Tag: Literary devices

1861: Sullivan Ballou Letter

ESSENTIAL QUESTION:

How did Major Sullivan Ballou use language to convey his deepest emotions to his wife?

CONTEXT:

Sullivan Ballou (1829-1861) was a lawyer and politician from Rhode Island. Married with two sons, he was an active Republican, supporter of Abraham Lincoln, and served in the Rhode Island legislature. At the outbreak of the American Civil War he received a commission in the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment and was soon sent to Washington, DC. Injured in the 1st Battle of Bull Run (July 21, 1861), he was too wounded to remove from the battlefield and was left in the care of Army surgeons. He died July 28 .

This letter to his wife was written from Camp Clark, outside Washington, DC. as his unit prepared for action. While some historians question that authorship, this lesson assumes the letter was written by Major Sullivan Ballou at that time.

TEXT:

July the 14th, 1861

Washington D.C.

My very dear Sarah:

The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days—perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more.

Our movement may be one of a few days duration and full of pleasure—and it may be one of severe conflict and death to me. Not my will, but thine O God, be done. If it is necessary that I should fall on the battlefield for my country, I am ready. I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in, the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans upon the triumph of the Government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing—perfectly willing—to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt.

But, my dear wife, when I know that with my own joys I lay down nearly all of yours, and replace them in this life with cares and sorrows—when, after having eaten for long years the bitter fruit of orphanage myself, I must offer it as their only sustenance to my dear little children—is it weak or dishonorable, while the banner of my purpose floats calmly and proudly in the breeze, that my unbounded love for you, my darling wife and children, should struggle in fierce, though useless, contest with my love of country.

Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me to you with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield.

The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when God willing, we might still have lived and loved together and seen our sons grow up to honorable manhood around us. I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me—perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar—that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name.

Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have often been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness, and struggle with all the misfortune of this world, to shield you and my children from harm. But I cannot. I must watch you from the spirit land and hover near you, while you buffet the storms with your precious little freight, and wait with sad patience till we meet to part no more.

But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the brightest day and in the darkest night—amidst your happiest scenes and gloomiest hours—always, always; and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath; or the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.

Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for me, for we shall meet again.

As for my little boys, they will grow as I have done, and never know a father’s love and care. Little Willie is too young to remember me long, and my blue-eyed Edgar will keep my frolics with him among the dimmest memories of his childhood. Sarah, I have unlimited confidence in your maternal care and your development of their characters. Tell my two mothers his and hers I call God’s blessing upon them. O Sarah, I wait for you there! Come to me, and lead thither my children.

Sullivan

INQUIRY:

  1. Soldiers still often write “death letters” when they are in combat. What would be the purpose(s) of these letters?
  2. The Governor of Rhode Island traveled to Virginia in March, 1862, to retrieve Ballou’s remains, which had been left behind when the Union troops retreated from the battlefield. This letter was never mailed to Sarah; it was found in Major Ballou’s effects after his death and was given to her. The original letter has not been found but multiple copies exist. Does the fact that the original has not yet been found change the effects of the letter? Why or why not?
  3. Sarah was 24 years old when her husband died, and she never remarried. She moved to New Jersey and lived with her son William, where she died in 1917 at age 80. She and her husband are buried together in Providence, RI, Swan Point Cemetery, and some say that this letter was buried with her. Why might her family have buried the letter with her? Research “grave goods.” In what cultures and for what purposes have grave goods been prominent?
  4. There is some controversy about this letter, with some literary historians positing that it does not convey Ballou’s style of writing. Is it possible that under intense emotional stress one’s writing style can alter?
  5. Identify at least six appeals in this letter, including ones to emotion (pathos), to ethics (ethos), to logic (logos), and to kairos (timeliness). How did Ballou weave these appeals together? Which appeals do you believe are strongest? Why?
  6. How did Ballou reference the future? What was his purpose in doing so?
  7. Was Ballou a religious man? How do you know?
  8. Identify examples of juxtaposition and contrast in the letter. What purposes do they serve?
  9. What type of officer do you believe Ballou would have been? Justify your response.
  10. What message would this letter have conveyed to Ballou’s wife Sarah? Justify your response.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/honorable-manhood-video/ken-burns-the-civil-war/

https://www.nps.gov/articles/-my-very-dear-wife-the-last-letter-of-major-sullivan-ballou.htm

1939: Lou Gehrig leaves Baseball

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

How did Lou Gehrig use language to convey strength and optimism in the face of tragedy?

CONTEXT

Henry Louis Gehrig (1903-1941) was born in New York City and played first base for 17 seasons for the New York Yankees baseball team. He received many awards, was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and was the first player to have his uniform number retired by a team. Many consider him one of the best players of the game.

On May 2, 1939, he voluntarily took himself out of the game because an undiagnosed ailment was affecting his play. It was determined that he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a degenerative neuromuscular disease often known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. On July 4, 1939, he delivered the speech from which this text is taken at Yankee Stadium. Gehrig lived less than two years after his diagnosis.

TEXT

Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.

I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans. When you look around, wouldn’t you consider it a privilege to associate yourself which such fine looking men as are standing in uniform in this ballpark today?

Sure I’m lucky.

Who wouldn’t consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball’s greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy?

Sure I’m lucky.

When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift — that’s something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies — that’s something.

When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter — that’s something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body — it’s a blessing When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed — that’s the finest I know.

So, I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I’ve got an awful lot to live for.

INQUIRY

  1. What contrast did Gehrig establish in the first two sentences? How did that affect the tone of the speech?
  2. To whom did Gehrig address this speech? How do you know? Why do you think he chose them as his primary audience?
  3. Why did Gehrig choose to deliver the speech in Yankee Stadium?
  4. Gehrig used anaphora, the repetition of a phrase several times within a work. Identify the phrase he repeated. What was the effect of his repetition of this phrase?
  5. Gehrig mentioned several people in this speech–Rupert, Barrow, Huggins, and McCarthy. Research these individuals and determine their relationships to Gehrig. What is the effect of mentioning people by name in a speech?
  6. Investigate the rivalry between the New York Yankees and the New York Giants in the late 1930s. How did that rivalry influence Gehrig’s speech?
  7. Gehrig mentioned his family and their sacrifices. What is the role of family sacrifice for an athlete to achieve greatness?
  8. What is the tone of this speech? How do you know?
  9. In his last sentence, Gehrig set up a clear contrast. What was the contrast? In what ways was it ironic?
  10. The person who survived the longest on record with ALS was Steven Hawking, who lived 55 years after he was diagnosed with a slowly developing form of the disease, but the average survival rate is about 3-5 years. How might knowledge of a life-threatening disease affect your view of life?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/lougehrigfarewelltobaseball.htm