[Nebraska-senior-blind] Another story by the Blind History Lady - FW: Re-building from the inside out

Thu Nov 1 15:51:12 UTC 2018

From: The Blind History Lady [mailto:theblindhistorylady at gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, November 1, 2018 6:15 AM
To: robertleslienewman at gmail.com
Subject: Re-building from the inside out

November honors blinded Vets 

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Greetings Blind History Lady Fans:

November gives me the opportunity to honor our blind servicemen. This year I found the story of a blinded Confederate soldier that caught my attention. The Civil War was a war that pitted families against each other. Today the wounds from the Civil War are still bleeding from large college campuses to small town neighborhoods across our country that keep the anger and division from that war so very much alive.

My subject is a man who went into the war on one side and came out on another. He saw the humanity in everyone and the devastation such a war leaves behind. Robert, or “Blind Bob” as he was known, could have used his war wounds to feed his anger or excuse himself from the re-building of the South. Rather, he chose to take action, better his community for family and friends and promote a better understanding of those different from himself.

Robert Conner was born June 17, 1843 in Alabama. His family moved to Chickasaw Mississippi by the end of that decade to a cotton farm. Pre-Civil War South, the Conner family owned slaves to work their farm. 

Robert enlisted in Company C, 44 Mississippi infantry on May 1, 1861. Only 17 years old, he committed for a one year hitch. Robert was transferred to Company B, 9th Battalion as a sharpshooter. 

On July 22, 1864 Robert was wounded for the third time. He was shot in the temple that went through both eyes. Robert was left on the battlefield near Atlanta given up for dead.

William Tecumseh Sherman overwhelmed and defeated Confederate forces defending Atlanta during this battle under John Bell Hood. The Union suffered 3,400 casualties. the Confederate's 5,500.

When the guns were silenced, Robert lay there on the ground in the heat with the dead and dying. The smells of rotting flesh mixed with blood and gunpowder assailed his senses. He could hear the last of the canon fire, the moans of the men on the battlefield, but he could not see anything. What was left of his unit had moved on under heavy Union fire. Union soldiers came through looking for their comrades needing medical attention and removing the dead. They found the Confederate soldier, still alive. Much to Robert’s amazement, the Union soldiers picked him up, placed him on a litter and took him to the nearest hospital. 

After he was released from the Union hospital and the Confederate army, he returned to Calhoun County. Robert needed to learn how to be a blind man in the changing times. There was so much uncertainty in his life, the lives of his family and friends and in his home community. Robert could not turn to them for advice as everyone was hurting in their own way.

On the family farm, Robert had a black slave, a child, Ike, lead him around after his return home. One day, after the war had ended and the news trickled through the Mississippi countryside, Ike’s brother rode in on horseback, scooped up his little brother and left the plantation. This was the end of Robert’s personal guide.  

The farm needed to be tended. He needed to work the fields himself. Robert had to learn as a blind man how to judge the grade of the cotton. Robert studied each cotton ball through his fingertips, teaching himself how to “see” his crop. He would place the cotton balls between his fingers, rub them together and feel all the nuances of the raw cotton. Soon he traded cotton as a profession.  

The South was in the early stages of rebuilding. Every man was needed for the task. Robert, being well educated was recruited by Fuller Fox to help build up the local school system. Fuller Fox had founded the Slate Springs Academy. Robert was one of the first teachers. Fuller’s older sister Nancy also taught in the Academy. 

Robert and Nancy began a courtship and were married on December 30 1873. After their marriage, Nancy continued teaching and raising their family. The couple moved back to Calhoun Mississippi where he took over the Conner family farm. There they raised six children. As the school year was at best five months, the Conner’s educated their children all year round

His children walked the cotton fields at very young ages, just as slaves had done decades before. In the spring, the men of the family would take out the mule-drawn plow and work the 600 acres of cotton land. Cotton was picked by hand and placed into burlap sacks. The children would carry the sacks on their backs and haul them back to the barns each day. On some of the good days, one of his children could haul back over 100 pounds of cotton back to the barns. Life for the entire Conner family was not easy, but it was the same as the life styles of many of their neighbors. In 1897, Bob planted 18 acres of Cotton and had a great crop that year according to the Weekly Corinthian of December 4, 1897, he was able to bring in one of the largest harvests of the county, 17 bales of cotton. By 1900, Robert had paid off his homestead.

