Divided Hearts: A Civil War Friendship Quilt by Barbara Brackman

Barbara Brackman is one of my favorite quilt historians and bloggers. I love how she combines history, genealogy research, quilting and women's work, and women's history in her research.

Her newest book, Divided Hearts , arose from her free block of the month patterns on her Civil War Quilts blog. 

Inspired by friendship quilts created between 1840 and 1861, Brackman focuses on women with 'divided hearts', Northern women living in the South, and Southern women educated in the North, or with families divided by the Civil War. 

The twelve blocks represent the most popular pieced quilt designs of this time, frequently found in friendship quilts. The blocks are presented in 12" and 8" sizes. The patterns include patterns for inked signatures.

Blog followers who participated in sewing the blocks and completing the quilt are represented in the book. The variety of interpretations is broad, from reproduction fabrics reflecting those of the mid-19th c. to the use of contemporary fabrics with a modern vibe.

Brackman is a premier quilt historian who created the first collections of existent pieced and applique quilt patterns. Her knowledge on quilt history is outstanding. But she goes further with her deep research into the women who made quilts or owned quilts.

In Divided Hearts, readers learn about twelve women's lives that spanned the divide. Photographs and maps accompany the biographies. History comes alive through these women. Resources are given for those who want to 'read more'.

• Indiana Fletcher, from a Yankee family who moved to the South. Wandering Lover quilt block
• Mary Lyon and Mount Holyoke. (Emily Dickinson attended Mount Holyoke briefly.) Lend and Borrow quilt block
• Constance Fenimore Woolson, a Northern girl who attended school with Southern girls. Friendship Star quilt block.( Read my review a biography of Woolson by Anne Boyd Rioux here.)
• Sarah Powell Leeds, a Quaker teacher. Quaker Pride quilt block
• Charlotte Forten Grimke' was the daughter of a Freeman. Charlotte married Rev. Francis J. Grimke. Francis's father was brother to Angelina and Sarah Grimke, plantation born women who became Quakers and abolitionists. His mother was Nancy Weston, Henry's slave mistress. Cross and Crown quilt block. (I first read about Charlotte in Lift Up Thy Voice: The Grimke Family's Journey from Slaveholders to Civil Rights Leaders by Mark Perry.)
• The Petigru Sisters, Southern women who went to school in the North. Mary Petigru Chestnut and Sue Petigru King had a contentious relationship. Mary Chestnut's diary is quite famous. Madame's Star quilt block
• Caroline Russell Seabury, a New England educator who taught in the South. Chimney Sweep quilt block.
• Mittie Bulloch Roosevelt, Teddy's beloved mother. The Southern Bullochs summered in the North. Southern Cross quilt block.
• Mary Ann Todd Lincoln was born in Kentucky and her family were Confederates. Lexington Belle quilt block
• Elizabeth Keckley and Anna Burwell. Keckley was a servant in the Burwell household. She became Mary Todd Lincoln's dressmaker and trusted friend. Carolina Lily quilt block.(I first read about her in Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly : The Remarkable Story of the Friendship Between a First Lady and a Former Slave by Jennifer Fleischner.) 
• Emily Wharton Sinkler was the daughter of a Philadelphia lawyer who wed a Southern man. Double Star quilt block
• Emma Willard and her 'every-widening circle' is represented by the This and That quilt block.

Each block includes instructions and examples. Various settings are offered: straight setting; alternating with double nine-patch blocks; on-point with sashing and applique; on-point with pieced border; on-point as a wall hanging of five blocks. A Gallery of finished quilts completes the book.

Quilters will have fun making the quilt their own. You don't have to be a quilt maker to enjoy reading the history and biographies of these amazing women.

Read Brackman's blog post about her book at
http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2020/04/my-new-book-divided-hearts.html

I was given a free egalley by the publisher. My review is fair and unbiased.

Divided Hearts, A Civil War Friendship Quilt: Historical Narratives, 12 Blocks, Instruction & Inspirations
Barbara Brackman
Book ( $29.95 )
eBook ( $23.99 )
ISBN 9781617458880
eISBN 9781617458897

I made Brackman's previous BOM patterns for Hospital Sketches and Austen Family Album.

