Sound Portrait Reflection

Besides the complaint I had before that the narrator talked to fast, hearing Geneva Tisdale tell her story made it easier to understand how she was feeling and helped to see her perspective. It made it more personal than just reading text.



Julius Howell - Civil War General


Julius Howell spoke in front of congress at the age of 101 about the morning that Abraham Lincoln died and how as a boy of 16 and a half he joined the Calvery out of Richmond, Va.

He began his speech with how Abraham Lincoln was made president and there was alot of excitement that there were talks of slavery being ended. He described how in his mind he felt like it was a curse on the country that they had slavery. When war was declared, at the age of 16 and a half he joined the Confederate Army, Calvery Company.

The marched out of Richmond, Va in the southeastern direction. They ran into a few squirmishes and a small battle. The Federals, under General Sheridan, overtook them and he became a Captain. 20,000 of them were captured and sent to the Union Prison Camp.

On the morning of April 15, 1865 he awoke early and went to look outside. He saw that all the flags were at half mast. He called to the others and said "Boys, there must be some big Yankee dead, I wonder who it could be". Not long after the Sargent sounded the bugle and they asked him what the half flag meant. The Sargent replied, "President Lincoln was shot last night".


That ended his speech. You could hear how his tone changed during the speech. While he was talking about Lincoln becoming president and joining the war up till his capture he seemed rather excited to be telling that tale. When he told about Lincoln getting shot you could hear the sadness in his voice.


If I could create my own sound portrait it would probably be about my own father. I've heard his stories about the Vietnam war and his part in it. He was an aircraft mechanic and had to go on missions to salvage parts from aircraft that was down so that the enemy could not use them. He also was on a ship next to the Floristal that had caught fire. He had to board that ship and try to rescue people. It's a horrific story entailing shipmates literally melting into the decks because of the fire and how it heated up the metal decks so hot.

I believe it's possible to create my own sound portrait and I probably would if my father was willing to talk about any of it. It's hard to get him to talk about it, it's all timing.