Their eldest son Fox, born in 1874 loved to sit by the fire in the evenings and listen to his father tell stories of the war. He told the young boy of the sadness he felt at the loss of the Fox’s ancestors, his friends and fellow soldiers <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0015xJR6c0NEgoGxHl06O3TeWxAk6oydTI9Z1LOQhPNK9mewQVb_mMg9D19b0HIzr7n9SeLSRJ_94hr_goe1zrpN86R-lMcgDTpNRRE8SsFo9kxfGCjOdif9x7L3dRa3L0Y6wsZr54E3Vpkqjig6lqlmx1TB6ieP11LBzsaf8iwjmX2-KKitRJgfGSFIvP5ZgkOy7msvpHFu-M=&c=WTear8JdMB_eKYaGaMiP5ov864wXPh6OlpBwOyFcvqx8mmLvolSPlw==&ch=dsLvwvhUXglkNmc_1HFk8nBrWxT5WPrw_5ElY6cSxZJgNb6CoIPxXw==> . The stories fascinated the young boy encouraging his daydreams when working in the fields. Robert wanted Fox to know the terrible cost for the country on both sides. He told of Union and Confederate assaults, each battle he was in and repeatedly of the humanity of the Union soldiers who saved his life. 

Relying on his wife and children to lead him much of the time, outside of the family farm, inside Robert walked around their home with ease. He would touch the backs of chairs to orient him in the home. This demonstration of calm confidence and strength was the foundation for the family.

The Conner’s encouraged their children to read aloud in the evening. Robert would listen to their readings.  <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0015xJR6c0NEgoGxHl06O3TeWxAk6oydTI9Z1LOQhPNK9mewQVb_mMg9D19b0HIzr7n9SeLSRJ_94hr_goe1zrpN86R-lMcgDTpNRRE8SsFo9kxfGCjOdif9x7L3dRa3L0Y6wsZr54E3Vpkqjig6lqlmx1TB6ieP11LBzsaf8iwjmX2-KKitRJgfGSFIvP5ZgkOy7msvpHFu-M=&c=WTear8JdMB_eKYaGaMiP5ov864wXPh6OlpBwOyFcvqx8mmLvolSPlw==&ch=dsLvwvhUXglkNmc_1HFk8nBrWxT5WPrw_5ElY6cSxZJgNb6CoIPxXw==> Each reading led to discussions of geography, history, science and more. French was even taught to the  <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0015xJR6c0NEgoGxHl06O3TeWxAk6oydTI9Z1LOQhPNK9mewQVb_mMg9D19b0HIzr7n9SeLSRJ_94hr_goe1zrpN86R-lMcgDTpNRRE8SsFo9kxfGCjOdif9x7L3dRa3L0Y6wsZr54E3Vpkqjig6lqlmx1TB6ieP11LBzsaf8iwjmX2-KKitRJgfGSFIvP5ZgkOy7msvpHFu-M=&c=WTear8JdMB_eKYaGaMiP5ov864wXPh6OlpBwOyFcvqx8mmLvolSPlw==&ch=dsLvwvhUXglkNmc_1HFk8nBrWxT5WPrw_5ElY6cSxZJgNb6CoIPxXw==> children during the off-months of the school year. 

Their son Fox, who had to work hard for his father’s blessing, became a Major General in the U. S. Army. Fox married a woman who’s family held strong ties to the Union army. 

Robert died January 21, 1908 at the family farm. He was 65.

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