Hospital Sketches by Nancy A. Bekofske

Austen Family Album by Nancy A. Bekofske

Louisa on the Front Lines: Louisa May Alcott in the Civil War by Samantha Seiple

Louisa on the Front Lines by Samantha Seiple recounts the little-known story of Louisa's experience as a nurse and how it affected her life and her writing. 

At a time when women were considered to be weak physically and intellectually, Louisa May Alcott challenged every stereotype of her sex, from running through the streets for health to supporting a woman's right to vote.

Her father Bronson Alcott's extreme idealism made him unsuitable as a father of a large family. His wife Abby worked any job she could find to support them. Lu took the burden of breadwinner on herself, working in various jobs "suitable" for a gentlewoman and by writing sensational stories. She was expected to marry and thereby help her struggling family but preferred independence. "I'd rather be a free spinster and paddle my own canoe," she wrote.

When the Civil War broke out, Lu watched the young men march off and felt frustrated with merely sewing "for the boys" and making lint for the hospitals. The establishment of the Sanitary Commission and appointment of Dorothea Dix as superintendent of female nurses led to a call for the first women nurses. A nurse had to be single, over thirty, and "plain." Lu applied and, with her family's blessing, traveled to Washington, D.C. to work in a hospital. 

It is all very well to talk of the patience of woman; and far be it from me to pluck that feather from her cap, for, heaven knows, she isn't allowed to wear many; but the patient endurance of these men, under trials of the flesh, was truly wonderful. Their fortitude seemed contagious, and scarcely a cry escaped them, though I often longed to groan for them, when pride kept their white lips shut, while great drops stood upon their foreheads, and the bed shook with the irrepressible tremor of their tortured bodies.from Hospital Sketches by Louisa May Alcott

Louisa wrote Hospital Sketches about her experiences, the first to document life for nurses during the war. It was a sensation during her lifetime. Somehow, we have forgotten this part of her life. 

In vivid detail, Seiple recounts the hard work and long hours in a subpar facility, the suffering of the boys, the awful food, the ineffectual medical treatments, the high death rate, and how workers stole from the supplies and the wounded. Lu realized the importance of her role as surrogate mother, sister, and wife for the suffering and dying men.

Marmee received bad news from the war
Little Woman quilt designed by Marion Cheever Whiteside Newton
Hand applique and hand quilted by Nancy A. Bekofske

....at the Hurly burly Hotel, disorder, discomfort, bad management, and no visible head, reduced things to a condition which I despair of describing. from Hospital Sketches by Louisa May Alcott

The experience changed Lu's life. She had seen the world, became close to the dying boys, and had contracted typhus and became mortally ill. Bronson brought Lu back home and she survived, although her health never fully returned. 

Having lived fully, profoundly affected by the men she nursed, Lu went on "to create characters and stories that would transcend the page and full her readers' hearts." Including her most famous novel, Little Women.

I very much enjoyed Louisa on the Front Lines. Although it focuses on the few months Lu spent as a nurse, there is enough background information on her family and life to provide a fuller context. The battlefield is brought to life as a background to the men Lu nursed. It is a moving story.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Louisa on the Front Lives
by Samantha Seiple
Seal Press
Publication Feb. 26, 2019
$27 hardcover
ISBN: 9781580058049

Little Women by Nancy A. Bekofske
Pattern by Marion Cheever Whiteside Newton
hand appliqued and hand quilted

Learn more about Louisa May Alcott:
Meg Jo Beth Amy by Anne  Boyd Rioux
https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-story-of-little-women-and-why-it.html

The Wreckage of Eden by Norman Lock

War--The War with Mexico, the Mormon Rebellion, and the Civil War-- crushed any remaining faith held by U. S. Army Chaplin Robert Winter.

He clings to the memories of the few meetings he had with Emily Dickinson, his first love, although she has always kept him at a distance. When Winter married a pleasant but common girl he loved her in a way. When she dies, Winter relinquishes their daughter's care to his maiden aunt who lives in Amherst, calling on the Dickinson family to befriend her. He makes a poor father, the army sending him across the country and far from Amherst.

