13 best little stories from the civil wars

Product features

Block by Barbara Brackman

Peace and Plenty is a two-part pattern: center and frame of two different sizes of triangles. Twentieth century designers at Farm Journal magazine gave it a two-part name, like Corn and Beans or Hens and Chicks.

Post–Civil War orators often called for a reunified American peace and plenty. This biblical phrase was borrowed by Shakespeare. King Cymbeline’s reunion with his sons, torn away by war, promised his country peace and plenty. A Scottish song published in 1776 carried the words into the New World as a symbol for reunion: 'Lay your disputes all aside. May peace and plenty be [our] lot'.

Yankee Puzzle, Block by Becky Brown

Yankee Puzzle recalls the basic problem with the Union’s initial war philosophy: The Civil War was a war to maintain the Union—not to free the slaves. Abraham Lincoln explained the challenge in a letter to newspaper editor Horace Greeley (a lawyer’s letter to be sure):

'If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save [the] Union. I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free'.

A few months later Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves in the rebellious states and continuing the process of untangling the complex knot of slavery and union. Recall the conflict between Lincoln’s official and personal views with an old block called Yankee Puzzle by Ruth Finley in her 1929 quilt book, Old Patchwork Quilts and the Women Who Made Them.

Ladies’ Aid Album, Block by Valerie Zulewski

The Ladies’ Aid Album honors the U.S. Sanitary Commission. If you see a shadow of a red cross, it’s because the Sanitary Commission preceded the Red Cross in aiding sick and wounded soldiers. It surprises us that 150 years ago governments took little responsibility for war wounded. In Europe’s Crimean War of the 1850s, Florence Nightingale established a civilian mission that saved many lives. Inspired by her work, the first Sanitary Commission grew as a civilian group authorized by the Union to take responsibility for soldiers’ hospitals and medical care.

Cities all over the Northern states soon volunteered to organize local branches. One major duty was collecting blankets, medical supplies, food, and clothing for hospitals. Another was sewing those blankets, supplies, and clothing in numerous Ladies’ Aid Societies. The Ladies’ Aid Album block was published in the Kansas City Star in 1938. Here the design is redrawn to better fit an 8˝ block.