Tag: writing

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

1962: Carson’s “Silent Spring”

ESSENTIAL QUESTION:

What role can literature play in shaping American policy?

CONTEXT:

Rachel Carson (1907-1964) was an American conservationist, marine biologist, and writer of several best selling books detailing marine life. In 1962 she published Silent Spring, a book which brought the environmental movement to the attention of the American People by combining scientific research and narrative writing to appeal to a broad audience. She reasoned that widespread use of synthetic pesticides (such as DDT) were harmful in the short and long terms, entering the food chain and threatening humans. Although chemical companies fiercely opposed the work, it brought a change in national pesticide policy and led to a nationwide ban of DDT and other pesticides. The work inspired a grassroots environmental movement, leading to the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency. Carson died of breast cancer in 1964 at her home in Silver Spring, Maryland.

TEXT:

…There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to be in harmony with its surroundings. The town lay in the midst of a checkerboard of prosperous farms, with fields of grain and hillsides of orchards, where white clouds of bloom drifted above the green land. In autumn, oak and maple and birch set up a blaze of color that flamed and flickered across a backdrop of pines. Then foxes barked in the hills and deer crossed the fields, half hidden in the mists of the mornings. Along the roads, laurel, viburnum, and alder, great ferns and wild flowers delighted the traveler’s eye through much of the year. Even in winter, the roadsides were places of beauty, where countless birds came to feed on the berries and on the seed heads of the dried weeds rising above the snow….

Then, one spring, a strange blight crept over the area, and everything began to change. Some evil spell had settled on the community; mysterious maladies swept the flocks of chickens, and the cattle and sheep sickened and died. Everywhere was the shadow of death. The farmers told of much illness among their families. In the town, the doctors were becoming more and more puzzled by new kinds of sickness that had appeared among their patients. There had been several sudden and unexplained deaths, not only among the adults but also among the children, who would be stricken while they were at play, and would die within a few hours. And there was a strange stillness. The birds, for example—where had they gone? Many people, baffled and disturbed, spoke of them. The feeding stations in the back yards were deserted….

This town does not actually exist; I know of no community that has experienced all the misfortunes I describe. Yet every one of them has actually happened somewhere in the world, and many communities have already suffered a substantial number of them. A grim specter has crept upon us almost unnoticed, and soon my imaginary town may have thousands of real counterparts. What is silencing the voices of spring in countless towns in America?….

It is widely known that radiation has done much to change the very nature of the world, the very nature of its life; strontium 90, released into the air through nuclear explosions, comes to earth in rain or drifts down as fallout, lodges in soil, enters into the grass or corn or wheat grown there, and, in time, takes up its abode in the bones of a human being, there to remain until his death. It is less well known that many man-made chemicals act in much the same way as radiation; they lie long in the soil, and enter into living organisms, passing from one to another. Or they may travel mysteriously by underground streams, emerging to combine, through the alchemy of air and sunlight, into new forms, which kill vegetation, sicken cattle, and work unknown harm on those who drink from once pure wells….. Now, in the modern world, there is no time. The speed with which new hazards are created reflects the impetuous and heedless pace of man, rather than the deliberate pace of nature….

INQUIRY:

  1. Carson’s first two paragraphs sharply contrast an imaginary town. Why did she start with such an idyllic place? How does this influence the tone of this excerpt?
  2. Although Carson did not specifically mention DDT in this excerpt, her work led to the banning of the substance. DDT is the short form of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, a colorless, odorless chemical compound. It was used widely during World War II with civilian and military populations to control malaria, typhus and other insect-born diseases. In 1945 it was made available to American farmers to use as an insecticide. But today it is classified as a “probably human carcinogen” by US and international authorities and is banned in the US and most other countries. How did Carson imply the dangers of DDT? What images did she use?
  3. Compare these first two paragraphs. Why did Carson’s narrative voice (telling a story) convey her message more strongly that a list of scientific facts might have? What imagery did she use?
  4. The US banned DDT in 1972. This, along with the passage of the Endangered Species Act (1973) were major factors in the recovery of the bald eagle and the peregrine falcon from near extinction. Bald eagles are still protected but are no longer listed as endangered of extinction.; the peregrine falcon is also no longer listed as endangered. Investigate the Endangered Species Act. Which species have been “recovered” so that they were removed from the Endangered Species List? What is the importance of a varied biosphere?
  5. What is the significance of Carson’s title of this book? In what way is it a metaphor? In what way is it a warning?
  6. Investigate other works that have changed American policies, such as “Common Sense” (Thomas Paine), Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe), The Jungle (Upton Sinclair), or others. Why and in what ways did these works influence Americans and American history?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1962/06/16/silent-spring-part-1

https://www.history.com/articles/rachel-carson-silent-spring-impact-environmental-movement