Winter does his duty to his country, reciting prayers for the benefit of the dying and over the bodies of the dead who died for the sacred cause of Manifest Destiny, mouthing words to a God he no longer believes in.

The Wreckage of Eden by Norman Lock spans decades of the 19th c and the awful carnage deemed necessary to America's destiny. Along his journey, Winter befriends Abe and Mary Lincoln in Springfield and meets a young Sam Clemens in Missouri. He sees the horror of war and the death camp at Andersonville. Required to visit imprisoned John Brown, their conversation challenges Winter's core beliefs.

Lock reproduces the era with period details and references to writers, politicians and military leaders, but it is Winter's internal world that captured my attention. Winter's spiritual crisis reflects the country's loss of idealism and its corruption, justifying slaughter while annexing Mexican lands. murdering Mormons and Native Americans, and profiting from the labor of enslaved people.

Meanwhile, in Amherst, Emily battles her own war against her dictatorial father who insists she can never marry. She speaks to Winter in cadences right from her poetry, with imagery and 'slant' insight.

Winter learns that he must perform his pastoral duty and endure. Sometimes that is all we can do. Our youthful idealism crumbles under the burgeoning knowledge of the evil men commit, we lose faith and mouth the words expected of us--prayers or pledges become empty symbols.

I wanted to note an epigram or sentence or insight on nearly every page. The issues Winter struggles with demonstrate that the roots of America's problems were planted in our early years.

I am eager to read more books in the American Novel Series by Norman Lock.

I received a free ARC from the publisher through a LibraryThing giveaway.

Find a Reading Group Guide at
http://blpress.org/reading-group-guides/reading-group-guide-wreckage-eden/

The Wreckage of Eden
by Norman Lock
Bellevue Literary Press
Publication Date: June 5, 2018
ISBN-10: 1942658389
ISBN-13: 978-1942658382

The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe

Growing up in the Dark Ages of the 1950s I had to search hard to find female role models. Not that my teachers were not great; I admired them immensely. I longed for women who were heroic and brave--and not fictional. In junior high I read began reading biographies: Jane Addams, Clara Barton, Florence Nightingale, Joan of Arc. And I have been reading biographies of women ever since.

The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe by Elaine Showalter is a biography that, unlike the biographies of my childhood reading, portrays a woman both driven and intelligent and flawed and human. I liked it immensely.

Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910) is remembered today for writing The Battle Hymn of the Republic, a rousing anthem with powerful, Biblical inspired words. Otherwise most know little about her. Her poetry, plays, and failed opera did not pass the critical eye or become timeless. Her activism as an abolitionist and suffragette now is forgotten. She worked for abolition of the death penalty and prison reform, education reform, immigrant rights, Indian affairs, worker's rights, and was instrumental in the creation of Mother's Day and the Association of American Women. In her youth she was called the 'Diva' for her sparkling wit, beauty, and intelligence; in maturity she was the 'Mother Superior' of Boston philanthropy and 'the grand old lady of America'.

Julia was born to wealth and had a top-notch education. She studied French six hours a day. Her vocal teacher was from the Italian opera company. Her father had commissioned Thomas Cole for The Voyage of Life , a series of four allegorical paintings depicting the stages of life. Julia met the greats of her time including Longfellow, Dickens, Margaret Fuller, and Charles Sumner. Still, her father kept a strong hold on Julia and she felt bored and yearned for a fuller, freer life. She became a vegetarian, secretly read George Sand, and spent her nights writing. Julia's life altered with her father's death; she adopted his strict Calvinism and was depressed for two years. Finally her friend brought her to Unitarianism and freed from guilt she bloomed. At twenty-two she was a beautiful 'bluestocking', a Diva, an heiress. And unmarried, both longing for love and fearful of childbirth with it's threat of death and the chains that came with childrearing.

Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe came, literally, into her life 'a noble rider on a noble steed'. He was devastatingly handsome, a 'manly man', commanding and stern. He was eighteen years her senior, like Lord Byron was a hero in the Greek Revolution, had pioneered work in education of the blind, and was admired as a philanthropist. Samuel and Julia were both intelligent, passionate, idealistic--they should have been a perfect match. But the honeymoon ended on the honeymoon. Sam could never get past his image of woman as help-meet, mother, the angel in the house who should want for nothing more than house and home. And Julia chaffed against his tight hold, fighting for the right to a voice, artistic expression, and equality in every form. Their marriage was a failure.

Julia was an anomaly: her husband entertained John Brown in his home and she supported abolition, but also felt that slaves needed to be 'raised up' by European culture into civilization and wrote disparagingly of Southern slaves. During the Civil War she was part of a group that had gone to see the troops outside of Washington, D.C. On the long ride home she sang to entertain the men and her companions. A friend suggested she write new words to the song John Brown's Body, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Showalter's book was engrossing and fast reading; I devoured it in two days. Julia was a complex woman, the best kind to read about. I enjoyed learning how critics reviewed Howe's literary works during her life, then tracing changing views of her work across time. I was fascinated by Howe's secret manuscript about a hermaphrodite's life, now perceived as an expression of the angst and struggle that Howe and other Victorian age women endured.

I received a free ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Read Howe's works on the electronic archives at http://www.juliawardhowe.org/writings.htm

The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe: A Biography
by Elaine Showalter
Simon & Schuster
$28.00 hard cover
Publication March 8, 2016
ISBN:9781451645903

"Love One Another"; The Life of Fanny Seward

When historical fiction writer Trudy Krisher read Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin she became interested in Fanny Seward, the beloved daughter of William Seward who was Lincoln's rival for the Republican presidential candidate. He became his closest friend politically and personally. She also read James Swanson's book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer. Learning that Fanny Seward had kept a diary and no biography existed, Krisher began her research that culminated in
Fanny Seward: A Life.

I was thrilled to see this book title offered on NetGalley, because like Krisher I also was captivated by the assassination attempt on William Seward and by the role his daughter Fanny played in his life.

I was disappointed to learn that Krisher's original manuscript reached 600 pages but found no publisher. She had to halve her book. Early on I had wished to hear more of Fanny's voice through incorporation of her diary entries and writing. Happily these source materials do appear later in the book, especially as relating to the assassination attempt on her father's life.

The Seward family was privileged yet unpretentious, progressive and free-thinking. Frances Seward was an intellectual who preferred the introverted and quiet rural life. She was involved in the Underground Railroad. She knew Elizabeth Cady Stanton who described Frances as having "independence of character". Always in frail health Frances used her illnesses to avoid society.

"A cargo of 300 slaves, wild from Africa, has been landed in Georgia by the sloop “Wanderer”—and the nation is quite stirred up about it. I hope the “stealers of men” will be justly punished, and the poor Africans be restored to their native land."  Fanny Seward 1858 diary excerpt

William Seward was outgoing, sanguine, and personable...and "addicted" to politics. Goodwin in Team of Rivals tells how he was the most liberal Abolitionist Republican and assumed he would be nominated for their presidential candidate. He was too liberal, and Lincoln was elected. Seward was offered Secretary of State on Lincoln's Cabinet, and he assumed he would "lead" behind the scenes. Instead Lincoln won Seward's respect and loyalty.


Fanny was plain and conventional, a loving child, an adoring sister. Her family role was that of nurturer. Books were her first love, and writing her second. She wrote plays, poems, and a novel during her short life. Her power of observation and descriptive writing indicates that had she been born in another time perhaps she would have been a journalist.

Her father was publicly conservative about marital happiness, and her mother felt a woman could accomplish more of importance in the world when unmarried. Consequently, Fanny seriously considered writing as a career.

Her parents were often separated, Frances staying in Auburn NY while William lived in Washington D.C. with visits home as he could. Fanny spent a good deal of time with her father and was knowledgeable about all aspects of the Civil War. She visited the camps, the battlefields, and the hospitals. Fanny met national figures, becoming close to Dorothea Dix, superintended of women nurses, and to the renowned actress Charlotte Cushman, an emancipated woman who was also a closeted lesbian.

