American History: Sallie Ann Jarrett, Canine Soldier

The Civil War is a seminal event in American history.  Without question this conflict between the states will continue to live on as both one of the most tragic and storied periods in the history of our country and the world.  History tells us the over 618,000 men and women died during the war.  The Battle of Gettysburg, in conjunction with the Battle of Vicksburg, is seen as the turning point of the Civil War in which the Union finally achieved the upper hand.  Up to this point, General Robert E. Lee had not lost a battle.  The Battle of Gettysburg took place in  Gettysburg took place from July 1-3, 1863 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and represents the bloodiest single battle on the North American continent.  With a total of over 51,000 dead at Gettysburg, it inspired the National Soldiers Cemetery in Gettysburg which was dedicated by Abraham Lincoln on November of 1863, and gave us the Gettysburg Address.  

The Civil War represents over 611,000 lives lost, and likely more human interest stories than that.  But... within all of the fighting, all of the blood spilled there was one canine interest story.. the story of Sallie Ann Jarrett.  Sallie, as she was known, was the canine mascot of the 11th Pennsylvania Infantry.  She was given to Captain William Terry of Company 1 in May of 1861 while the unit was training in West Chester, PA at Camp Wayne.  The men of the company named the Brindle colored English Bull Terrier in honor of a young lady whom they admired and their colonel, Phaon Jarrett. 

Sallie grew up as a soldier dog and was known to only bark at three things: women, democrats and rebels.  She was a regular participant during drills and color guard exercises.  She was known to position herself at the head of the march as the regiment would leave camp next to Colonel Richard Coulter.  She even marched with the 11th

11th Pennsylvania Monument

Pennsylvania in two reviews in front of President Abraham Lincoln.  Sallie was known to be right in the thick of fighting, taking her position on the front lines and barking with great ferocity at the enemy.  Sallie was a veteran of the battles at Cedar Mountain, Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness and Petersburg.

Sallie became separated from her unit during the first day of fighting on July 1, 1863 at Gettysburg during the Union retreat to Cemetery Hill.  The people in the unit feared that Sallie has been killed during the melee while the Confederates routed the Union on day one of the battle.  When the smoke cleared, and the air was filled with the stench of the dead, and the moans of the dying the men of the 11th found Sallie back on Oak Ridge.  Oak Ridge was the position that the 11th fought on during the battle on July 1st.  Sallie refused to leave, instead staying behind to protect her dead and wounded companions.  The men of the 11th returned Sallie to her unit, and they marched on to their next fight.

On February 6th, 1865, the Pennsylvania 11th marched on Hatcher's Run in Virginia.  During the initial charge, Sallie was struck by a Confederate bullet and killed.  The fighting was intense at Hatcher's Run, but the soldiers of the Pennsylvania 11th picked up Sallie, and gave her a proper burial at Hatcher's Run.

When the veterans of the Pennsylvania 11th were designing their monument in 1890 at Gettysburg, they thought it only fitting that Sallie Ann Jarrett was remembered as a special part of the unit that fought at Gettysburg, and throughout the war.  When you visit Oak Ridge at Gettysburg, on the side of the monument in which the Confederates were charging the ridge lays a full size statue of Sallie -- facing the enemy and defending her unit just as she would have on any other day.  Her statue is lying down, resting as she finally got to do in February of 1865.

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Bruce holds a degrees in Computer Science, Biblical History and American History from Temple University, Liberty University and American Public University.  He is a member of the Epsilon Pi Tau Honor Society, Golden Key Honor Society, Historical Studies Honor Society and the Saber and Scroll Society.  He has worked in educational technology for over 20 years, specializes in building infrastructures for schools that work to support the mission of technology in education in the classroom.  He also has served as a classroom teacher in Computer Science, History and English classes.  

Bruce is also the author of several books including: Sands of Time, Towering Pines Volume One:Room 509, The Star of Christmas, Philadelphia Story: A Lance Carter Detective Novel and The Insider's Story: A Lance Carter Detective Novel

American History 101: The Election of 1860 and Lincoln as a 3rd Party Candidate

Recently, this meme of Abraham Lincoln has been floating around Facebook.  It shows a very familiar portrait of Abraham Lincoln with the words, "This is what happens when you waste your vote on a 3rd party candidate."  The point of the meme is to illustrate that it is possible to rock the status quo in Washington and make the government do the will of the people.  We can debate all night long on whether the election of Abraham Lincoln was good for the people of this land and for the civil liberties of the enslaved, or if he was no more than a statist dictator who would impose his will on the people whether they liked it or not -- I am happy to engage in that debate.  But there are several things about America in 1860, the political climate and the status of the Republican Party at that time that can not be debated.

Many folks on Facebook are quick to point out that Abraham Lincoln was not a 3rd party candidate because he was a Republican.  Let's take a look at that, and see where it comes out.

