A Year in the South: Four Lives in 1865 Essay

Prompt How did the variant minimises of thaumaturgy, Cornelia, Lou, and surface-to-air missileuel proceed their abilities to ad barely to the complete of the state of warfarefare? How did the end of the war affect their unremark adequate to(p) cognises? Explain, make sure to support your swear come to the fore with evidence and quotes from the text.A twelvemonth in the S come onh Four Lives in 1865The telescope of an individual all in allows the individual to align to refreshful circumstances no matter how original the transplant may be. It is real ostensible that in the book, A Year in the southmost Four Lives in 1865, that population whether they were b omit or white suffered distinct hardships, however their background was what en equald them to succeed or fail by and by the war. in that respect were tetrad people which this book was foc apply upon Louis Hughes, who was an enlightened buckle down in the Deep South, in Tombigbee, Alabama Cornelia McDona ld, who was the married woman of a ally spend, and the mother of 7 children in Lexington, Virginia surface-to-air missileuel Agnew, who was a priest exempted from military service rightable to his position in the church, in Tippah County, Mississippi, and John Robertson, who was an ex-henchman s agingier looking to settle fine-tune and live a religious manner accepting defeat as a Confederate soldier, in eastbound Tennes contain. Although the backgrounds of each of these individuals were different, their accomplishments gained from their background is what led them to be able to reconcile or fail to line up to the end of the war.Louis Hughes was an educated slave who was taught many a nonher(prenominal) skills by his master whom he refers to as boss, and skills he learned from various jobs besides not limited to nursing, working in the field, and working the salt works. Louis Hughes was very passing skilled for a slave. Nursing was b bely iodine of many skills Lou ac quired in the McGehee signalinghold. He could drive a carriage, cultivate an ornamental garden, and even up operate a run up machine, not to mention serve like an expert as only whenler and body servant. (Ash 25) This shows how healthful rounded Lou was as a slave and as an individual. Lou was also of an entrepreneurial learning ability and is shown when he was in the salt works, where he borrowed money from the other slaves and bought tobacco plugs to sell. Having discerned that the compass could only produce salt, he was exceedingly successful and procured a fifty long horse profit from the sales which granted aid from N.S. Brooks.Brooks then obtained five light speed plugs for Louto sell in which he do a huge profit from. Lou had notice that it was all rebel money but was sharp rich and bought up all the silver he could get his hand on. (Ash 21) This lead to believe that Lou would buy roughthing that depart retain its value if the league were to stand or win. That bureau he could harbour his assets safe. As soon as the start-off sign of impingement was near dame had sent for all her slaves. Lou had been sent out to the fields for the remainder of the time of the invasion was upon arrival, even though there was scantily a presence in the opposed area he was in. During the time he was working in the field he remembered how his master had shown both sides of his master. On one side, his master had been seen as a forgiving and would go out and cure people.On the other hand, there was one where he was seen as temperamental and aggressive. Lou has held much impertinence towards this side, and recalls a time where Boss gave him a whipping. This made Lous stratumning for immunity even greater than it was before. pull downtually in the summer, Lou and another slave named George had resolute to escape, not knowing that the war had finish and they were granter lay offdom. The twain unknowing freedmen then made their look to Memph is, mostly by foot with maintenance that they might be caught and sent back. The last-place bit, after they felt more pay off was by train, Lou had purchased using his earnings from the plugs. There they were turned down by the formal in charge, found that the war had ended in the coalescency victory and traveled back Senatobia.On their way there, with a rented w agon and two bottles of whiskey presumably bought with the silver that Lou had obtained by selling plugs, ran into two uniting soldiers. He bartered to exhaust the Union soldiers go to Madams house to announce the confederate defeat in exchange for a whisky bottle. The union soldiers did exactly that. After doing so the freedmen and their wives on with other freedmen headed to Memphis, escorted some of the way by the same soldiers. There they made a financial backing, or idled about(predicate) enjoying their new freedom.However, Lou and his union had decided to go to Cincinnati to see if they could start out Ma tildas mother which eventually they did. Lou was able adapt and succeed in roughly any job he was disposed(p) delinquent to his background of working with interchangeable jobs he had held before. Lou was able to adapt in such a way to where it is believed he was successful after the war in the terms of the new freedom he had attained. Lou was able to supersede adversity of the changing governmental and economiccrisis of the south after the war.surface-to-air missileuel Agnew was a priest in Tippah County, Mississippi. His family were greedy supporters of the Confederate cause, running and hiding at the alarm of Yankee invasion. Sam was exempted from the war because he was a look, although accosted he was a few time under the stipulation that he was avoiding the draft. He had heard of the nakedness that the confederate soldiers had endured, and kept a recherche interest in news about the war, and the policies that the Confederacy was putting in his free time. He tried to cultivate opium and tobacco, as a hobby and to sell to pre race money to use to buy provisions. In times of heavy depression, and where prices kept firing up and money and supply were scarce. Even though the war was over and Sam had accepted that event he restrained had a strong sense of confederacy patriotism which came from his family holding a blue grove, and using slave hands to tend to it. His baffle, Enoch had listed the value of his plantation as $23,500, which he Union via President Johnson had declared that along with the generals and officials of the Confederacy, any citizen with more than twenty mebibyte dollars in assets.That provision was idlely aimed at the planters, a class whom Johnson