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History & Social Thought
Churchill, Sir Winston: Selected Writings
River War
An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan (1902 edition)
Contents:
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Chapter I. The Rebellion of the Mahdi Chapter II. The Fate of the Envoy Chapter III. The Dervish Empire Chapter IV. The Years of Preparation Chapter V. The Beginning of War Chapter VI. Firket Chapter VII. The Recovery of the Dongola Province Chapter VIII. The Desert Railway Chapter IX. Abu Hamed Chapter X. Berber |
Chapter XI. Reconnaissance Chapter XII. The Battle of the Atbara Chapter XIII. The Grand Advance Chapter XIV. The Operations of the First of September Chapter XV. The Battle of Omdurman Chapter XVI. The Fall of the City Chapter XVII. 'The Fashoda Incident' Chapter XVIII On the Blue Nile Chapter XIX. The End of the Khalifa Appendix |
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From Chapter I:
The Rebellion of the Mahdi
The north-eastern quarter of the continent of Africa is drained and watered by the Nile. Among and about the headstreams and tributaries of this mighty river lie the wide and fertile provinces of the Egyptian Soudan. Situated in the very centre of the land, these remote regions are on every side divided from the seas by five hundred miles of mountain, swamp, or desert. The great river is their only means of growth, their only channel of progress. It is by the Nile alone that their commerce can reach the outer markets, or European civilisation can penetrate the inner darkness. The Soudan is joined to Egypt by the Nile, as a diver is connected with the surface by his air-pipe. Without it there is only suffocation. Aut Nilus, aut nihil!
The town of Khartoum, at the confluence of the Blue and White Niles, is the point on which the trade of the south must inevitably converge. It is the great spout through which the merchandise collected from a wide area streams northwards to the Mediterranean shore. It marks the extreme northern limit of the fertile Soudan. Between Khartoum and Assuan the river flows for twelve hundred miles through deserts of surpassing desolation. At last the wilderness recedes and the living world broadens out again into Egypt and the Delta. It is with events that have occurred in the intervening waste that these pages are concerned.
The Story of the Malakand Field Force
An Episode of Frontier War
Contents
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Preface Chapter I: The Theatre of War Chapter II: The Malakand Camps Chapter III: The Outbreak Chapter IV: The Attack on the Malakand Chapter V: The Relief of Chakdara Chapter VI: The Defence of Chakdara Chapter VII: The Gate of Swat Chapter VIII: The Advance Against the Mohmands Chapter IX: Reconnaissance |
Chapter X: The March to Nawagai Chapter XI: The Action of the Mamund Valley, 16th Sept. Chapter XII: At Inayat Kila Chapter XIII: Nawagai Chapter XIV: Back to the Mamund Valley Chapter XV: The Work of the Cavalry Chapter XVI: Submission Chapter XVII: Military Observations Chapter XVIII: The Riddle of the Frontier Appendix |
From the Preface
On general grounds I deprecate prefaces. I have always thought that if an author cannot make friends with the reader, and explain his objects, in two or three hundred pages, he is not likely to do so in fifty lines. And yet the temptation of speaking a few words behind the scenes, as it were, is so strong that few writers are able to resist it. I shall not try.
While I was attached to the Malakand Field Force I wrote a series of letters for the London Daily Telegraph. The favourable manner in which these letters were received, encouraged me to attempt a more substantial work. This volume is the result.
from Chapter I: The Theatre of War
All along the north and north-west frontiers of India lie the Himalayas, the greatest disturbance of the earth's surface that the convulsions of chaotic periods have produced. Nearly four hundred miles in breadth and more than sixteen hundred in length, this mountainous region divides the great plains of the south from those of Central Asia, and parts as a channel separates opposing shores, the Eastern Empire of Great Britain from that of Russia. The western end of this tumult of ground is formed by the peaks of the Hindu Kush, to the south of which is the scene of the story these pages contain. The Himalayas are not a line, but a great country of mountains. By one who stands on some lofty pass or commanding point in Dir, Swat or Bajaur, range after range is seen as the long surges of an Atlantic swell, and in the distance some glittering snow peak suggests a white-crested roller, higher than the rest. . . . Again the rain has cut wide, deep and constantly-changing channels through this soft deposit; great gutters, which are sometimes seventy feet deep and two or three hundred yards across. These are the nullahs. Usually the smaller ones are dry, and the larger occupied only by streams; but in the season of the rains, abundant water pours down all, and in a few hours the brook has become an impassable torrent, and the river swelled into a rolling flood which caves the banks round which it swirls, and cuts the channel deeper year by year.
. . . The streams are full of fish, both trout and mahseer. By the banks teal, widgeon and wild duck, and in some places, snipe, are plentiful. Chikor, a variety of partridge, and several sorts of pheasants, are to be obtained on the hills. . .
Over all is a bright blue sky and powerful sun. Such is the scenery of the theatre of war.
The inhabitants of these wild but wealthy valleys are of many tribes, but of similar character and condition. The abundant crops which a warm sun and copious rains raise from a fertile soil, support a numerous population in a state of warlike leisure. Except at the times of sowing and of harvest, a continual state of feud and strife prevails throughout the land. Tribe wars with tribe. The people of one valley fight with those of the next. To the quarrels of communities are added the combats of individuals. Khan assails khan, each supported by his retainers. Every tribesman has a blood feud with his neighbor. Every man's hand is against the other, and all against the stranger.
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Douglass, Frederick: Collected Articles
My Bondage and My Freedom
By a principle essential to Christianity, a person is eternally differenced from a thing; so that the idea of a human being, necessarily excludes the idea of property in that being. -- Coleridge
Entered according to Act of Congress in 1855 by Frederick Douglass in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Northern District of New York.
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Dear Friend:
I have long entertained, as you very well know, a somewhat positive repugnance to writing or speaking anything for the public, which could, with any degree of plausibility, make me liable to the imputation of seeking personal notoriety, for its own sake. Entertaining that feeling very sincerely, and permitting its control, perhaps, quite unreasonably, I have often refused to narrate my personal experience in public anti- slavery meetings, and in sympathizing circles, when urged to do so by friends, with whose views and wishes, ordinarily, it were a pleasure to comply. In my letters and speeches, I have generally aimed to discuss the question of Slavery in the light of fundamental principles, and upon facts, notorious and open to all; making, I trust, no more of the fact of my own former enslavement, than circumstances seemed absolutely to require. I have never placed my opposition to slavery on a basis so narrow as my own enslavement, but rather upon the indestructible and unchangeable laws of human nature, every one of which is perpetually and flagrantly violated by the slave system. . . .
In Talbot county, Eastern Shore, Maryland, near Easton, the county town of that county, there is a small district of country, thinly populated, and remarkable for nothing that I know of more than for the worn-out, sandy, desert-like appearance of its soil, the general dilapidation of its farms and fences, the indigent and spiritless character of its inhabitants, and the prevalence of ague and fever.