The Republican Party was founded in 1854 by disjointed members of the quickly unraveling Whig Party.  It was formed in response to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.  The Kansas-Nebraska Act effectively overturned the Missouri Compromise of 1820.  The Missouri Compromise had previously drawn a line in the sand that said no new states north of a certain line would be admitted to the Union as slave states.  In essence, it meant that no new states would be slave states.  The Kansas-Nebraska Act was a response to the upheaval that was artificially created by southern slave owners who thought that new states should be able to choose for themselves if slavery would be legal or not.  The Kansas-Nebraska Act passed, and the states were allowed to choose for themselves.  In an election that was rife with corruption and people who would come from neighboring slave states to ensure Kansas' entry as a slave state -- slavery won the day.  As a response to this abomination of an election, the cast offs from the anti-slavery Whig Party formed a new party to combat slavery: the Republican Party.

In 1856, the newly minted Republican Party ran their first Presidential Candidate: John Fremont.  Fremont did very well for an upstate winning 11 states and 114 electoral votes.  And by 1860, the Democrats and slave owners knew that the Republicans would pose a real threat to the Oval Office.  They were so afraid that a Republican would win and abolish slavery, that the slave states threatened to secede should Lincoln win.  The threat stood in spite of the Republican candidates numerous guarantees that he had no inclination to abolish slavery and his statement in 1858 that said, "our frame of government, the States which have slavery are to retain it, or surrender at their own pleasure; and that all others---individuals, free-states and national government--are constitutionally bound to leave them alone about it."   In addition to the new Republican threat, the Democratic party was having its own issues.  Many southern democrats thought that not only was Stephen Douglas too moderate on slavery, but that he had no chance of beating Lincoln.  This, and other issues, led to the fracturing of the Democratic party -- and the introduction of the Southern Democratic Party.  The SDP sent John Breckinridge as its nominee for President in 1860.  The Whig Party, a once dominant political force, had all but disbanded but 1860 -- and what was left was rebranded the Constitutional Union Party and they nominated John Bell as their candidate.  So the election of 1860 can be seen as featuring two bruise major parties (Democrat and Constitutional Union) against two upstart minor parties (Republican and Southern Democrat).  This scenario is very much like the election of 2016 where the wounded Democrat and Republican parties are fielding half baked candidates against two strong minor party candidates in the Libertarian and Green parties.

With the fracturing of the country along the lines of slavery and the rights of states to choose their own laws, the political system was fractured, as well.  And in this historic election we say one major theme bubble to the surface: that voting for a minor party can change the fate of the nation, and the world.  The election of Abraham Lincoln was not the result of a fractured Democratic Party.  In fact, if you combined Douglas, Breckenridge and Bell's votes all together Lincoln still wins the Presidency.  The election was a landslide.  It was the people of the United States saying loud and clear that Abraham Lincoln was the President they wanted, and that will would not be denied.

Before 1860, four different political parties had held the Presidency.  And if you count George Washington, who did not hold a party affiliation, it was five.  Since 1860, there have only been two parties with one notable exception -- Andrew Johnson in 1864 was a National Union Party member (and terrible President!).  So, even if we accept that in 1860 Lincoln was a minor, or third party, candidate running against the Democrats and Whigs, it would be the last time in our nations history that something like that was possible.  After the Civil War America emerged as one nation who loved its newly emboldened central government, and continued to vote for it time and time again.  We have gotten to a point in this country where we vote against people and their ideas, instead for the person who best represents us, our interests and the interests of this country.  We have been doing it as a nation for so long, it is a wonder if we can change that pattern - and actually vote for something.

In 2016, you have the opportunity for the first time in a very long time to vote for a candidate who is not a Republican or a Democrat -- and is on the ballot in all 50 states.  Think about that -- and then think about the election of 1860 and what it did for America, slavery, civil rights and the future of our country.  And in November, vote your conscience -- and vote for someone, not against someone else.


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Bruce holds a degree in Computer Science from Temple University, a Graduate Certificate in Biblical History from Liberty University and is working towards a Masters Degree in American History at American Public University.  He has worked in educational and technology for over 18 years, specializes in building infrastructures for schools that work to support the mission of technology in education in the classroom.  He also has served as a classroom teacher in Computer Science, History and English classes.  

