Talk:Thomas Wentworth Higginson

Discussion

Hi there,

Thou hast no right but to do thy will.

The wiki on the song "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" by Frank Loesser

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praise_the_Lord_and_Pass_the_Ammunition

... attributes the title's origin to a WWII chaplain, apparently following the statement on teh Smithsonian site :

http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object.cfm?key=35&objkey=81

However, book descriptions of a reprint of the 1870 book "Army Life in a Black Regiment" by Thomas Wentworth Higginson quote "historian Henry Steele Commager" as saying that "Higginson's picture of the battle ... was the origin of 'praise the Lord and pass the ammunition' ...".

See eg:

http://www.powells.com/biblio/0486424820?&PID=30732

I haven't been able to confirm this statement outside of these book descriptions -- but readers of this entry presumably know something about Higginson and his book ;) . Could somene please look into this, anc correct if appropriate (and refute the myth if not)? (It might also be a good nugget to put on Higginson's own page, if true).

Thanks!

Mikalra 19:07, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

I have read fairly extensively on Higginson and have never encountered the idea that he had saud "praise the lord and pass the ammunition". I had always thought it was said by a chaplain at Pearl Harbor. It seems improbable that it was Higginson. Although he was a minister, his writings don't seem to have a lot of piety in them. Also "passing the ammunition" doesn't make sense to me in the context of Civil War infantry combat where men had cartridges with three components powder, bullet and firing cap or something like that.

12.159.138.194 12:22, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

The Yale Book of Quotations attributes it to Howell Forgy, a U.S. naval chaplain, said "while moving along a line of sailors passing ammunition by hand to the deck, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 7 Dec. 1941." It adds that it was quoted in the N.Y. Times, 1 Nov. 1942. Maurice Magnus (talk) 02:38, 4 December 2022 (UTC)

Overhaul

Hello! I'm going to attempt a big overhaul on this article. From my first glance at it, the abolition-related activities were all over the place with no coherent organization and often out of chronological sequence (for example). I'm going to try to work on organization in particular and then expansion using reliable sources. I'd also like to expand on Higginson's involvement with Emily Dickinson. If anyone would like to help in any aspect of this, it would be most welcome. --Midnightdreary (talk) 22:35, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

nytimes article

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/an-american-romantic-goes-to-war/

>>>April 15, 2011, 9:30 PM An American Romantic Goes to War By ETHAN J. KYTLE

Disunion follows the Civil War as it unfolded. TAGS:

THE CIVIL WAR, THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON Just two days after the surrender of Fort Sumter, a crowd gathered at City Hill in Worcester, Mass., to rally for war. Lincoln had called for troops to put down the insurrection the day before, and few responded as passionately as Worcester’s citizens — chief among them abolitionist Thomas Wentworth Higginson. “Tonight we have more than enthusiasm,” announced Higginson. “We have unanimity!”

Library of Congress Thomas Wentworth Higginson, in later years A Harvard-educated minister, Higginson had spent the better part of the past decade preaching war on slavery. Deeply influenced by New England Transcendentalists like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, he had transformed their Am.....

This isn't an article, fyi; it's a blog post. Are you suggesting there is something specific Wikipedians should do with this? --Midnightdreary (talk) 12:44, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

I added this article to Further Reading, because I think it worth listing, and that should be the criterion for whether to add it, not whether one labels it an article or a blog post. If one cares about the label, however, this is an article. It is a professional piece by a historian, not a periodic posting of thoughts off the top of one's head. The fact that it is one of a series of articles doesn't make it a blog post. Maurice Magnus (talk) 01:55, 4 December 2022 (UTC)

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Inexplicable footnote

Five of Higginson's "Selected List of Works" have footnote 5 after them, which reads: Wilson, Susan. Literary Trail of Greater Boston. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000: 119. ISBN 0-618-05013-2. No indication is given of what page 119 of that book has to do with the five books by Higginson. Since all five are cited to page 119, does that mean that they are mentioned or listed on page 119? There can't be a substantial discussion of five books on one page. If they are merely mentioned or listed, that wouldn't justify the footnote. I think that the meaning of the footnote should be stated, or the footnote should be deleted. Maurice Magnus (talk) 02:03, 4 December 2022 (UTC)

Citations needed

The section "Relationship with Emily Dickinson" does not have a single footnote. I don't want to put citation needed after almost every sentence, but would someone look into this -- perhaps someone with a copy of Brenda Wineapple's book? The introduction to the section on "Beliefs" also needs references. Maurice Magnus (talk) 11:50, 4 December 2022 (UTC)