer when one of the officers came down with a lantern and looked at our faces.   He knew one of the men that belonged to the Indian Chief so he was satisfied and let us go.  Was hailed and brought to Castle Pickney and had the same trouble over again, finally started and got on board the Indian Chief at 10 PM tired and wet, put on my only suit of clothes and turned it.  This ends Christmas day.  The poorest I ever spent.”

Christmas Bells

“I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” has been a popular Christmas carol since the first musical version appeared in 1872.  Originally a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the text was set to music by John Baptiste Calkin and has been recorded by the likes of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  A subsequent musical version penned by Johnny Marks in the 1950s became popular thanks in large part to the talents of Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Sarah McLachlan, and others, who have made Marks’ version the most commonly heard setting of Longfellow’s text.

Unbeknownst to many a Christmas caroler, Longfellow’s poem has its roots in the American Civil War.  Longfellow wrote the piece on Christmas Day in 1863.  Nine months earlier his son, Charles Appleton Longfellow snuck away from home and enlisted in the Federal army in Washington, D.C.  The younger Longfellow excelled in his training and received a commission as a 2^nd Lieutenant in the 1^st Massachusetts Cavalry in time to take part in the Chancellorsville campaign.  He was ill during the Gettysburg campaign, but returned to duty in the fall of 1863.

While at dinner on December 1, 1863, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow received a telegram.  His son had been severely wounded in a skirmish on November 27, 1863.  A bullet entered Charles’ left shoulder, passing through his back and clipping the spine before exiting under the right shoulder blade.  The elder Longfellow immediately set out for Washington, arriving there on December 3.  After two more days of waiting, Charles arrived by train in the nation’s capital.  According to the poet, “[t]he army surgeon who came with the wounded alarmed me by saying that his duty to himself and me required him to say that the would was very serious one and paralysis might ensue.”  That evening, three more surgeons gave another more favorable report.  Charles “will be long in healing,” but it will be at least six months before he can return to the service.  In fact, though Charles survived his would, his military career was over.  In summarizing the ordeal to a friend, the Henry Longfellow wrote, “I have been through a great deal of trouble and anxiety.”  This “trouble and anxiety” is evident in the lines of the poem, “Christmas Bells” -- the basis for the popular Christmas carol.