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At sunset had a walk on bank, among grain fields fine fragrant air. crops nearly ripe. followed by people. called names and stoned. ran. on being turned on stole beans from field in revenge.
Charley Longfellow, April 1873
Do you ever just read something that gets crazier the further on you read? Welcome to the life of Charles Appleton Longfellow.
Do you know if the Shinsengumi had any standards for who they killed? My friend thinks they wouldn't have killed women and children, but I think if they were ordered to they would've killed anyone tbh. Did they have any rules about things like that?
We know of one woman the Shinsengumi killed. Oume, the mistress of Serisawa, who was with him when the Shinsengumi assassinated Serisawa at night in his quarters. I believe other women connected with other members of Serisawa’s faction fled from the scene. Oume wasn’t a target in her own right, but the assassination was a secret, officially blamed on Choshu-connected killers, and so, she was probably eliminated as a witness. They definitely were ruthless on occasion.
Serisawa and Oume in the NHK drama Shinsengumi! I felt very saddened to find that, unlike Serisawa and the other men, she has no known marked grave.
Other than that, I don’t know of any stories/records of the Shinsengumi killing women and children, and it wasn’t very common in the Bakumatsu for women or children to be targeted. (The big caveat here is that people would have had a different idea of what age constituted childhood. Teenagers on both sides both killed and were killed.)
It definitely happened, however, that women would be killed as well as men in this era of conflict. Muryoin, the fifty-five year old mistress of one of Ii Naosuke’s retainers, was assassinated in 1863 by Sonnou Joui killers, and I can think of three court ladies who were the targets of assassination threats and plots.
Children were killed during the wars of the period. @sparrowdreams has posted one horrible account from the Boshin War. In Mito, after their civil war (aka the Tengu rebellion) in 1864, the domain government itself executed some of the wives and children of rebels, including one three-year-old child. (Read “Women of the Mito Domain” for the details.)
Bringing this back to the Shinsengumi, I think we can see from the time period that terrible cruel deeds were quite possible, if not probable. I just can’t see the situation often coming up for them. And killing women and children wasn’t looked on favourably. Most people no doubt found it revolting. But there wasn’t a bright uncrossable line between innocents and acceptable targets, and at least one woman, Oume, was a victim of the Shinsengumi.
She was gutsy. She was persistent. And with a Spencer repeating carbine, she was lethal.
This is a great read by sparrowdreams.com about a Japanese woman who really kicked butt. My kinda gal. “She was a soldier, shooting instructor and feared sharpshooter in the Japanese Civil War, a fearless educator in the face of discrimination, a co-founder of one of Japan’s modern universities and a tireless advocate for the voices of her vanquished community.”
PS: Her story was also broadcast as a Sunday night NHK taiga drama, Yae no Sakura (八重の桜). You can see most of the episodes on dailymotion.com.
I confess: it was me. I was the Charley anon.
Ahahaha. I am not surprised. You’re the only person I know on here whose love of Charley matches my own lmao
(finally followed ya like I should've done already!) Got many hist. faves; here's 3: Chamberlain (I appreciate him more having read his own words esp. "Passing of The Armies," & he's become a big part of the backstory to my webcomic) Yamamoto Yae (sort of a Japanese Annie Oakley-- sharpshooter in the Japanese Civil War who went on to be a champion of women's education), & Date Masamune (quirky, creative, incredibly clever 17th century Japanese warlord who even sent his own embassy to the Pope!)
thank you for following!
Chamberlain is a definite fave :) and since I haven’t done much studying outside of American history (I did a little bit of Euro in high school but that’s about it) I’ve never heard of Yamamoto Yae or Date Masamune but they both sound super interesting too! I’ll have to read up on them as well :)
Shit Charley Longfellow Says: Part III
“all my friends are getting spliced so fast that in a year or so I shall be counted among the old bachelors If I dont look sharp.” April 11, 1865
“I have just been left by my band who play and sing under my window as long as I throw coppers at them and oh! such melody as it is, the neighbors parrot who m who is constantly pracktising the musical part of a cat fight (which he does wonderfully) is much preferable.” May 10, 1865
“he is a brick nevertheless” May 10, 1865
“I went to a dance in the Latin Quarter the other evening you had better believe it was joy what would they say at in Boston at such doings” May 10, 1865
“OOOOOOOO- these are kisses.” May 10, 1865
“Started for home after taking an affectionate farewell of our friends who predicted our drowning in a jovial way.” September 3, 1865
“We have only seen five tarantulars and three scorpions in our room as yet one of which we pinned and hope soon to encrease our menagerie” February 12, 1866
“The “Contra Dantza” and it is very popular as you can imagine it is like a waltz, that is you put your arm round a girls waist, but there the resemblance ends and you step about slowly and look hard into your partners eyes in a solemn manner. of course at the masque balls there are a good many fancy touches put in that are not allowed in ‘society’” February 20, 1866
“‘I kiss your hand’ as they say in Spanish.” February 20, 1866
“Tell F.P when you see her that I am thinking of her 26 hours out of the 24” February 20, 1866
“Don’t eat up all the guave before I arrive as as it might make you sick.” March 20, 1866
Dear youth,
How are you this hot day? We are sitting in the cool white, waiting for a cold dinner with a delicious salead. Why cannot some invisible breath of air waft to you our wishes, that you might come in to take a glass of [illeg] claret with us! Our wishes sometimes are so fervent that they seem to have the power of lifting a man from the ground, as the Savior of the Old Saint did, and transporting him bodily through the air. I should not therefore be surprized if you come.
Henry Longfellow to Charles Sumner (April 14, 1844), showing not only that they were best bros, but also showing how much the heat can apparently get to people.
I’m not saying this is the worst version of the Lincoln Assassination ever made, but it is by far the worst and funniest one I’ve ever seen.
Abraham Lincoln (1930)
Bonus:
