The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #122323   Message #2682069
Posted By: InOBU
17-Jul-09 - 06:50 AM
Thread Name: Did Quakers Bugle?
Subject: RE: Did Quakers Bugle?
I would write to the historian of the Solebury Friend's Meeting, not sure of the zip code, you might find it on Quakerfinder, and ask if they might send you a copy of the post civil war minute which was read at thier 200th aniversery.
I remember that early, even in the Vietnam war, there were young Friends drawn to fight, and in "View From the Backbenches" I am pretty sure this is mentioned, I set copied and set up that remarkable pamphlet written in 64 or5 as a blog, if you use Quaker and from the backbenches, you should be able to find it on line... as it might be letter from the backbenches, my memory is less than sharp early in the AM.
As to calling others to fight, some Friends have done, well, odd alternative service in that regard. A late fFriend who was in our Meeting in NYC, had been a member of Britain Yearly Meeting, not sure which monthly Meeting, but during WW II Leslie was at Blenchly House, in Turin's inner circle in the Enigma Project. This always struck me as war by proxy, but, I also feel it is in our present tradition, especially as I grew up Hicksite, to allow other Friends their own light... generally... there are always one or two, that deep in our hearts, we would LOVE to read out of Meeting =)
but those thoughts pass,
I would say, most North Eastern Quaker Meetings, during the Civil War had some young people who went to fight, some of them leaving their Meetings to so do.
I strongly recomend watching Friendly Persuasion - talk about anacronisms, it is a Quaker Musical, but, the Quaker aspect is very true to history, and the Meetings on the issue of war are very good indeed. At one point, a Friend says anyone who does not condemn the war should be read out, and of course, when their corner of Indiana is invaded by the south, he is the first to grab a gun. Whereas, the star, Gary Cooper, says he does not know what he would do... and is led into deeper personal conflicts over the war.
In the book, he is faced with conflicts over dressing "gay" not plain, in order to work on the Underground Railroad. Both are good for the reinactor, to begin to get the feel.
One of my First Day school teachers Anna Curtis was the grand daughter of a conductor on the UA. So, these times never felt far away from me... one of her stories is posted here as my ballad, The Ballad of Richard Murray.
All the best, Friends,
Yours in the light
lor