150 Years Ago in the Civil War

Julia Ward Howe published the

Battle Hymn of the Republic in 1862

2012 is the 150th anniversary of the second year of the Civil War, the second of five years. This year's reproduction print collection 1862 Battle Hymn, commemorates events of that year when Americans realized that the Confederates were not to be intimidated or easily subdued, that Union armies needed training and leadership and that Civil War meant battles in the front yard.

A family stunned by the nearby Battle of Cedar Mountain, 1862

Detail of a photo from the Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cwp.4a39506/ 

  

Julia Ward Howe wrote new words to the song that Union soldiers sang as they marched. Her Battle Hymn of the Republic was published in the February, 1862 issue of the Atlantic Monthly, to become an American classic.

Read more about Julia Ward Howe's Battle Hymn in this post on my 2011 Civil War blog

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2011/12/50-grapes-of-wrath.html 

Timothy H. O'Sullivan photographed the Virginia family outside their house where a Confederate General died. They happened to be in the way when the battle broke out.

Behind them broken furniture, trees and fences.

Hampton Roads

Each of the 8 prints in the reproduction collection is named for a battle from that year.

Shiloh

Corinth

Chantilly

Cedar Mountain

Yorktown

Memphis

Valverde

See a gallery of pictures from 1862 in the Library of Congress by clicking here:

http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/picamer/paCw1862.html

And keep up with the New York Times's Disunion blog that records the year 1862 in short essays:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/disunion/