On Common Ground

2935 Words6 Pages

On Common Ground

The beeping of the metal detector set his mind in motion. And when he carefully uncovered a small metal button, it whispered softly, speaking of a great general, “He possessed every virtue of the great commanders, without their vices.”

April 12, 1861- “At 4:30 a.m. Confederates under General Pierre Beauregard open fire with 50 cannons upon Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina; the Civil War begins” (historyplace).

There are about twenty lots in our neighborhood; all consist of close to three and a half acres. Most of the lots have houses now, all of them are big and well kept; a perfect place to raise an upper-middle class family. Just outside of Richmond, the Boscobel neighborhood gives individuals a constant taste of the southern country air, a place to grow a garden, to sit out on the porch at night and look at the stars.… The neighbors are kind as they greet one another in passing. Families come together for picnics and cook-outs and mothers go on walks together with their dogs while the kids are in school. The kids of the neighborhood love to play by the creek in the back yard. They build forts and huts, find pretend food and crayfish in the creek, and play hide-and-seek in the woods beyond the creek. It is the peaceful, everyday life in the Boscobel neighborhood.

April 17, 1861- “Virginia secedes from the Union, followed within five weeks by Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina, thus forming an eleven state Confederacy” (historyplace).

April 17, 1861- The Daily Richmond Examiner reads:

The great event of all our lives has at last come to pass. A war of gigantic proportions, infinite consequences and indefinite duration is on us, and will affect the interests and happiness of ev...

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...e tried to instill in you. Never forget where these things came from. I trust you now to be on your own, to live out what I have taught you and to teach others these virtues that have been passed down.”

Works Cited

Atherholt, Patricia. Interview. Telephone Interview. 30 March 2002.

Historyplace.com. The History Place- US Civil War 1861-1865. The History Place, 1996.

Daniel, John M. I. New York: Arno & The New York Times, 1868. reprinted, 1970.

Graham, O. Lee. Interview. Telephone Interview. 1 April 2002.

Jones, John Williams. I. Written approximately 1864. <xroads.virginia.edu>. 17 April 2002.

Swank, Walbrook D. I. Charlottesville: Papercraft Printing & Design Company, Inc., 1991.

Saverino, Chris. Interview. Telephone Interview. 29 March 2002.

Weigley, Russell F. I American Council of Learned Societies, Oxford University Press, 2000

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