The name of this singularly unpromising and truly famine stricken district is Tuckahoe, a name well known to all Marylanders, black and white. It was given to this section of country probably, at the first, merely in derision; or it may possibly have been applied to it, as I have heard, because some one of its earlier inhabitants had been guilty of the petty meanness of stealing a hoe -- or taking a hoe that did not belong to him. Eastern Shore men usually pronounce the word took, as tuck; Took-a-hoe, therefore, is, in Maryland parlance, Tuckahoe. But, whatever may have been its origin -- and about this I will not be positive -- that name has stuck to the district in question; and it is seldom mentioned but with contempt and derision, on account of the barrenness of its soil, and the ignorance, indolence, and poverty of its people. Decay and ruin are everywhere visible, and the thin population of the place would have quitted it long ago, but for the Choptank river, which runs through it, from which they take abundance of shad and herring, and plenty of ague and fever.
It was in this dull, flat, and unthrifty district, or neighborhood, surrounded by a white population of the lowest order, indolent and drunken to a proverb, and among slaves, who seemed to ask, "Oh! what's the use?" every time they lifted a hoe, that I -- without any fault of mine was born, and spent the first years of my childhood.
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Collected Articles of Frederick Douglass
Author of Many Works on the Escape from Slavery around the Time of the Civil War
My Escape from Slavery
The Century Illustrated Magazine 23, n.s. 1 (Nov. 1881): 125-131.
In the first narrative of my experience in slavery, written nearly forty years ago, and in various writings since, I have given the public what I considered very good reasons for withholding the manner of my escape. In substance these reasons were, first, that such publication at any time during the existence of slavery might be used by the master against the slave, and prevent the future escape of any who might adopt the same means that I did. The second reason was, if possible, still more binding to silence: the publication of details would certainly have put in peril the persons and property of those who assisted. Murder itself was not more sternly and certainly punished in the State of Maryland than that of aiding and abetting the escape of a slave. Many colored men, for no other crime than that of giving aid to a fugitive slave, have, like Charles T. Torrey, perished in prison. The abolition of slavery in my native State and throughout the country, and the lapse of time, render the caution hitherto observed no longer necessary. But even since the abolition of slavery, I have sometimes thought it well enough to baffle curiosity by saying that while slavery existed there were good reasons for not telling the manner of my escape, and since slavery had ceased to exist, there was no reason for telling it. I shall now, however, cease to avail myself of this formula, and, as far as I can, endeavor to satisfy this very natural curiosity. I should, perhaps, have yielded to that feeling sooner, had there been anything very heroic or thrilling in the incidents connected with my escape, for I am sorry to say I have nothing of that sort to tell; and yet the courage that could risk betrayal and the bravery which was ready to encounter death, if need be, in pursuit of freedom, were essential features in the undertaking. My success was due to address rather than courage, to good luck rather than bravery. My means of escape were provided for me by the very men who were making laws to hold and bind me more securely in slavery.
...
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
Written by Himself.
Chapter I
I was born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, and about twelve miles from Easton, in Talbot county, Maryland. I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it. By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant. I do not remember to have ever met a slave who could tell of his birthday. They seldom come nearer to it than planting-time, harvest- time, cherry-time, spring-time, or fall-time. A want of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness to me even during childhood. The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege. I was not allowed to make any inquiries of my master concerning it. He deemed all such inquiries on the part of a slave improper and impertinent, and evidence of a restless spirit. The nearest estimate I can give makes me now between twenty-seven and twenty- eight years of age. I come to this, from hearing my master say, some time during 1835, I was about seventeen years old. My mother was named Harriet Bailey. She was the daughter of Isaac and Betsey Bailey, both colored, and quite dark. My mother was of a darker complexion than either my grandmother or grand- father. My father was a white man. He was admitted to be such by all I ever heard speak of my parentage. The opinion was also whispered that my master was my father; but of the correctness of this opinion, I know nothing; the means of knowing was withheld from me. My mother and I were separated when I was but an infant -- before I knew her as my mother. It is a common custom, in the part of Maryland from which I ran away, to part children from their mothers at a very early age. Frequently, before the child has reached its twelfth month, its mother is taken from it, and hired out on some farm a considerable distance off, and the child is placed under the care of an old woman, too old for field labor. For what this separation is done, I do not know, unless it be to hinder the development of the child's affection toward its mother, and to blunt and destroy the natural affection of the mother for the child. This is the inevitable result. I never saw my mother, to know her as such, more than four or five times in my life; and each of these times was very short in duration, and at night. She was hired by a Mr. Stewart, who lived about twelve miles from my home. She made her journeys to see me in the night, travelling the whole distance on foot, after the performance of her day's work. She was a field hand, and a whipping is the penalty of not being in the field at sunrise, unless a slave has special permission from his or her master to the contrary -- a permission which they seldom get, and one that gives to him that gives it the proud name of being a kind master. I do not recollect of ever seeing my mother by the light of day. She was with me in the night. She would lie down with me, and get me to sleep, but long before I waked she was gone. Very little communication ever took place between us. Death soon ended what little we could have while she lived, and with it her hardships and suffering. She died when I was about seven years old, on one of my master's farms, near Lee's Mill. I was not al- lowed to be present during her illness, at her death, or burial. She was gone long before I knew any thing about it. Never having enjoyed, to any considerable extent, her soothing presence, her tender and watchful care, I received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger.
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Grant Ulysses S.
Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, complete
Preface.
"Man proposes and God disposes." There are but few important events in the affairs of men brought about by their own choice. . .
Contents
Volume I.
Chapter I.
Ancestry -- Birth -- Boyhood.
Chapter II.
West Point -- Graduation.
Chapter III.
Army life -- causes of the Mexican war -- camp salubrity.
Chapter IV.
Corpus Christi -- Mexican Smuggling -- Spanish Rule In Mexico -- Supplying
Transportation.
Chapter V.
Trip To Austin -- Promotion To Full Second-Lieutenant -- Army Of Occupation.
Chapter VI.
Advance Of The Army -- Crossing The Colorado -- The Rio Grande.
Chapter VII.
The Mexican War -- The Battle Of Palo Alto -- The Battle Of Resaca De La Palma --
Army Of Invasion -- General Taylor -- Movement On Camargo.
Chapter VIII.
Advance On Monterey -- The Black Fort -- The Battle Of Monterey -- Surrender Of
The City.
Chapter IX.
Political Intrigue -- Buena Vista -- Movement Against Vera Cruz -- Siege And
Capture Of Vera Cruz.
Chapter X.
March To Jalapa -- Battle Of Cerro Gordo -- Perote -- Puebla -- Scott And Taylor.
Chapter XI.
Advance On The City Of Mexico -- Battle Of Contreras -- Assault At Churubusco --
Negotiations For Peace -- Battle Of Molino Del Rey -- Storming Of Chapultepec --
San Cosme -- Evacuation Of The City -- Halls Of The Montezumas.
Chapter XII.
Promotion To First Lieutenant -- Capture Of The City Of Mexico -- The Army --
Mexican Soldiers -- Peace Negotiations.
