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Song o' the Day-"The Drummer Boy of Shiloh"
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New Orleans JAZZ NHP’s Song o’ the Day:
“The Drummer Boy of Shilo”
“According to the Texas State Historical Association, a passenger on a ship headed north on the Rio Grande River threw a copy of the New Orleans Times newspaper to a group of Confederate soldiers outside of Palmito Ranch on May 1, 1865, alerting them to Lee’s surrender at Appomattox… This news prompted hundreds of Confederate soldiers to leave their assignments and head home… After receiving intelligence of the mass departure of Confederate troops, 30-year-old Union Colonel Theodore H. Barrett believed it was the opportune time to prove his legitimacy as a young commander and take the port of Brownsville for the Federals.” (Saturday Evening Post).
Well, ambitious Col. Barrett ordered his 250-man Colored Infantry Regiment and 50 men of the 2nd Texas Cavalry Regiment to attack the diminished Confederate camp. And, when the May 12th & 13th skirmish concluded, the Union Force had managed to lose, and approximately 123 men lay dead (only 6 of which were Confederates). This Battle of Palmito Hill is recognized as the final land-based battle of the American Civil War, and Union Private John Jefferson Williams ,Company B, 34th Regiment Indiana Infantry, the last man killed in said war.
Today’s ballad from another battle is dedicated to the memory of 22-year-old Private Jefferson with the fervent hope that he, indeed, be the last loss and our Nation never again so divided.
From: Songs of the Lower Mississippi Delta
Produced by: National Park Service
Featuring: Alison Leferve (vocals) & Chris Mekow (snare drum)
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NPS photo: design by Diana Thornton, crescentmusic.com