While dining at home on December 1, 1863, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow received a telegram that his son had been severely wounded four days earlier. On November 27, 1863, while involved in a skirmish during a battle of of the Mine Run Campaign, Charley was shot through the left shoulder, with the bullet exiting under his right shoulder blade. It had traveled across his back and skimmed his spine. Charley avoided being paralyzed by less than an inch.<\/p>\n
He was carried into New Hope Church (Orange County, Virginia) and then transported to the Rapidan River. Charley\u2019s father and younger brother, Ernest, immediately set out for Washington, D.C., arriving on December 3. Charley arrived by train on December 5. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was alarmed when informed by the army surgeon that his son\u2019s wound \u201cwas very serious\u201d\u009d and that \u201cparalysis might ensue.\u201d\u009d Three surgeons gave a more favorable report that evening, suggesting a recovery that would require him to be \u201clong in healing,\u201d\u009d at least six months.<\/p>\n
On Christmas day, 1863, Longfellow\u201d\u201da 57-year-old widowed father of six children, the oldest of which had been nearly paralyzed as his country fought a war against itself\u201d\u201dwrote a poem seeking to capture the dynamic and dissonance in his own heart and the world he observes around him. He heard the Christmas bells that December day and the singing of \u201cpeace on earth\u201d\u009d (Luke 2:14), but he observed the world of injustice and violence that seemed to mock the truthfulness of this optimistic outlook. The theme of listening recurred throughout the poem, eventually leading to a settledness of confident hope even in the midst of bleak despair.<\/p>\n