Bruce is the author of five books: Sands of Time, Towering Pines Volume One:Room 509, The Star of Christmas, Philadelphia Story: A Lance Carter Detective Novel and The Insider's Story: A Lance Carter Detective Novel

American History 101: The Turning Point of the Civil War - Gettysburg and Vicksburg

In the annals of American history, there are a number of events that stand out as decisive and game changing.  One of those "game changers" is the Civil War.  America as we know it today was defined between 1861-1865 in many ways that most Americans will never know, and possibly never understand.  The Civil War has shaped who we are as a people in regards to civil rights, taxation, how active the federal government is in our everyday lives and so many other facets of our lives.  The war itself is a complex organism to study from causation to events to reasoning to the tragic number of lives lost.  Historians for the last 150 years have been trying pin point the moment... the event... or even the battle that signified the difference between the Union beating down the traitorous rebellion and the Confederate States of America successfully taking its independence from its oppressive overlords without much success.  One of the more popular events that historians and the general public consider as the turning point of the war is the Battle of Gettysburg, which took place between July 1st and July 3rd in 1863.  And while I agree this was an important event, and a step in the right direction in the war, there is more to that first week in July of 1863 then just Gettysburg that finally turned the tide in the bloodiest conflict ever to demonize American soil.  During that first week of July, the Siege of Vicksburg finally came to a close at almost the same time the Lee's troops were turned back at Gettysburg.

The Battle of Gettysburg represented the final effort of General Robert E. Lee to invade the north.  He knew that if

Battle of Gettysburg

he could win major battles on northern soil, that the Confederacy would gain legitimacy and respect while damaging the Union resolve to fight.  What he did not know was that the war effort was not, generally speaking, going well in the north and that the Union victory at Gettysburg would embody everything Lincoln and his generals needed to keep pushing at the Confederacy.

After his success at Chancellorsville, lee led his army through the Shenandoah Valley to continue his invasion of the north.  His army was confident and ready to fight.  Feeling that he was on a roll, he was trying to shift focus off the war ravaged southern states onto northern turf to pressure the politicians in the north into a negotiation to cease the war.  His plan was to push to Harrisburg -- or even as far as Philadelphia if he had to to make that happen.  President Lincoln responded by sending General Hooker up against Lee, and then three days before hostilities began he replaced him with General Meade and his army.  Lincoln had been losing confidence in Hooker by mid-1863, and Meade's army was larger.  This gave Lincoln the excuse he needed to oust Hooker from this pivotal engagement.

The Dead at Gettysburg

After three days of battle that saw Lee's army enjoy early success, but Meade's army still holding its ground, the ill advised assault by 12,500 Confederate troops upon Cemetery Ridge (known as Pickett's Charge) was the straw that broke the camel...errr...rebels back.  The Union line held while pushing the Confederates back, and the Confederates suffered severe loses.  The loss at Gettysburg represented more than a simple failure.  It represented the first major defeat of Lee on northern soil.  While the losses were fairly even, 23,055 for the north and 23,231 for the south, the losses on the Confederate side were devastating to the Northern Army of Virginia at a time when the south could not replace its dead soldiers effectively.  And in response to the defeat on July 3rd, Robert E. Lee's army would not mount another major offensive during the Civil War -- even thought the war continued for almost two more years.  Essentially, Lee turned tail and ran.  This certainly sounds like a decisive victory, if not a decisive moment.

However, over on the Mighty Mississippi, General Ulysses S. Grant and the Union Army had made an effort to take the fort at Vicksburg that defended the river in April of 1863.  The Confederate forces led by General Pemberton put up a strong fight and stood their ground.  As Grant's men continued to peck away, they laid in siege cutting off the area from any communication of resupply, fighting a war of attrition.  And on Independence Day -- July 4, 1863 -- a week after Union troops blew apart the Confederate line with an underground explosive under the 3rd Louisiana Redan which devastated any chance the Confederates had at winning the battle, General Pemberton officially surrendered his 30,000 starving and sickly troops.

Vicksburg, 1863

The victory at Vicksburg significantly impacted the Confederate's ability to maintain any war effort.  This Union victory gave the north control over the Mississippi River and made the victory at Champion Hill possible.  The victory at Champion Hill stopped all southern traffic on the river for the balance of the war.  The ceasing of this main avenue of supply put a strangle hold on the Confederate war effort.  This, in combination with the thrashing General Lee had received the previous day at Gettysburg, was the writing on the wall.  And while the Civil War would continue for two more years, it would not rage on.  It would whimper into submission as these events created the stage for which Generals Grant and Sherman would march through the south and leave in their wake no doubt that the south and its dreams of an independent nation were indeed defeated, and dead.


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Bruce holds a degree in Computer Science from Temple University, a Graduate Certificate in Biblical History from Liberty University and is working towards a Masters Degree in American History at American Public University.  He has worked in educational and technology for over 18 years, specializes in building infrastructures for schools that work to support the mission of technology in education in the classroom.  He also has served as a classroom teacher in Computer Science, History and English classes.  

Bruce is the author of five books: Sands of Time, Towering Pines Volume One:Room 509, The Star of Christmas, Philadelphia Story: A Lance Carter Detective Novel and The Insider's Story: A Lance Carter Detective Novel -- with a new book, Learn the Basics: Digital Forensics, due soon. 

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