despised and whom he blamed for the breakup of the Union. This was something the Agnews would have to foretell with. (Ash 145) This was one of the hardships that could not be avoided by Sam as to see that living with his father and his small plantation would be greatly affect ed by this. Eventually, Sam had to gather the slaves and announce that they were freedmen, however no(prenominal) of them left immediately, they stayed and did only the necessary work, but did not work as expeditiously as they did when they were slaves. Sam dictates that the freedmen were doing as they enthrall they go off in sidereal day on their own business and are not giving their masters concerns any attention.As a consequence, Sam found himself taking on unused chores approximately the plantation making a new rope for the well bucket, assembly and cleaning the loose bits of cotton disperse around the floor of the gin house. (Ash 151) This shows that even though he had brusk come cultivating, he was ill inclined(p) for the jobs that he had his slaves at the time do. Sam could not adapt to the end of the war. He had no experience in the work that the slaves did and then was fight to meet ends meet, which is also displayed in their dying livestock. ulterior onhe would hire the freedmen to work in the fields and pay them to do so. Disgusted at the level he was at negotiating with what used to be his familys property.Eventually this disdain, and losing assets would yield him with no freedmen come New Years Day of the following year after the war. This would leave his family in ruins and ineffectual to get along with the post war times ahead. Thus Sam Agnew was not prepared for the end of the war economically, and with the lack of skills sightedness as how they were ruined with no workers or livestock that would help them with the plantation that his father had owned. Sam after having lost everything had failed to change with the ending of the war and the new policies of the joined States and had suffered economically.John Robertson was a young ex-confederate soldier whom after being captured in the war and forced to surrender to get out of prison, was looking for a religious resurgence and to have a normal life. He planned to become a minister as he professed to Tennie, and John was an old hand at raising pale yellow during the years John was growing up in Greene County. (Ash 172) Showing he had some skills to go upon and would have self-sufficiency. Even though he had surrendered and allowed to go back root he remains bitter and relieve harbors hate towards the union after the confederate loss. As soon as the union member established dominance in East Tennessee, he realized that he despised the native unionist more than the trade unionist that came from other states. This is mainly due to the fact that he was a Confederate from Tennessee and cut the native unionists as traitors.This played a giant role in making his daily life really heavy especially in the church due to governor Brownlow, who had resented all of the confederates that imprisoned him. Later on, John would pay the price for his war acts. The Lincolnites were indomitable to kill him, there was vigor he could do to stop themnothing, that is, extr act go where they could not find him. through and through the waning days of August, he agonize over his plight. By September, he had decided he must leave. (Ash 180) This shows that Johns past would dictate how he would live his future and that he would have to avoid the Unionists that were looking for revenge for his past sins, and so pressured him to leave Tennessee and retreat to Springfield. He colonised down and immersed himself in education and religion. Although he had settled there with an uncle he wasdetermined to go back, thus Johns background is preventing him from having a successfully way to cope with the end of the war emotionally due to his inability to see his love, Tennie.Cornelia McDonald was the wife of a wealthy confederate force officer. Cornelia had relied heavily on her conserves salary thus when she died everything went downhill very fast. She had no basic house skills turn out for sewing and mending clothes. She lacked basic skill so she had to hire psyche to do the cooking for the same reason she had to pay for carding, spinning, and weaving as a accomplished woman who had always had money and slaves, she had never learned those skills because she never had to perform those chores. (Ash 38) This provide play into account when the war comes around as those are necessities and will affect and drain the money from Cornelia in the latter(prenominal) half of the year.She would have to pay someone else for these essential skills. As for the skill she did have was to tutor for painting and foreign languages, these calculate more of a luxury than a necessity as will be seen in at the end of the book. She is save able to support herself and her family after her husband dies and the meager earning she gets goes to food and not sufficiency is left over rent and she enwrapped in debt and eventually becomes ruined financially. Cornelia is struggling emotionally as well and claims to see her noble sons, little daughter, and pretty lit tle boys dragged down so low. (Ash 158) This was one of her greater struggles as she could not believe that just a few years ago they were so prosperous and now doing jobs that were so beneath them. This is just a clear indicator that she was not able to adapt to the circumstances of a changing political climate and her lack of ability to adapt is shown very clearly financially and emotionally. tout ensemble in all most of the Southerners had a tough time coping with the end of the war because of their inability, and lack of essential independent skills. Lou and John were the only ones to see improvement in their life although not in significant amount but they were breach off than those of the rich white plantation and slave owners. The reason was their ability to cope with hardships way before the end of the war and these times of hardships helped them transition into the post war era, whereas Cornelia andSam were ruined, because they lived a life where they had enough money to sustain themselves, and did not remove to worry about the skills until it was too late. The background of each of the southerner, and their essential skills or lack thereof have left them in in the state they were in each with stability or instability financially, or emotionally.BibliographyAsh, Stephen V. A Year in the South Four Lives in 1865. New York city Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.