Chapter XIII.
Treaty Of Peace -- Mexican Bull Fights -- Regimental Quartermaster -- Trip To
Popocatapetl -- Trip To The Caves Of Mexico.
Chapter XIV.
Return Of The Army -- Marriage -- Ordered To The Pacific Coast -- Crossing The
Isthmus -- Arrival At San Francisco.
Chapter XV.
San Francisco -- Early California Experiences -- Life On The Pacific Coast --
Promoted Captain -- Flush Times In California.
Chapter XVI.
Resignation -- Private Life -- Life At Galena -- The Coming Crisis.
Chapter XVII.
Outbreak Of The Rebellion -- Presiding At A Union Meeting -- Mustering Officer Of
State Troops -- Lyon At Camp Jackson -- Services Tendered To The Government.
Chapter XVIII.
Appointed Colonel Of The 21st Illinois -- Personnel Of The Regiment -- General
Logan -- March To Missouri -- Movement Against Harris At Florida, Mo. -- General
Pope In Command -- Stationed At Mexico, Mo.
Chapter XIX.
Commissioned Brigadier-General -- Command At Ironton, Mo. -- Jefferson City --
Cape Girardeau -- General Prentiss -- Seizure Of Paducah -- Headquarters At Cairo.
Chapter XX.
General Fremont In Command -- Movement Against Belmont -- Battle Of Belmont -- A
Narrow Escape -- After The Battle.
Chapter XXI.
General Halleck In Command -- Commanding The District Of Cairo -- Movement On
Fort Henry -- Capture Of Fort Henry.
Chapter XXII.
Investment Of Fort Donelson -- The Naval Operations -- Attack Of The Enemy --
Assaulting The Works -- Surrender Of The Fort.
Chapter XXIII.
Promoted Major-General Of Volunteers -- Unoccupied Territory -- Advance Upon
Nashville -- Situation Of The Troops -- Confederate Retreat -- Relieved Of The
Command -- Restored To The Command -- General Smith.
Chapter XXIV.
The Army At Pittsburg Landing -- Injured By A Fall -- The Confederate Attack At
Shiloh -- The First Day's Fight At Shiloh -- General Sherman -- Condition Of The
Army -- Close Of The First Day's Fight -- The Second Day's Fight -- Retreat And
Defeat Of The Confederates.
Chapter XXV.
Struck By A Bullet -- Precipitate Retreat Of The Confederates -- Intrenchments At
Shiloh -- General Buell -- General Johnston -- Remarks On Shiloh.
Chapter XXVI.
Halleck Assumes Command In The Field -- The Advance Upon Corinth -- Occupation Of
Corinth -- The Army Separated.
Chapter XXVII.
Headquarters Moved To Memphis -- On The Road To Memphis -- Escaping Jackson --
Complaints And Requests -- Halleck Appointed Commander-In-Chief -- Return To
Corinth -- Movements Of Bragg -- Surrender Of Clarksville -- The Advance Upon
Chattanooga -- Sheridan Colonel Of A Michigan Regiment.
Chapter XXVIII.
Advance Of Van Dorn And Price -- Price Enters Iuka -- Battle Of Iuka.
Chapter XXIX.
Van Dorn's Movements -- Battle Of Corinth -- Command Of The Department Of The
Tennessee.
Chapter XXX.
The Campaign Against Vicksburg -- Employing The Freedmen -- Occupation Of Holly
Springs -- Sherman Ordered To Memphis -- Sherman's Movements Down The Mississippi
-- Van Dorn Captures Holly Springs -- Collecting Forage And Food.
Chapter XXXI.
Headquarters Moved To Holly Springs -- General Mcclernand In Command -- Assuming
Command At Young's Point -- Operations Above Vicksburg -- Fortifications About
Vicksburg -- The Canal -- Lake Providence -- Operations At Yazoo Pass.
Chapter XXXII.
The Bayous West Of The Mississippi -- Criticisms Of The Northern Press -- Running
The Batteries -- Loss Of The Indianola -- Disposition Of The Troops.
Chapter XXXIII.
Attack On Grand Gulf -- Operations Below Vicksburg.
Chapter XXXIV.
Capture Of Port Gibson -- Grierson's Raid -- Occupation Of Grand Gulf -- Movement
Up The Big Black -- Battle Of Raymond.
Chapter XXXV.
Movement Against Jackson -- Fall Of Jackson -- Intercepting The Enemy -- Battle Of
Champion's Hill.
Chapter XXXVI.
Battle Of Black River Bridge -- Crossing The Big Black -- Investment Of Vicksburg
-- Assaulting The Works.
Chapter XXXVII.
Siege Of Vicksburg.
Chapter XXXVIII.
Johnston's Movements -- Fortifications At Haines's Bluff -- Explosion Of The Mine
-- Explosion Of The Second Mine -- Preparing For The Assault -- The Flag Of Truce
-- Meeting With Pemberton -- Negotiations For Surrender -- Accepting The Terms --
Surrender Of Vicksburg.
Chapter XXXIX.
Retrospect Of The Campaign -- Sherman's Movements -- Proposed Movement Upon
Mobile -- A Painful Accident -- Ordered To Report At Cairo.
...
Excerpts from Chapter I.
Ancestry -- Birth -- Boyhood.
My family is American, and has been for generations, in all its branches, direct and collateral.
Mathew Grant, the founder of the branch in America, of which I am a descendant, reached Dorchester, Massachusetts, in May, 1630. In 1635 he moved to what is now Windsor, Connecticut, and was the surveyor for that colony for more than forty years. He was also, for many years of the time, town clerk. He was a married man when he arrived at Dorchester, but his children were all born in this country. His eldest son, Samuel, took lands on the east side of the Connecticut River, opposite Windsor, which have been held and occupied by descendants of his to this day.
I am of the eighth generation from Mathew Grant, and seventh from Samuel. . . .
During the minority of my father, the West afforded but poor facilities for the most opulent of the youth to acquire an education, and the majority were dependent, almost exclusively, upon their own exertions for whatever learning they obtained. . . He made himself an excellent English scholar, and before he was twenty years of age was a constant contributor to Western newspapers, and was also, from that time until he was fifty years old, an able debater in the societies for this purpose, which were common in the West at that time. He always took an active part in politics, but was never a candidate for office, except, I believe, that he was the first Mayor of Georgetown. He supported Jackson for the Presidency; but he was a Whig, a great admirer of Henry Clay, and never voted for any other democrat for high office after Jackson. . . .
My father was, from my earliest recollection, in comfortable circumstances, considering the times, his place of residence, and the community in which he lived. Mindful of his own lack of facilities for acquiring an education, his greatest desire in maturer years was for the education of his children. Consequently, as stated before, I never missed a quarter from school from the time I was old enough to attend till the time of leaving home. This did not exempt me from labor. In my early days, every one labored more or less, in the region where my youth was spent, and more in proportion to their private means.
