Gideon Lincecum's sword
Subtitle: Civil War letters from the Texas home front
By: edited by Jerry Bryan Lincecum, Edward Hake Phillips, Peggy A. Redshaw.
Contributors: Lincecum, Jerry Bryan, 1942-; Phillips, Edward Hake.; Redshaw, Peggy A.
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
Published: 2001
Place of publication: Denton, Tex
Language: eng
Number of pages: 378
Subjects: Lincecum, Gideon, 1793-1874 -- Correspondence.; Physicians -- Texas -- Washington County -- Correspondence.; Scientists -- Texas -- Washington County -- Correspondence.; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives, Confederate.; Texas -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives.; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Social aspects.; Texas -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Social aspects.; Washington County (Tex.) -- Biography.
Genres: Correspondence.; Personal narratives, Confederate.; Personal narratives.; Biography.
Other titles: Sword
Description: "The effects of the Civil War on civilian life in Texas are powerfully conveyed in the correspondence of Dr. Gideon Lincecum (1793-1874), a natural scientist and philosopher who moved to Texas in 1848 with his family of ten children and settled in Washington County. Having retired from an extensive and lucrative botanical medical practice in Mississippi, Gideon devoted much of his time in Texas before the war to studying the natural sciences and carrying on an extensive correspondence that included Northern scientists and even Charles Darwin. He used a letterpress to make copies of almost all of his letters, and these letterpress volumes, totaling more than a thousand pages, were preserved by one of his daughters.

Gideon's letters provide a rich and detailed account of how one individual and his large extended family, all of whom were strongly committed to the Confederacy, kept up with the progress of the conflict and coped with the multitude of problems it created."

"Lincecum's resourcefulness in the face of shortages included weaving Spanish moss into blankets and investigating the papermaking potential of milkweed. He was always optimistic about the prospects of the Confederacy and always willing to further the cause however he could. His dedication to the South often led him into astonishing diatribes, as when he wrote his son Lysander: "It would be a gratifying thing to my feelings, to be certified that every man, woman and child in the bounds of the confederacy had taken a solemn oath that to die fighting is far preferable to submission, and so long as they have life and strength to damage a yankee in any manner or form that they will continue to do so.""--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 363-371) and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note:  Acknowledgments ix; title: Introduction 1; title: Chapter 1.Foreshadowings of Conflict 13; title: Chapter 2.Secession 69; title: Chapter 3.War 115; title: Chapter 4.1862 145; title: Chapter 5.1863 203; title: C hapter 6.1864 256; title: Chapter 7.1865 299; title: Chapter 8.After the War 337; title: Appendix.Index of Lincecum Family Members 355; title: Selected References 363; title: Index 373; title: nt e; title: <BR><BR>Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Lincecum, Gideon, 1793-1874 Correspondence, United States History Civil War, 1861-1865 Personal narratives, Confederate, Texas History Civil War, 1861-1865 Personal narratives, United States History Civil War, 1861-1865 Social aspects, Texas History Civil War, 1861-1865 Social aspects, Physicians Texas Washington County Correspondence, Scientists Texas Washington County Correspondence, Washington County (Tex, ) Biography.