Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Christmas 1861





Christmas tree from The Graphics Fairy



"In October, 1861, there was not an exile in Kentucky who did not expect to be back in East Tennessee in a few days or a few weeks. Mr Maynard, who was at that time with the soldiers, confidently declared that he expected to eat his Christmas dinner in his own home in Knoxville. But these fond hopes were doomed to bitter disappointment. The expedition to East Tennessee on which their hopes rested was suddenly abandoned, and all they could do was to wait. When the advance movement was countermanded, and the exiles, now in the Union army, were ordered to turn toward Ohio, their hearts were crushed within them. They shed bitter tears of anguish. This was not childish weakness. It was the sad condition of their families at home that filled their minds with trouble. How the long weary months passed with them can not be described. It would reveal many a sad, heavy, heart as the months slowly passed, and there was no forward movement." East Tennessee and the Civil War By Oliver Perry Temple, pp. 464-465