...
from Chapter II. West Point -- Graduation.
In the winter of 1838-9 I was attending school at Ripley, only ten miles distant from Georgetown, but spent the Christmas holidays at home. During this vacation my father received a letter from the Honorable Thomas Morris, then United States Senator from Ohio. When he read it he said to me, Ulysses, I believe you are going to receive the appointment." "What appointment?" I inquired. To West Point; I have applied for it." "But I won't go," I said. He said he thought I would, and I thought so too, if he did. I really had no objection to going to West Point, except that I had a very exalted idea of the acquirements necessary to get through. I did not believe I possessed them, and could not bear the idea of failing.
...
Volume II.
Contents.
Chapter XL.
First Meeting With Secretary Stanton -- General Rosecrans -- Commanding Military
Division Of Mississippi -- Andrew Johnson's Address -- Arrival At Chattanooga.
Chapter XLI.
Assuming The Command At Chattanooga -- Opening A Line Of Supplies -- Battle Of
Wauhatchie -- On The Picket Line.
Chapter XLII.
Condition Of The Army -- Rebuilding The Railroad -- General Burnside's Situation
-- Orders For Battle -- Plans For The Attack -- Hooker's Position -- Sherman's
Movements.
Chapter XLIII.
Preparations For Battle -- Thomas Carries The First Line Of The Enemy -- Sherman
Carries Missionary Ridge -- Battle Of Lookout Mountain -- General Hooker's Fight.
Chapter XLIV.
Battle Of Chattanooga -- A Gallant Charge -- Complete Rout Of The Enemy -- Pursuit
Of The Confederates -- General Bragg -- Remarks On Chattanooga.
Chapter XLV.
The Relief Of Knoxville -- Headquarters Moved To Nashville -- Visiting Knoxville
-- Cipher Dispatches -- Withholding Orders.
Chapter XLVI.
Operations In Mississippi -- Longstreet In East Tennessee -- Commissioned Lieutenant-General -- Commanding The Armies Of The United States -- First Interview With President Lincoln.
Chapter XLVII.
The Military Situation -- Plans For The Campaign -- Sheridan Assigned To Command
Of The Cavalry -- Flank Movements -- Forrest At Fort Pillow -- General Banks's
Expedition -- Colonel Mosby -- An Incident Of The Wilderness Campaign.
Chapter XLVIII.
Commencement Of The Grand Campaign -- General Butler's Position -- Sheridan's
First Raid.
Chapter XLIX.
Sherman S Campaign In Georgia -- Siege Of Atlanta -- Death Of General Mcpherson --
Attempt To Capture Andersonville -- Capture Of Atlanta.
Chapter L.
Grand Movement Of The Army Of The Potomac -- Crossing The Rapidan -- Entering The
Wilderness -- Battle Of The Wilderness.
Chapter LI.
After The Battle -- Telegraph And Signal Service -- Movement By The Left Flank.
Chapter LII.
Battle Of Spottsylvania -- Hancock's Position -- Assault Of Warren's And Wright's
Corps -- Upton Promoted On The Field -- Good News From Butler And Sheridan.
Chapter LIII.
Hancock's Assault -- Losses Of The Confederates -- Promotions Recommended --
Discomfiture Of The Enemy -- Ewell's Attack -- Reducing The Artillery.
Chapter LIV.
Movement By The Left Flank -- Battle Of North Anna -- An Incident Of The March --
Moving On Richmond -- South Of The Pamunkey -- Position Of The National Army.
Chapter LV.
Advance On Cold Harbor -- An Anecdote Of The War -- Battle Of Cold Harbor --
Correspondence With Lee Retrospective.
Chapter LVI.Left Flank Movement Across The Chickahominy And James -- General Lee -- Visit To Butler -- The Movement On Petersburg -- The Investment Of Petersburg.
Chapter LVII.
Raid On The Virginia Central Railroad -- Raid On The Weldon Railroad -- Early's
Movement Upon Washington -- Mining The Works Before Petersburg -- Explosion Of
The Mine Before Petersburg -- Campaign
In The Shenandoah Valley -- Capture Of The Weldon Railroad.
Chapter LVIII.
Sheridan's Advance -- Visit To Sheridan -- Sheridan's Victory In The Shenandoah --
Sheridan's Ride To Winchester -- Close Of The Campaign For The Winter.
Chapter LIX.
The Campaign In Georgia -- Sherman's March To The Sea -- War Anecdotes -- The
March On Savannah -- Investment Of Savannah -- Capture Of Savannah.
Chapter LX.
The Battle Of Franklin -- The Battle Of Nashville
Chapter LXI.
Expedition Against Fort Fisher -- Attack On The Fort -- Failure Of The Expedition -- Second Expedition Against The Fort -- Capture Of Fort Fisher.
Chapter LXII.
Sherman's March North -- Sheridan Ordered To Lynchburg -- Canby Ordered To Move
Against Mobile -- Movements Of Schofield And Thomas -- Capture Of Columbia, South
Carolina -- Sherman In The Carolinas.
Chapter LXIII.
Arrival Of The Peace Commissioners -- Lincoln And The Peace Commissioners -- An
Anecdote Of Lincoln -- The Winter Before Petersburg -- Sheridan Destroys The
Railroad -- Gordon Carries The Picket Line -- Parke Recaptures The Line -- The
Battle Of White Oak Road.
Chapter LXIV.
Interview With Sheridan -- Grand Movement Of The Army Of The Potomac --
Sheridan's Advance On Five Forks -- Battle Of Five Forks -- Parke And Wright
Storm The Enemy's Line -- Battles Before Petersburg.
Chapter LXV.
The Capture Of Petersburg -- Meeting President Lincoln In Petersburg -- The
Capture Of Richmond -- Pursuing The Enemy -- Visit To Sheridan And Meade.
Chapter LXVI.
Battle Of Sailor's Creek -- Engagement At Farmville -- Correspondence With
General Lee -- Sheridan Intercepts The Enemy.
Chapter LXVII.
Negotiations At Appomattox -- Interview With Lee At Mclean's House -- The Terms
Of Surrender -- Lee's Surrender -- Interview With Lee After The Surrender.
Chapter LXVIII.
Morale Of The Two Armies -- Relative Conditions Of The North And South -- President
Lincoln Visits Richmond -- Arrival At Washington -- President Lincoln's
Assassination -- President Johnson's Policy.
Chapter LXIX.
Sherman And Johnston -- Johnston's Surrender To Sherman -- Capture Of Mobile --
Wilson's Expedition -- Capture Of Jefferson Davis -- General Thomas's Qualities --
Estimate Of General Canby.
Chapter LXX.
The End Of The War -- The March To Washington -- One Of Lincoln's Anecdotes --
Grand Review At Washington -- Characteristics Of Lincoln And Stanton -- Estimate
Of The Different Corps Commanders.
Conclusion
Appendix
Excerpt from Chapter XL.