The biography's climax revolves around the events of April 14, 1865. While John Wilkes Booth and President Lincoln played out their roles in the Ford Theater, embittered Confederate Lewis Powell was lurking outside the Seward home, armed with a gun and a knife. William Seward had suffered massive injuries in a carriage accident, his jaw broken and his arm useless. Fanny had been reading to her father, and had just turned down the light. Seward's nurse Sergeant Robinson was in attendance. Powell was determined to fulfill his role and assassinate the Secretary of State, while a third member of the plot was to murder Vice President Andrew Johnson.

Read the book! I won't give away the story! Except to say that Fanny showed great spirit and selflessness in defending her father, and her actions likely saved his life.

'Blood, blood, my thoughts seemed drenched in it—I seemed to breathe its sickening odor. My dress was stained with it—Mother’s was drabbled with it—it was on everything. The bed had been covered with blood, the blankets & sheet chopped with several blows of the knife.'

Fanny was never in fine health, and tuberculosis brought an early death at age 21. She was not alive when her father died in 1872. His final words were "Love one another."

To read more see:
Civil War Women Blog on Fanny, including photographs:
http://civilwarwomenblog.com/fanny-seward/

This promo for the book includes photographs and the horrendous story o the assassination attempt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA2ctNH6YjA

Read excerpts from Fanny's diary from the University of Rochester:
http://www.lib.rochester.edu/index.cfm?page=638

Fanny Seward: A Life
Trudy Krisher
Syracuse University Press
ISBN: 9780815610410
$29.95 hardbound
Publication Date: January 15, 2015

I thank Syracuse University Press and NetGalley for providing the e-book in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Caleb: A Novel by Charles Alverson: Rise from Slave to Union Hero

Bostonian indentured servant Caleb has been sold into slavery. Boyd Jardine buys Caleb on a whim, later discovering that Caleb is more than strong--he is educated and intelligent. Jardine grooms Caleb for tasks befitting his skills, and eventually Caleb is running the plantation. In the evenings he cozily reads the newspaper to his Master.

 Jardine treats him well, even providing a "wife". The likelihood of escape is small with bounty hunters combing the countryside for runaways. But Caleb wants freedom badly. Master Jardine proposes a win-win situation: Caleb will go into boxing and keep his winnings, while Master Jardine places bets to win more money--which he will split 50-50 with Caleb. This way Caleb can buy his freedom.

Life after freedom offers limited opportunities for an educated free black man. War has broken out, and Caleb finds himself in the Union army.

I read this book in two sittings. The writing keeps the reader's interest and the later half is action-packed. Reader reviews are generally positive.

Caleb feels like a mythic or legendary character, or a character from a Graphic Novel. As historical fiction this book has little realism. This slave world is just too comfortable. Master Jardine is a trusting and enabling master and Caleb is a veritable Frederick Douglas clone. This is a tidied up version of the "peculiar institution" that brought about the United State's most important crisis. There is no surprise to the ending.

The book a lot of action, and good characterization. The worst violence is in the boxing matches, and there is no graphic sex scenes. Overall, it was a good read, but not impressive literature.

Caleb by Charles Alverson
Lake Union Publishing
ISBN-13: 9781477826232; ISBN-10: 1477826238
Publication date:

Charles Alverson is a prolific writer who was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and Rolling Stone magazine and who wrote the screenplays for Jabberwocky and Brazil.

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin--FINALLY FINISHED

"...I stood in the presence of the great guiding light of the age." Judge Joseph Mills

I have lived with Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet for over a year. I savored each episode as one holds a sip of fine wine on one's tongue. I held each sparkling story in my mind before I read on. Instead of my usual gallop through a book, I read in a week what I usually would read in an evening.

