Oct. 2/64
Today Captain Bowen, Surgeon Smith and myself attended the Episcopal Church, it being the only one in use, the others having been taken for hospitals. This church has a fine organ and choir. The music was good, and we enjoyed it, but the sermon was a little rebellious….
Continue readingSeptember 19, 1864
….Heard news this evening of the falling back of our army. Oh! me I feel so very very sad this evening. Uncle John is here and a Mr. Taylor stayed all night.
Continue readingAugust 7, 1864
The war is taking on features of exaggerated harshness. Hunter when he re-entered the Valley caused a number of private residences of the finest character to be burned… Early burned Chambersburg to enforce a refractory town into paying a requisition. The Yankees have had the unutterable meanness to make an expedition up the Rappahannock for the purpose of burning the house of Mrs. May Seddon, the widow of Major John Seddon, the brother of the Secretary. Her condition was perfectly well known to them, and the fact of her connection with the Secretary of War was avowed as the reason!! Somebody over the border will smoke for this outrage. I am satisfied that this thing which they have been doing now for three years in Florida (Jacksonville), Mississippi (Jackson), South Carolina on the Combahee, and all through Virginia on the Northern border can be stopped by deliberate and stern retaliation. They are in more of our territory but their people live so much more in towns that one expedition can burn more houses than they can destroy in a campaign. That they are amendable to the influences of retaliation is plain for the well known fact that when they have to deal with a man who they know will be as good as his word they are awed.
Continue readingSunday night [July 3, 1864]
Soon after four o-clock this morning I was roused by the sound of bands, & I thought at first I would get up; but I felt that I must see the last of our soldiers as they left us for their grand invasion. I threw on my skirts, a shawl, & without stopping to wash my face, Lal & I ran down to Main St. We stayed two hours, saw Johnnie Mason & Dr. Dixon, told them to come to breakfast;
Continue reading
She married for love and spent years working alongside her husband for the success of the family farm. She was a grandmother by the time the Civil War brought a battle to her doorstep. She looked after wounded soldiers who found shelter and medical aid under her roof.
Sarah Strickler Bushong lived on her family’s farm which because the centerpoint of the Battle of New Market on May 15, 1864. She experienced a Civil War battle first-hand as troops rushed passed her home and sheltered in the cellar.
Continue reading
She wanted to witness history – not wait in the cellar. She helped care for wounded cadets. She helped to write New Market memory of the battle. She helped ensure that “her cadets” had their place in history. She wrote letters, and she had conversations about history.
By the end of her life, thousands knew about her and wanted to hear her stories about the Battle of New Market. Through her compassion and commitment, Lydie Clinedinst Crim became “Mother of the New Market Cadets” and guaranteed that their memory and her name would be linked in Civil War history.
Continue reading