Young Rebel with a Cause

By Phyllis S. Johnson

Young Rebel With a Cause concerns a young surgeon who graduated from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and joins the Confederate forces but is concerned about saving lives of both Union and Confederate soldiers who were being killed in large numbers as a result of the Civil War. The book has a great deal of action, historical background, romance, interesting characters and much to be learned about the War and the State of Maryland.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9781481746564

Phyllis S. Johnson

Phyllis S. Johnson was born in Calvert County, Maryland and attended the local schools during elementary and high school years. She graduated from the University of Maryland with a B. A. Degree in English and later received an M.A. in Secondary School Counseling from The George Washington University. She taught English in Prince George’s County, MD high schools for a number of years and then was a high school counselor for almost twenty years. She returned to Calvert County to resume some of the farming activity that she had grown to enjoy and respect as a child. The writer is concerned about the abuse and misuse of the fine farmland and beautiful bodies of water that are not being used for pleasure and fine seafood because of the problems that are being ignored to save the dwindling number of farms and the beautiful bodies of water. The author has published two books with a Calvert County setting and Young Rebel With a Cause has a similar setting. Her Grandfather, Dr. Julius Otho Dorsey, who was a surgeon in the Civil War, had spent his childhood in Calvert County. Calvert’s Gold was published in 2003 about life in Calvert County in the 1920s and 30s. Calvert Remember Me was published in 2007 and concerns two young attractive high school teachers in the 2000s who have shown a desire to help their students reach their potential by exposing them to more activities that will increase their self-esteem and motivation.

Book preview

YOUNG REBEL

WITH A CAUSE

PHYLLIS S. JOHNSON

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© 2013 by Phyllis S. Johnson. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 07/08/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4817-4657-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-4655-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-4656-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013907442

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 Spring At The Plantation

Chapter 2 A New Plantation Member

Chapter 3 Jule’s Early Plantation Life

Chapter 4 Holiday Time

Chapter 5 Medical College Begins

Chapter 6 Graduation Time

Chapter 7 Escape To Join First Maryland

Chapter 8 Jule And Will At Chancellorsville

Chapter 9 Ben’s Sister Carole Arrives

Chapter 10 War Goes On In Gettysburg

Chapter 11 The End Of The War

Bibliography

Acknowledgements

About The Main Character

About Some Civil War Writings

About The Author

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Dr. Julius Otho Dorsey after the Civil War ended and he is beginning his medical practice in Calvert County, Maryland.

INTRODUCTION

The Civil War in the United States in the 1860’s, which has also been called War of Rebellion, the War for Independence or other not so kind names, was the war that had the greatest number of casualties and the greatest amount of destruction and expression of ill feelings that divided our country over the issues that were involved. The threat of war had been festering over the years before the first attack or the secession, or any act that helped to bring the problems to a head. There were many possible causes that have been mentioned in history books or general accounts or stories about the era that unfortunately no leader or President during or before the period had been strong enough politically or in knowledge and leadership qualities and with the proper management and expertise, to resolve serious problems within the country. It would have been difficult even for an able leader with incredible charisma to pull state leaders together for the good of the nation and the downplay of personal benefit because of the wide diversity of population, background in experience, values, nationalities, goals, and expectations. The imported workers or slaves as they were referred to, had no training in any field, only a day-to-day search for food and they benefited from that training given by the land owner particularly in producing food and shelter and general self-care and health and safety on a long-term basis. The southern planters and others took advantage of the opportunity to trade their patience, training skills, knowledge, and experience to train workers for the unskilled work in the field that permitted them, the planters, to spend more time improving their living conditions, homes and property, farming equipment and other kinds of improvements that decreased the amount of laborious work and increased the living conditions quality in many ways for the unskilled workers.

Many property owners had expressed the feeling that their time given for the training of the unskilled worker and the provision for the health and welfare, food, lodging, and other needs consumed the profit from the labor of the imported workers particularly in the north. Today, we are seeing a similar expression of some states that the imported workers, like the Hispanics and those from other countries, are requiring more from our government in the form of benefits in addition to the small or low pay the workers receive, and the trend seems to be to try to terminate the use of low paid workers coming into the country. Leadership in finding ways to keep farm owners in business with a better income instead of using imported workers seems to be the pattern after the Civil War. This labor situation has not been resolved and is being handled by individual states as it was early in the Civil War era. Also, large corporations have taken and are taking their goods to be manufactured in other countries for cheaper production while people in our country have to buy goods that may be unhealthful and dangerous and poor quality. Before making a decision on how to handle the situation in the 1860’s, the Union states could have investigated the situation of the imported worker with regard to the cost to the property owners to use their labor and meet their needs. Some families chose not to use labor brought into the country because of the problems involved. The border states were in a very unsettled state with different kinds of feelings from many kinds of people trying to do whatever they thought they should do to serve the cause or improve the situation.