"I consider the central idea that is upon us, of proving that popular government is not an absurdity. We must settle this question now, whether in a free government the minority have the right to break up the government whenever they choose. If we fail it will go far to prove the incapability of the people to govern themselves." Abraham Lincoln

Many men wanted to be president. Some took it for granted that they would be elected the presidential candidate for the new Republican party. When the least likely candidate won there were some hard feelings. No one expected much of Lincoln. When William Seward lost to Lincoln, and was asked to take the position of Secretary of State, Seward thought he would be the power behind the throne. Instead he became Lincoln's greatest supporter and admirer and his close friend.

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin is about how Lincoln used the skills of his political foes for the good of the country. It is also a moving portrait of a remarkable leader of great insight, intelligence, and constraint.

Secretary of War Edwin Stanton was a Quaker by birth and pacifist by nature. Lincoln himself was considered 'soft-hearted' and saddened by the human toll of war. "Doesn't it strike you as queer that I, who couldn't cut the head off a chicken, should be cast into the middle of a great war, with blood flowing all around?" "There could be no greater madness," Stanton said, "than for a man to encounter what I do for anything less than motives that overleap time and look forward to eternity."

A government by the people, for the people. It was an experiment worth even the blood of the people to ensure it's success. The Confederacy considered itself a separate country. If the Federal Government valued peace over unity, it would not last. The Civil War was a war to end all possibility of war among the states of America.

Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase was a radical abolitionist who sought the presidential nomination and lost to Lincoln in 1860. In 1864 he conducted a secret bid to be a presidential candidate running against Lincoln. Lincoln understood Chase's desperate need for recognition, and although Chase was no end of trouble, he  respected the man's abilities. After Chase has resigned from the cabinet Lincoln offered Chase the position of Supreme Court Chief-Justice. Not because Lincoln wanted to reward Chase, but because "the decision was right for the country." Lincoln was that great a man that he could put aside personal feelings, toss off all prejudices, and view choices from the greater perspective of eternity. It was Chief-Justice Chase who swore in Lincoln at his second inauguration!

I dreaded those last pages, the death of Lincoln. But I knew what had happened to Abe and his family afterwards, I had read stories and books and seen the documentaries. What I was not prepared for was the assassination attempt on Secretary of State William H Seward. He was bedridden after a brutal carriage accident left him with a broken jaw and shoulder. The assassin pushed his way into the sickroom. Seward's son Frank tried to protect his father and the assassin slashed him with a knife. Frank died of his injuries. I was sadly ignorant of Seward, except for knowledge of "Seward's Folly", the purchase of Alaska, but Goodwin's portrait of Seward and his importance to Lincoln and the country caused me to shudder and nearly come to tears when I read about the assassination attempt, which took place at the same time as the assassination of Lincoln. 

Indeed, all of the men who served with Lincoln are so vividly drawn we come to know them and esteem them as Lincoln did.

President Lincoln. His is a mythic presence across the world. Goodwin's book makes it clear what kind of man he was, how he operated as a political leader, and plumbs his deep humanity.

The movie Lincoln was a wonderful film BUT movies are entertainment, and even when based on excellent motives, are made to make money. One should be always aware that not everything in a movie is historical fact. Art can move a viewer in ways most historical writing can not, and if the viewer then seeks to learn more, opens to new ideas, experiences a new awareness, then art has served its purpose. At times, mostly during the war, I did bog down, but overall Goodwin's characterizations were deeply drawn and her portrait of Lincoln made me believe I really know him as a man, a politician, a leader, and as the moral compass of an age.

For some insights into historical bloops in the movie read
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/22/what-s-true-and-false-in-lincoln-movie.html
http://www.thenation.com/blog/171461/trouble-steven-spielbergs-lincoln#
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/mr-lincoln-goes-to-hollywood-82330187/?no-ist

Visit the Doris Kearns Goodwin's website at http://www.doriskearnsgoodwin.com/books.html#team-of-rivals

Note: I read Goodwin's book No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II when it came out and it is remarkable. And I read it quite quickly! Her book Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream was the first LBJ book I read. I have been fascinated by LBJ ever since mock election in junior high when I was told about his Great Society dream. I have Robert Caro's The Passage of Power on my shelf to be read. His Master of the Senate was one of the most remarkable books I have read.