The reply (to my telegram of October 16, 1863, from Cairo, announcing my arrival at that point) came on the morning of the 17th, directing me to proceed immediately to the Galt House, Louisville, where I would meet an officer of the War Department with my instructions. I left Cairo within an hour or two after the receipt of this dispatch, going by rail via Indianapolis. Just as the train I was on was starting out of the depot at Indianapolis a messenger came running up to stop it, saying the Secretary of War was coming into the station and wanted to see me. . . .
Up to this time no hint had been given me of what was wanted after I left Vicksburg, except the suggestion in one of Halleck's dispatches that I had better go to Nashville and superintend the operation of troops sent to relieve Rosecrans. Soon after we started the Secretary handed me two orders, saying that I might take my choice of them. The two were identical in all but one particular. Both created the "Military Division of Mississippi," (giving me the command) composed of the Departments of the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the Tennessee, and all the territory from the Alleghanies to the Mississippi River north of Banks's command in the south-west. One order left the department commanders as they were, while the other relieved Rosecrans and assigned Thomas to his place. I accepted the latter. We reached Louisville after night and, if I remember rightly, in a cold, drizzling rain. The Secretary of War told me afterwards that he caught a cold on that occasion from which he never expected to recover. He never did. . . .
As stated before, after the fall of Vicksburg I urged strongly upon the government the propriety of a movement against Mobile. General Rosecrans had been at Murfreesboro', Tennessee, with a large and well-equipped army from early in the year 1863, with Bragg confronting him with a force quite equal to his own at first, considering it was on the defensive. But after the investment of Vicksburg Bragg's army was largely depleted to strengthen Johnston, in Mississippi, who was being reinforced to raise the siege. I frequently wrote General Halleck suggesting that Rosecrans should move against Bragg. By so doing he would either detain the latter's troops where they were or lay Chattanooga open to capture. General Halleck strongly approved the suggestion, and finally wrote me that he had repeatedly ordered Rosecrans to advance, but that the latter had constantly failed to comply with the order, and at last, after having held a council of war, had replied in effect that it was a military maxim "not to fight two decisive battles at the same time." If true, the maxim was not applicable in this case. It would be bad to be defeated in two decisive battles fought the same day, but it would not be bad to win them.
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Hamilton, Alexander
The Federalist Papers
Federalist No. 1
General Introduction
For the Independent
Journal.
Saturday, October 27, 1787
To the People of the State of New York:
After an unequivocal experience of the inefficacy of the subsisting federal government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America. The subject speaks its own importance; comprehending in its consequences nothing less than the existence of the Union, the safety and welfare of the parts of which it is composed, the fate of an empire in many respects the most interesting in the world. It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force. If there be any truth in the remark, the crisis at which we are arrived may with propriety be regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind.
This idea will add the inducements of philanthropy to those of patriotism, to heighten the solicitude which all considerate and good men must feel for the event. Happy will it be if our choice should be directed by a judicious estimate of our true interests, unperplexed and unbiased by considerations not connected with the public good. But this is a thing more ardently to be wished than seriously to be expected. The plan offered to our deliberations affects too many particular interests, innovates upon too many local institutions, not to involve in its discussion a variety of objects foreign to its merits, and of views, passions and prejudices little favorable to the discovery of truth.
Among the most formidable of the obstacles which the new Constitution will have to encounter may readily be distinguished the obvious interest of a certain class of men in every State to resist all changes which may hazard a diminution of the power, emolument, and consequence of the offices they hold under the State establishments; and the perverted ambition of another class of men, who will either hope to aggrandize themselves by the confusions of their country, or will flatter themselves with fairer prospects of elevation from the subdivision of the empire into several partial confederacies than from its union under one government.
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Lee Robert E
Recollections and Letters of General Lee
by Captain Robert E. Lee, His Son
Contents
Chapter I
Services in the United States Army
Captain Lee, of the Engineers, a hero to his child -- The family pets -- Home from the Mexican War -- Three years in Baltimore -- Superintendent of the West Point Military Academy -- Lieutenant- Colonel of Second Cavalry -- Supresses "John Brown Raid" at Harper's Ferry -- Commands the Department of Taxes
Chapter II
The Confederate General
Resigns from Colonelcy of First United States Cavalry -- Motives for this step -- Chosen to command Virginia forces -- Anxiety about his wife, family, and possessions -- Chief advisor to President Davis -- Battle of Manassas -- Military operations in West Virginia -- Letter to State Governor
Chapter III
Letters to Wife and Daughters
From Camp on Sewell's Mountain -- Quotation from Colonel Taylor's book -- From Professor Wm. P. Trent -- From Mr. Davis's Memorial Address -- Defense of Southern ports -- Christmas, 1861 -- The General visits his father's grave -- Commands, under the President, all the armies of the Confederate States
Chapter IV
Army Life of Robert the Younger
Volunteer in Rockbridge Artillery -- "Four Years with General Lee" quoted -- Meeting between father and son -- Personal characteristics of the General -- Death of his daughter Annie -- His son Robert raised from the ranks -- the horses, "Grace Darling" and "Traveller" -- Fredricksburg -- Freeing slaves
Chapter V
The Army of Northern Virginia
The General's sympathy for his suffering soldiers -- Chancellorsville -- Death of "Stonewall" Jackson -- General Fitzhugh Lee wounded and captured -- Escape of his brother Robert -- Gettysburg -- Religious revival -- Infantry review -- Unsatisfactory commissariat
Chapter VI
The Winter of 1863-4
The Lee family in Richmond -- The General's letters to them from Camps Rappahannock and Rapidan -- Death of Mrs. Fitzhugh Lee -- Preparations to meet General Grant -- The Wilderness -- Spottsylvania Court House -- Death of General Stuart -- General Lee's illness
Chapter VII
Fronting the Army of the Potomac
Battle of Cold Harbour -- Siege of Petersburg -- The General intrusts a mission to his son Robert -- Battle of the Crater -- Grant crosses the James River -- General Long's pen-picture of Lee -- Knitting socks for the soldiers -- A Christmas dinner -- Incidents of camp life
Chapter VIII
The Surrender
Fort Fisher captured -- Lee made Commander-in-Chief -- Battle of Five Forks -- The General's farewell to his men -- His reception in Richmond after the surrender -- President Davis hears the news -- Lee's visitors -- His son Robert turns farmer
Chapter IX
A Private Citizen
Lee's conception of the part -- His influence exerted toward the restoration of Virginia -- He visits old friends throughout the country -- Receives offers of positions -- Compares notes with the Union General Hunter -- Longs for a country home -- Finds one at "Derwent," near Cartersville
Chapter X
President of Washington College
Patriotic motives for acceptance of trust -- Condition of college -- The General's arrival at Lexington -- He prepares for the removal of his family to that city -- Advice to Robert Junior -- Trip to "Bremo" on private canal-boat -- Mrs. Lee's invalidism
Chapter XI
The Idol of the South
Photographs and autographs in demand -- The General's interest in young people -- His happy home life -- Labours at Washington College -- He gains financial aid for it -- Worsley's translation of Homer dedicated to him -- Tributes from other English scholars
Chapter XII
Lee's Opinion upon the Late War
His intention to write the history of his Virginia campaigns -- Called before a committee of Congress -- Preaches patience and silence in the South -- Shuns controversy and publicity -- Corresponds with an Englishman, Herbert C. Saunders
Chapter XIII
Family Affairs
The General writes to his sons -- To his wife at Rockbridge Baths -- He joins her there about once a week -- Distinguised and undistinguished callers at his Lexington home -- He advocates early hours -- His fondness for animals
Chapter XIV
An Ideal Father
Letters to Mildred Lee -- To Robert -- To Fitzhugh -- Interviewed by Swinton, historian of the Army of the Potomac -- Improvement in grounds and buildings of Washington College -- Punctuality a prominent trait of its President -- A strong supporter of the Y.M.C.A.
