Document 12: 13 April 1862, Homefront Guilt – Digitizing American Feminisms

Author: Emilie E. Palmer

Date: 13 April 1862

Location: Emilie E. Palmer 1859 Diary, Record Group 19/2, Oberlin College Archives

Document Type: Autograph Document

Introduction:

Here Palmer reconciles the disparity between the plight of Civil War soldiers and her own occupations. Palmer turns to Christ and God when feeling in despair, as is evident in this entry. Palmer also reflects on the Battle of Shiloh at Corinth, a devastating Civil War battle, and chastises herself and her fellow Christians because they were at home and not experiencing the Civil War’s carnage.

Document Text:

April 13th

Another holy Sabbath with its privileges has passed all misspent by me. I make many resolutions and break them, until I have no heart to resolve. I know if I trust in Christ he can uphold me there is where I fail, and can I ever hope to do better?

I have no faith in anyone. I know of no better way to express my feelings. Surely whom can I trust and confide in, no one who is not controlled by Christian principles.

One week ago today, thousands lay dying on the battlefield at Corinth.¹ While we were guiltily at church or at home, all ungrateful for the many miseries, a battle was being fought which will never be [illegible, crossed out] forgotten. Our loss is estimated at seven thousand. God pity the afflicted.

Transcribed by Hannah Cohen

¹The Battle of Shiloh at Corinth, Mississippi was fought on 6 April 1862 when Confederate soldiers attacked Union soldiers before they were secure in trenches. It was the deadliest battle of the Civil War up until that point. (Civil War Trust, Shiloh, Web address, 17 March 2015).

The projects on this site all began as class assignments. Students work together in teams of two or three work together to create a “mini-edition” based on documents in the Oberlin College Archives identified by Professor Lasser and Archivist Ken Grossi for their potential to illuminate aspects of feminisms. Each student individually selects a document from the team’s collection, transcribes and annotates it, and produces a headnote for it. Together, the members of the team cooperate to write an introduction to the project identifying how the contents contribute to understanding the history of American feminisms.

Before posting on this site, all projects received editorial attention from Professor Lasser. Jen Graham OC 2013 assisted with mini-editions completed in Spring 2013. Hanna Van Reed OC 2015 assisted the Spring 2015 class, and Summer 2015 Student Editors, Rebecca Debus, Natalia Shevin and Joanna Wiley-- all OC 2017--edited and extended projects completed in Spring 2015.

See the projects here...

Oberlin College History Professor Carol Lasser teaches “First Wave American Feminisms” and “Second Wave American Feminisms.” Each of these courses investigates the social movements, political thought, and the changing trajectories of power for women, situating female gendered persons in changing intersectional contexts, including race, religion, region, class, sexuality, household status and citizenship. Students in the class work with primary documents in order to better understand how race, class, gender, sexuality, and historical moment shape notions of gender justice, and to experience first-hand how historians make sense of evidence.