In the midst of all the wrangling and dissatisfaction by the different states as they went about thinking about their own concerns it was extremely difficult to get a consensus of opinion or action to solve the problem. The population in the border states was burdened with some families’ handling the imported labor and others not wanting to use it at all. Families in these states were split in their feelings about having the new segment of population added to the regular population and what to do with them later or getting rid of them immediately by sending them back to Africa where some of them would no longer fit in or revert to their African culture. Some states, including Maryland, had given consideration to buying a special area where the imported workers could live and plan their own futures. Brothers turned against brothers in contemplating solutions to these problems before and during the war. It seemed no leader or group of leaders tried hard enough to present all of the alternatives and compromise with some conditions and future arrangements or legislation to cover the problems as they arose.

Suddenly declaring the use of imported labor in this country to be illegal did not seem to be the answer to the problem and most likely would pressure the people in agriculture to produce more food and raw materials without the unskilled labor to perform the work that did not require a great deal of precision or experience while the planters or farmers tried to increase crops to cover the expenses and have some profit regardless of how small. Many property owners were faced with the problem of what to do with the property if it could not be used. As the property in Maryland was handed down in the family, in most cases the oldest son received the main property and the others received only a small acreage or sometimes an education instead. Such was the provision in the 1850-60’s in the Dorsey family when a young man who had shown a strong interest in the field of medicine was given a medical education at the University of Maryland College of Medicine instead of a share of the family property and because he was not the oldest son. The oldest brother received the bulk of the family property and two younger brothers received only small inheritances.

The real cause of the American Civil War as many saw it was the tariff on goods from the southern farmers. Other causes like declaring the uses of imported workers as morally wrong were quoted to justify the reason for triggering the war. The President was elected by a small majority. Abraham Lincoln did not possess the patience, the concern, or consideration to pursue solving the tariff problem, which seemed unfair to the southern states. Lincoln labeled the border states as Union although the states wanted to remain neutral and not secede and just have their states’ rights. Unfortunately, Lincoln, from Illinois had little or no compassion for the Southern States’ cause and the effort and dependence on their part to be successful and produce. Today’s problem with the Hispanics, illegal immigration, is becoming a problem all over the country, not just the South. What will happen if this problem is not solved satisfactorily now and many do not care. As many sources about the cause of the Civil War have stated, Maryland was not a slave state as such. Imported workers, for the most part were permitted to come and go.

If an imported worker wanted to leave the place of work and living quarters, there were not many situations in which the landowners would start to search for the missing dissatisfied workers and seek their return. Many of these workers returned voluntarily when they found out how difficult it was to provide for their own room and board and other needs. Maryland had no plans to secede from the Union and take part in a war since they only wanted to remain neutral and have their own rights. After Lincoln declared the border states to be Union and they were forced to participate in many aspects of war against some of the neighboring states, Marylanders became dissatisfied they were being forced to do something they did not want to do against their neighbors. They had no preparation to enter the war and only wanted to arm their own young men to command the peace in their state. If that failed, they would have some armed and equipped volunteers who would carry the Maryland flag in the front line to make Maryland one of the Confederate states. A group of Maryland Volunteers started with a few members in Maryland who trained and supplied the volunteers known as First Marylanders who generally helped the Confederate forces and Robert E. Lee’s army particularly. The surgeons from the First Maryland group of volunteers helped with medical care of the Confederate wounded and some Union wounded and the trained forces or groups also helped the Confederate armed forces. The many volunteers who had no equipment that soldiers need to be of service, received help when Mrs. Bradley Johnson, wife of Captain Bradley Johnson, volunteered to visit some southern states to collect equipment including arms, ammunition, and clothing for the volunteers. Colonel Jackson ordered that Mrs. Johnson be given an escort and transportation to accomplish the mission. She departed from Company A and Company D at the Point of Rocks to be escorted by Captain Wilson Nicholas of Company G and Second Lieutenant Shearen of Company A to go to Raleigh and Richmond. On May 27, 1861, she arrived. Her mission was very successful and she brought back guns, ammunition, clothing, medicine, money and food. Many young medical students followed the action of the war until they would be eligible to enter as doctors.

This book is not intended to be a full account of the Civil War with all of the evidence, death and devastation that would prove which side was right, but to present the role of a young Maryland surgeon who entered the War after his graduation to help the cause of humanity—the saving of human lives and how this war affected his life and career. Many young Maryland surgeons who entered the war after graduation during the early 1860’s were determined to care for both Union and Confederate wounded soldiers.

CHAPTER 1

SPRING AT THE PLANTATION

Alexander hurriedly left Sarah, his wife, in bed after a brief conversation and a check on her analysis of her condition in regards to having their upcoming family addition that could happen at any time. Although he had been through this routine before, he thought there was something a little more urgent than in previous assessments of this nature.