Chapter XV
Mountain Rides
An incident about "Traveller" -- The General's love for children -- His friendship with Ex-President Davis -- A ride with his daughter to the Peaks of Otter -- Mildred Lee's narrative -- Mrs. Lee at the White Sulphur Springs -- The great attention paid her husband there -- His idea of life
Chapter XVI
An Advisor of Young Men
Lee's policy as college president -- His advice on agricultural matters -- His affection for his prospective daughter-in-law -- Fitzhugh's wedding -- The General's ovation at Petersburg -- his personal interest in the students under his care
Chapter XVII
The Reconstruction Period
The General believes in the enforcement of law and order -- His moral influence in the college -- Playful humour shown in his letters -- His opinion of negro labour -- Mr. Davis's trial -- Letter to Mrs. Fitzhugh Lee -- Intercourse with Faculty
Chapter XVIII
Mrs. R. E. Lee
Goest to Warm Springs for rheumatism -- Her daughter Mildred takes typhoid there -- Removes to Hot Springs -- Her husband's devotion -- Visit of Fitzhugh and bride to Lexington -- Miss Jones, a would-be benefactor of Washington College -- Fate of Washington relics belonging to Mrs. Lee's family
Chapter XIX
Lee's Letters to His Sons
The building of Robert's house -- The General as a railroad delegate -- Lionised in Baltimore -- Calls on President Grant -- Visits Alexandria -- Declines to be interviewed -- Interested in his grandson -- The Washington portraits
Chapter XX
The New Home in Lexington
Numerous guests -- Further sojourns at different Baths -- Death of the General's brother, Smith Lee -- Visits to "Ravensworth" and "The White House" -- Meetings with interesting people at White Sulphur Springs -- Death of Professor Preston
Chapter XXI
Failing Health
The General declines lucrative positions in New York and Atlanta -- He suffers from an obstinate cold -- Local gossip -- He is advised to go South in the spring of 1870 -- Desires to visit his daughter Annie's grave
Chapter XXII
The Southern Trip
Letters to Mrs. Lee from Richmond and Savannah -- From Brandon -- Agnes Lee's account of her father's greetings from old friends and old soldiers -- Wilmington and Norfolk do him honour -- Visits to Fitzhugh and Robert in their homes
Chapter XXIII
A Round of Visits
Baltimore -- Alexandria -- A war-talk with Cousin Cassius Lee -- "Ravensworth" -- Letter to Doctor Buckler declining invitation to Europe -- To General Cooper -- To Mrs. Lee from the Hot Springs -- Tired of public places -- Preference for country life
Chapter XXIV
Last Days
Letter to his wife -- To Mr. Tagart -- Obituary notice in "Personal Reminiscences of General Robert E. Lee" -- Mrs. Lee's account of his death
from Chapter I -- Services in the United States Army
The first vivid recollection I have of my father is his arrival at Arlington, after his return from the Mexican War. I can remember some events of which he seemed a part, when we lived at Fort Hamilton, New York, about 1846, but they are more like dreams, very indistinct and disconnected -- naturally so, for I was at that time about three years old. But the day of his return to Arlington, after an absence of more than two years, I have always remembered. I had a frock or blouse of some light wash material, probably cotton, a blue ground dotted over with white diamond figures. Of this I was very proud, and wanted to wear it on this important occasion. Eliza, my "mammy," objecting, we had a contest and I won. Clothed in this, my very best, and with my hair freshly curled in long golden ringlets, I went down into the larger hall where the whole household was assembled, eagerly greeting my father, who had just arrived on horseback from Washington, having missed in some way the carriage which had been sent for him.
There was visiting us at this time Mrs. Lippitt, a friend of my mother's, with her little boy, Armistead, about my age and size, also with long curls. Whether he wore as handsome a suit as mine I cannot remember, but he and I were left together in the background, feeling rather frightened and awed. After a moment's greeting to those surrounding him, my father pushed through the crowd, exclaiming:
"Where is my little boy?"
He then took up in his arms and kissed -- not me, his own child in his best frock with clean face and well-arranged curls -- but my little playmate, Armistead! I remember nothing more of any circumstances connected with that time, save that I was shocked and humiliated. I have no doubt that he was at once informed of his mistake and made ample amends to me.
A letter from my father to his brother Captain S. S. Lee, United States Nave, dated "Arlington, June 30, 1848," tells of his coming home:
"Here I am once again, my dear Smith, perfectly surrounded by Mary and her precious children, who seem to devote themselves to staring at the furrows in my face and the white hairs in my head. It is not surprising that I am hardly recognisable to some of the young eyes around me and perfectly unknown to the youngest. But some of the older ones gaze with astonishment and wonder at me, and seem at a loss to reconcile what they see and what was pictured in their imaginations. I find them, too, much grown, and all well, and I have much cause for thankfulness, and gratitude to that good God who has once more united us." . . .
From that early time I began to be impressed with my father's character, as compared with other men. Every member of the household respected, revered and loved him as a matter of course, but it began to dawn on me that every one else with whom I was thrown held him high in their regard. At forty-five years of age he was active, strong, and as handsome as he had ever been. I never remember his being ill. I presume he was indisposed at times; but no impressions of that kind remain. He was always bright and gay with us little folk, romping, playing, and joking with us. With the older children, he was just as companionable, and the have seen him join my elder brothers and their friends when they would try their powers at a high jump put up in our yard. The two younger children he petted a great deal, and our greatest treat was to get into his bed in the morning and lie close to him, listening while he talked to us in his bright, entertaining way. . . . Although he was so joyous and familiar with us, he was very firm on all proper occasions, never indulged us in anything that was not good for us, and exacted the most implicit obedience. I always knew that it was impossible to disobey my father. I felt it in me, I never thought why, but was perfectly sure when he gave an order that it had to be obeyed.
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Lincoln, Abraham
Collected Writings
Lines included in these selected passages:
House divided
against itself cannot stand
If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong
Whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad
Never stir up litigation
No man can be silent if he would
We do not want to dissolve the Union; You shall not
Government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free
Smallest are often the most difficult things to deal with
Hard to affirm a negative
Judges are as honest as other men, and not more so
I must say I do not think myself fit for the Presidency
If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must
Is there in all republics this inherent and fatal weakness?
