The National tribune., 1897-07-15
THE RELIEF CORPS
News and Gossip Of the Great
Auxiliary.

Kate b. SherwOOd's Report on School HIS
torics-Maine Department BOoming-Army
Nurses Passing Away-Notes of tho Corps.
Patriotic teaching 10 on the increase In Ohio.
and much interest is manifested in the inspee-
tion Of school histories now going on in the
Grand Army and the Relief Corps. The fol-
lowing report, made before the recent Conven-
ton by Kate B. Sherwood. Chairman of the
Ohio Committee, W.RC., was unanimously
| adopted. Mrs. Sherwood said:
The school histories chiefly used in Ohio
are Barnes's, Montgomery the Eclectic, and
Fiske's. All are open to the charge Of incom-
pleteness and inaccuracy. For instance, Barnes
omits mention of some of the greatest leaders
of the war, while his Characterization OF Lin
coin dwells upon the unganly side and depicts
him as rude and illiterate. instead of magnify
ing the heroic moral qualities which made him
giant among men.
"MOntgomery's, in an opening paragraph on
the civil war, referring to the thrilling days OF
muster and enlistment, when the whole land
| was vibrant with patriotism and every town
and village witnessed the affecting partings be-
tween mother and son. husband and wife, tells
US that there were amusing scenes This is
false to history and false to literary art. There
was something fantastic in the motley CARDS in
which our boy heroes first went forth to battle;
but to refer to this in bird's-eye view of the
appalling and momentous events OF four awful
years of tears and carnage and blood, is to
make the child believe that there was as much
buffoonery as herosm in the uprising to save
the flag.
"Again, to show the feebleness of descrip-
ton in the recital OF campaigns that turned
the tide OF war. we point TO but four lines given
to Sberman's Atlanta Campaign. and six lines
devoted to an account of wet spell. from
which the conclusion would I've that Sherman's
men were chiefly concerned in how to get in
out of the rain. Indeed we are told that the
soldiers would much rather have fought more
battles and had less rain Inasmuch as tens of
thousands of dead Un'or soldiers and tens of
thousands Of brave wounded boys consecrated
every foot of soil for hundred days of Skin
mish and battle, on mountain-top and in rugged
gorge, making this campaign one of the most
brilliant and memorable in the civil war; that
here fell the gallant Mcpherson, whose name
is not so much as mentioned in the book and
that for awful weeks Of intense heat and
droutb our soldiers suffered all the horrors of
thirst and sunstroke it seems little short of
imbeciity for us TO let our children's heads be
crammed with such dwelling nonsense.
| THE Eclectic History, which is essentially
| an Ohio book, examined from the same point
of view,-tbe Atlanta CampaigD,-is no more
truthful in the history it Depicts as this sample
| line will show Avoiding a battle job nston
intrenched himself in the strongest positions,
where. if attacked, he always repulsed his
enemy but Sherman by skilful flank move.
ments always managed to seize his lines of sup
ply and force him to fall back.
Again, as teaching by pictures is so i'm
portant in reaching the young, it is a matter of
regret that the Illustrations in our school his.
tories DO not portray such vital incidents as the
planting of our flag OIL Lookout Mountain, the
ascent of Mission Ridge, and the spirit Of
1776-lS61,' which groups the gray-hsired vet
eran of the Revolution with the blue-uni-
formed defender of the Union and the boy
hero who sprang to arms at Lincoln's call.
1T is matter of regret that the principal
battle picture in the Eclectic History is Pick.
etts charge at Gettysburg, representing the
Confederate soldiers forcing back the Union
boys at the point Of the bayonet. with tho
rebel flag rampant at the head. We have no
fault to find with any account which extols
the valor and soldierly qualities of the Ameri-
can hoys of the South, but picture of Gettys-
burg representing ii 0 repuse of Picketts men,
with the guardians Of Old Glory forcing the
| retreat or of the gallant stand around the
| Stars and Stripes in the Bloody Angle, would
| give q more patriotic pictorial lesson of that
vast battlefield consecrated to National unity.
e
1.-THE fault with all the histories we have
examined, with one exception, is that they
lack the true patriotic ring, and do not present
right view Of things. The exception is a
history by Col. Thomas Wentworth Higgin.
SOD, which can cordially be recommended for
use in every school and family for patriotic
treatment and accurate data as far as it goes.
The views expressed by your committee
are in the main in accord with . report made
by committee appointed by the Department.
of New York, GAR. made to the last En-
campment, and with the report Of committee
appointed by COmmander-n Chief T. S. Clark
son after the last National Encampment, and
| submitted to him some months since. The
National GAR. Committee. after careful ex-
animation and exchange of views, reported
that no text book now in use entities it to the
consideration OF the committee; that one
makes use of the important period in our history
and its great events to teach lessons of patriot
isEa that the child without any such sources
of information is entirely unable to determine
whether there is any difference in the patriot
ism of those who fought for National unity and
in those who fought for the destruction of our
government; that there is in ell of them
general tendency to enlarge upon and exag-
gerate the soldierly qualities and achievements
of the onfederates aud to beiittle the value
and achievements OF those who fought upon
the other side that some of the histories most
ment as to justify the most severe condemns
ton. Nor is the case oyerstated.
is it not time that our children stopped
drinking from poisoned fountains? Is it not
time that the Grand Army and the Relief
Corps, the Sons of Veterans, the Daughters Of
Veterans, the Ladies Aid Society and all kim
dred patriotic associations were taking up this
momentous question and demanding such re-.
vision of our school histories as the logic of
history aud the necessities of free Government
require? The times are ripe for the success of
such movement. The interest growing out
of the introduction of patriotic teaching and
the flag salute into the schools, in which the
Relief Corps has born such an important part,
has opened the way for it, Let investigation
lead to united action. Let us put forth our ut
most endeavors to make the study of history
turn upon the duties aud obligations of Ameri-
Gun citizenship.
Now, as ever, eternal vigilance Is the price
Of liberty Our Government is under the
guardianship of the people; if they fail in the
exercise of their trusts some other force will
come in to claim their heritage. Let US tender
our services to the Grand Army to assist them
in the circulation of petitions in. every city.
be deemed necessary, demanding. a revision of
our school histories. To this end be it
''ResoIred That the school storiesIn use In the
inaccurate in their accounts of the civil war, it's
causes, progress and achievements. aud wholly lose
sight OF the fact that the teaching of history the
young should be to emphasize those things that
worthy OF emulation and preservation and to
dscountenance aud hold in allegiance those things
tel. n 10.