Black Lives Matter.
I don't want to ignore or pay lip service; I recognize my statement does little to help. I recognize that I do not write/exist in a vacuum. I put that statement out into the Universe from my heart for the Universe to absorb and manifest change. And, yes, I recognize that is not enough, but by putting it out there, I pray for it to help me in my every action to manifest the change that we as humankind need.
A couple of weeks ago I realized I missed getting The Week Magazine. I love the little distillations of the news of the day. And I love the different perspectives. I really only watch one national news program and sitting beside a spouse that does not view the world the same way I view the world has made me notice that perhaps the news outlet I watch is not quite as diverse in perspective as I was convinced it was. I hope* resuming my subscription to The Week will allow me to see outside my bubble a little better.
However, my reason for popping up today of all days is because I saw something written by Catherine Garcia in The Week that brought me back to genealogy and family history. Of course it is perhaps ironic that it should be something about the Civil War - AND, to boot, that it is about someone who started out as a Confederate and changed to become a Union soldier.
Irene Triplett, whose father Mose Triplett served in the Confederate Army before defecting and joining the Union, died Sunday at age 90, following complications from a broken hip. The North Carolina resident was able to receive her dad's Civil War pension — $73.13 every month — because she had cognitive impairments and qualified as a helpless adult child of a veteran.
Military records show that after two years as a Confederate soldier, Mose Triplett "deserted" in 1863, just one week before his old regiment was nearly wiped out during the Battle of Gettysburg. He applied for his pension in 1885, and Irene Triplett was born in 1930, when her father was 83 years old. Her mother, 27 at the time, was his second wife. Mose Triplett died in 1938 at age 92.
One of Irene Triplett's relatives told The Wall Street Journal she had a rough childhood, with kids saying her father was a "traitor." Later in life, she found friendship with other residents at Accordius Health, a nursing home in Wilkesboro. Jamie Phillips, the activities director, told The Washington Post Triplett like playing Bingo, listening to gospel music, and telling her friends about what she heard on the news. "I never saw her angry," she said. "Everything was funny."
I just cut and pasted that above from the digital version of the magazine. In the print edition, it mentions that Irene's father, Mose Triplett, fought with the 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry, a Union Regiment known as Kirk's Raiders, which carried out a campaign of sabotage.
The Smithsonian Magazine has a nice write up about Ms. Triplett here. It that article it mentions when the last Civil War soldiers and widows died.
The last two veterans of the Civil War died in the 1950s at more than 100 years old, according to U.S. News. The last Confederate widow, Maudie Hopkins, died in 2008 at age 93, while the last Union widow, Gertrude Janeway, died in 2003 at age 93.
The Smithsonian article directed me through a link to Digital Heritage.org's article on Kirk's Raiders. Digital Heritage indicates that it is "Connecting Appalachian culture and traditions with the world." It is created and maintained by students of Western Carolina University. I have to say, what a rabbit hole this has led me down. And a lot of same shit, different day. A lot of gray and nuance and history-is- written-by-the-victor kind of thing. If you read and believe this article, though a Union soldier - you know, "the good guys", George Kirk sounds like a psychopath. [But I was not there and I am not trained to identify a socio- or psychopath.]
Well, that was more than I bargained for.... I just thought I was observing the passing of an era. It might be interesting to spend some time with the women who married the veterans to secure the pension. That action certainly suggests an interesting context for family history.
* Yes, I recognize that just hoping is inadequate.
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