It is bad to be poor
Jibes and sneers in place of argument
Secession is the essence of anarchy
Wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief
Emancipation Proclamation
Order of Retaliation
Who has the right needs not to fear
Bad promises are better broken than kept
Four Score and Seven Years Ago
Irresponsible Newspaper Reporters and Editors
That Some Should Be Rich Shows That Others May Become Rich
Too Lazy to Be Anything but a Lawyer
War at the Best Is Terrible
We Accepted this War, and Did Not Begin it
World Has Never Had a Good Definition of the Word Liberty
Would Accept War Rather than Let [the Union] Perish
Volume 1.
Introductory
Immediately after Lincoln's re-election to the Presidency, in an off-hand speech, delivered in response to a serenade by some of his admirers on the evening of November 10, 1864, he spoke as follows:
"It has long been a grave question whether any government not too strong for the liberties of its people can be strong enough to maintain its existence in great emergencies. On this point, the present rebellion brought our republic to a severe test, and the Presidential election, occurring in regular course during the rebellion, added not a little to the strain.... The strife of the election is but human nature practically applied to the facts in the case. What has occurred in this case must ever occur in similar cases. Human nature will not change. In any future great national trial, compared with the men of this, we shall have as weak and as strong, as silly and as wise, as bad and as good. Let us therefore study the incidents in this as philosophy to learn wisdom from and none of them as wrongs to be avenged.... Now that the election is over, may not all having a common interest reunite in a common fort to save our common country? For my own part, I have striven and shall strive to avoid placing any obstacle in the way. So long as I have been here, I have not willingly planted a thorn in any man's bosom. While I am deeply sensible to the high compliment of a re-election and duly grateful, as I trust, to Almighty God for having directed my countrymen to a right conclusion, as I think for their own good, it adds nothing to my satisfaction that any other man may be disappointed or pained by the result."
This speech has not attracted much general attention, yet it is in a peculiar degree both illustrative and typical of the great statesman who made it, alike in its strong common-sense and in its lofty standard of morality. Lincoln's life, Lincoln's deeds and words, are not only of consuming interest to the historian, but should be intimately known to every man engaged in the hard practical work of American political life. . . .
The American people should feel profoundly grateful that the greatest American statesman since Washington, the statesman who in this absolutely democratic republic succeeded best, was the very man who actually combined the two sets of qualities which the historian thus puts in antithesis. Abraham Lincoln, the rail-splitter, the Western country lawyer, was one of the shrewdest and most enlightened men of the world, and he had all the practical qualities which enable such a man to guide his countrymen; and yet he was also a genius of the heroic type, a leader who rose level to the greatest crisis through which this nation or any other nation had to pass in the nineteenth century.
-- Theodore Roosevelt
September 22, 1905.
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A Scientist
Looks at Romantic Love and Calls It "Limerence":
The Collected Works of Dorothy Tennov
"Nothing has ever been so 'invisible in plain sight'," Dr. Tennov says of "limerence." Limerence is a distinct state that creates that "feeling of being in love" -- that state which Hollywood loves to portray as "love," but that is really as far from the genuine article as a zircon is from a true diamond. Yet, although we see it all around us, full-blown limerence is usually difficult for the "uninitiated" to imagine.
During 35 years of research, and especially since the publication of her classic work, Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being in Love, Dr. Tennov has received thousands of emails and handwritten letters, anonymously filed, that say, over and over, "Thank you for letting me know I am not alone, and not crazy, and that this feeling has a name." As one desperate writer cried, "I can't even tell my psychiatrist -- he'll think I'm crazy!"
The feelings of a man or woman caught up in limerence (a person Dr. Tennov calls a "limerent") can range from euphoria to misery, from the "greatest happiness" to suicidal grief. The limerent's emotional state usually rises and falls with the way that the person who is the object of a limerent's affections (the "LO") responds … or fails to.At its best, limerence draws people together--to make marriage commitments, to build families, to propagate the species. At its worst, and all too often, however, limerence spurs people to make regrettable life decisions (like running away with a 'heart-throb'), generates feelings of desolation, breaks up families, and shatters hearts.
This new eBook on CD contains
most of Dr. Dorothy Tennov's mature work, including decades of responses and
reactions to Love and Limerence. It also includes her email address, through
which you can contact the author, with your own stories, in confidence (for
research purposes and possible comment). Dr Tennov welcomes comments from
all readers, and invites them to share both negative and positive reactions.
Below is a sample from this eBook -- The Trial (A Love Story) is a compelling novel that takes the reader on a scientific exploration into this frequent, though not universal, experience. It is based on actual events and real situations. It is a step toward discovering, "What is this thing called love?"
from The Trial (A Love Story)
Introduction:
At first, Ruth and Xavier spoke mostly about their field work, in the jungles of New Guinnea. Xavier described what he knew of the customs of the various tribes they visited. Then they talked about more general scientific matters. Xavier introduced her to Alan Browne's theory on Love Two.
But, even after borrowing and reading Xavier's copy of Browne's book, Ruth hadn't really understood that Love Two was a distinct state - universal, across cultures in its potential - but also something that not all people experienced.
"Browne," said Xavier, "and my personal experience has confirmed it, Love Two is something a person is either in or not in. You see, the course of Love Two depends on what happens. Mainly, it depends on how the person who is its object behaves, but also on whether there are obstacles to fulfillment. Adversity actually strengthens it. At least, that's what he says. If the union between Romeo and Juliet had met with family approval, they might not have been attracted to each other.
"Browne contends that once a person is caught in its grip, there are only two routes out of Love Two: Total fulfillment of desire through reciprocation, or obstacles so great that hope for fulfillment is completely and totally destroyed. The latter may never happen, because Love Two leads one to hang on to every conceivable sign of a possibility that the person will come around. That's why it can take a long time to get over it. Browne reported that it could last a lifetime under conditions with a little hope here and there."
"That must be what is meant by 'stringing someone along,'" Ruth said. "Frankly, Love Two sounds diabolical."
"You got it," Xavier answered. "Love Two gives rise to the most wonderful, most ecstatic, most entirely pleasurable experience human beings ever know. The French writer Stendhal called it 'the greatest happiness.' Browne told about an interview, taped by one of his assistants, in which a woman told such a tale of torment that it brought tears to Browne's eyes as he listened. When the interview was over, the interviewer, almost as an afterthought, asked if the woman had any final comment. She responded, 'Despite the pain, I would not have missed it for anything. It was the most wonderful thing that ever happened to me. It gave meaning to my life!' "
"No wonder psychologist Stanton
Peele calls it an addiction. You make it sound like a drug effect."
"That's right. And Browne said he had found it in all kinds of people from the very uptight to the very laid back. How they dealt with it was different, but how they felt, what they wanted, and how much their thinking was interfered with, was the same for king and commoner."
