Page 225 - People & Places In Time

Arcadia
Sullivan Co., Tn.
Miss Lide
As I have a few leasure moments I will drop you a few hasty lines to give you the news. We are engagued in the great anticipated Battle, we are now be- hind our fortifications awaiting the Enemy to advance the skirmishers are firing in our front heavy firing on our right and left, our Brigade was engagued yesterday, I am sorry to tell you that my friend Aaron Doley was killed in the early part of the fight, our Bridadier General Jones was killed, Gen Stafford who commanded the 4th Brig’e in our Division was wounded and died last night, my Brother Emmit was wounded severely in the face, I think not serious. Thomas J. Duff (a cousin) was killed yesterday a great many others killed and wounded in the 48 & 50th about thirty killed dead in the 48th do not know how many wounded 10 or 15 killed in the 50th and about 60 wounded. All is going well so far as I know, the enemy charged our lines at different places sev- eral times was repulsed every time with heavy loss. While I write 3 O’clock P.M., heavy firing on the right, an official dispatch has just been received stating that Gen Longstreet has whipped the enemy badly taken a great many prisoners thirty pieces of artillery every thing bids fair for success, but I believe the battle is hardly begin yet, do not know what may be done in the next few days.
I must close for the men are going out for rations, the only chance to send this.
Yours Truly
Wm. P. Duff
On May 12, 1864, eight days after writing this last letter, his whole division was captured at the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse during a heavy fog early that morning. He spent the remainder of the war as a POW (Prisoner of War). He, along with other officers known as The Immortal 600, was intentionally starved and used as a human shield during battle. When the war ended, Captain Duff took the oath of allegiance to the United States of America on June 17, 1865. He arrived home in Lee County on July 1.
Captain Duff spent some time recuperating from the ravages of war. After restoring his health and getting his affairs back in order, he married Eliza on Feb. 26, 1867, two years after his return. They reared their family of six boys and one girl and were happily married until his death in 1907. Their love was the kind that lasted a lifetime...
M ~ How the San Joaquin Valley grew and changed (Picturing Californias Other Landscape ~ Heath Schenker)
Rapid changes accompanied the Americanization of the Central Valley, and the process that shaped and reshaped the region were reflective of those
that eventually domesticated the entire western frontier. The gold rush had stimulated the repopulation of the San Joaquín Valley, which was virtually deci- mated of its native dwellers the Yokuts during the preceding Colonial period. By the middle of the 1850’s, Americans were using most of the south- ern valley as a great ranch and pastureland in anticipation of the food demands from the gold fields and burgeoning urban centers. Without efficient trans- port, livestock proved the quickest way to make money during this volatile era. But during the 1860’s, the south valley pastures would gradually retreat in the face of environmental events and new economic opportunities afforded by transportation improvements. Severe flood and drought sequences destroyed incalculable animals and rangelands. As a result, a substantial portion of livestock-keepers departed the region.
This period also saw a strengthened transportation network of roads and the arrival of the Southern Pacific railroad in the early 1870’s. As was true elsewhere in the west, the presence of the railroad in the South Valley stimulated dramatic economic and demographic changes. With the advent of rail transportation, California’s expanding cities, and the international demand for grains, an increasing number of residents and new immigrants to the South Valley began to pursue economic opportunities as farmers rather than as ranchers. Beginning in the late 1860’s and continuing through the early 1800’s, the pastures of the South Valley were progressively transformed into wheat and barley lands. . . .
During the 1870’s the landscape of the South Valley gradually changed as more intensified and diversified land use practices emerged. Irrigation
was the key to the successful implementation of intensive farming, but early endeavors were initially hindered by both legal and technological restraints. An important hurdle was overcome by the passage of the Wright Act of 1887, which strengthened the access of cooperative irrigation districts to stream water. Moreover, greater access to water was complemented by new sources of power and technology inventions. Irrigation from wells benefited enormously dur- ing the 1870’s from the development of steam drilling rigs and wind driven pumps. By the 1880’s, wind energy was being supplemented by steam and gas- powered engines that enabled farmers to pull water from aquafers under a greater variety of valley terrains. Finally, the development of increasingly efficient farm machinery and refrigerated storage and rail cars allowed farmers to grow and ship to market a greater variety of produce. At last South Valley inhabit- ants had acquired the power to gamble on farming as a profitable livelihood.
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