"So that's what is meant
by universality. It could happen, although it might not, but if it does happen,
it happens in the same way to everyone."
"Furthermore," Xavier said excitedly, "Some of Browne's informants reported having the experience for the first time in their forties, or even later. One man said he finally understood what the words to an old songs meant. He had always assumed they were romantic exaggerations. He was astonished to learn that they were literal descriptions."
"You mean things like 'I
can't get you out of my mind'."
"Precisely."
Chapter I: Talk Radio
Peter Young, Ph.D., psychotherapist, was sued by a patient. Nancy Mackintosh had consulted him because she wanted to have a family, but her love relationships had always ended short of a lifetime commitment because the men would become suffocatingly over-possessive. She had liked them all as friends and as lovers, but she was unable to respond to them in some mysterious way that they said they needed her to. Dr. Young had claimed in their first session that hers was the sort of problem for which he believed his brand of psychotherapy was especially well suited. He later repeated that promise on tape, but what he promised is not what happened.
As with all heavily publicized
cases, the public expressed itself on the subject. There following statements
record some of the many opinions expressed by callers to radio shows. The
trial had ended, but the publicity continued to reverberate around the country.
Few people who watched the trial of Dr. Young on TV or read about it in the
newspapers understood all that happened, why the verdict was what it was,
or how the suit had been hatched by special interests. Nor did they understand
the relevance of the trial to the revolution in human reproduction that would
take place during their lifetimes. But I get ahead of my tale.
Man from Milwaukee:
As one who has on many occasions been the object of the irrational passions of others, I have a unique perspective on the proceedings. My opinion is that such people have succumbed to a virtually criminal level of irrationality in which they act against their own long-term interests. I could have written the movie Fatal Attraction, in which a rejected lover takes ugly revenge. I have been threatened.
Man from Boston:
Being the object of loving attentions has resulted in delightful encounters. There are problems for the weak, the empathic, or the overly moral, but if men can tolerate smothering attentions and allow their lovers to do what they want to do for them, there can be many delightful benefits. Only take care NOT to be the one who "loves." It's only being the object of passion that is useful. After all, it is a matter of their choices and their sins. The object of another's fixation can, if he or she is wise, enjoy pleasure without responsibility…But it is something I give to the woman, not something I feel. I enjoy; she, at least temporarily, is transported to a state of ecstasy that I can only wonder at. For me it's fun; it's more than that for her. The trial clarified some things I'd have preferred not be clarified.
Man from Delaware Village, Vermont:
The
Young case demonstrated what I have always known: It is that to leave the
church is to do the bidding of the immoral antichrist. It is to walk with
Satan. Put a godless man in a position of power, and he will use it to do
the Devil's work. God bless.
Woman from Seattle:
The person I am calling about, who will be nameless, was lovesick. His wife had left him for another man. He could not stop wanting her and he could not stop believing it was possible to get her back. I could see what he was going through. It was just like in the book about Love Two that they talked about at the trial - which meant he really couldn't help how he felt. I tried to explain to them that it was not his fault and that the man was not really crazy, just obsessed in this one way. But the members of the church were outraged. They said I was contradicting the doctrine of free will and individual responsibility. That was also their attitude toward the Young Case. They said that Dr. Young chose to feel the way he did, and he chose to do what he did.
Woman from New York:
I don't believe in this Love Two nonsense. There is no such thing as not being able to control your own thoughts, at least not outside the nut house. They are just trying to excuse their indulgences. That's all I want to say.
Woman from Arlington:
I felt sorry for Dr. Young. There, but for the luck of the draw, could have gone anyone. Even from the biased newspaper accounts, I could see the poor man's quandary. He did nothing wrong. Nancy Mackintosh wasn't the victim; Dr. Young was the victim. He was only looking out for her interests. Certainly he was wounded by the publicity. It's not the sort of thing one wants to expose to the world, whichever way you look at it.
Man from Alabama:
The human experience transcends what science can know. Science has no business messing with it. Love is sacred. It is wrong to try to tamper with love. Our humanity is under threat from these so-called scientists who carry on about Love Two.
Woman from Phoenix:
I went right out and bought the book they were talking about at the trial. It told me that I was not alone. Maybe it is madness, but it is a normal kind of madness generally restricted to the one aspect of life. Except that it can take over other aspects. Dr. Young's vision got clouded.
Male from Kansas:
Those so-called Love Two stories bore me and probably other listeners too. Psychotherapy? It's for the unbalanced. That whole case made a mountain out of a mole's hill. It's nothing. Can we please get off the Young case and get back to something important, like global warming, nuclear waste, or international terrorism?
Woman from Maine:
My mother would spend long periods in what she called her "time of quiet contemplation." She would sit alone or she would lie on a couch or in her hammock lost to everything except what was going on in her mind. Mother had been dead for ten years before I understood what had been happening. Although I had read the her diary, the clippings, and the letters, I could not decode them until the Young case woke me up. I hadn't known about the emotion or the pain, and I was especially ignorant about the joy of it. For Mother, that man was the most important thing in life. He was a beacon of light and a source of exquisite pain and infinite pleasure. He gave meaning to her life, maybe a kind of meaning that others find in religion. Love Two is a powerful force. Nancy had learned to be careful, which was why she had to bring the suit against Dr. Young.
Man from Delaware:
For me, "Love Two" is a phony love with no redeeming features. I've been there. She had me in her grip; she pulled my strings and pushed my buttons. But it was all beneath the surface. She was unaware. It was not deliberate on her part, and I never committed the Young error. Maybe I was too shy. It would have been too embarrassing to fail, and it was too irrational to be revealed. I guess that, as a psychotherapist, Dr. Young had more ways to rationalize the act, more bases for convincing himself that his Love Two conception of Nancy was correct, thereby overruling his professional judgment. At times I thought I was crazy, neurotic, or whatever silly thing you want to call it. But the worst of it was the wasteful inanity. Some foreign, tantalizing, but ultimately evil thing had taken possession of me. It undermined my professional life and broke up my home.
Man from Toronto:
The Young case was important to me; it showed me that even though IT was crazy, I could see that I was not.
Man from Florida:
I'm tired of this story and I'm tired of these calls about Dr. Young. It's a swindle, and someone should be sued for wasting taxpayer's money. It was the stupidest and most boring soap opera I ever heard of. The man did nothing, nothing happened, and the insurance companies won big time.
Woman from Nebraska:
The rules are simple and obvious. Ask Shakespeare. Once struck by Cupid's arrow or after downing the love potion, a person is transported to a new state of motivation. Young was playing by the rules of the wrong game.
When it was all over, Ruth was reminded of the Monica Lewinsky saga and the dress stain that changed the course of history. Whatever the end results might be, lives had been changed. That President was crippled in the one way that he might have risen above others. His sanctimonious enemies had a long field day. The ease with which they won the many plays that followed led to a scientific question that Ruth pondered seriously years later. That moment, that shameful little event, what many considered to be an ordinary indignity, meaningless in