The American Civil War

MrSmith wrote:

interesting that slavery was on the decline in the South before the cotton gin was invented and probably would have faded away like it did in the North without it.

I think the most interesting thing to me is that it was the first real modern war, yet it was fought with revolutionary period tactics. the reason it was such a brutal bloody war was because the generals could not adapt to use modern weapons properly.

Shawshank wrote:

The Civil War is definitely one of, if not THE biggest interest I have. I have been fascinated by it, since I was very young. Byrnzie, definitely make an effort to get to Gettysburg if you ever have the opportunity. I had read so much about that battle, that when I finally arrived the first time, it was almost like I had been there before. I recognized land marks, and areas of the battlefield mainly because they were so well preserved.

I know there are hundreds and hundreds of stories of valor, but my favorite figure in the war has to be Alonzo Cushing. He commanded a battery on Cemetery Ridge, which was the focus of Longstreet's assault (Pickett's charge) on the third day of the battle. Here's a 21 year old kid, who was facing an overwhelming force. As the battle raged, he was hit by a shell fragment that went clean through his shoulder. Yet he stayed at his post. Shortly after he was hit by another shell fragment. This fragment tore through his groin area, and split open his lower abdomen. Not trying to be too graphic, but the would actually exposed his intestines which he held in place with his hand. He was ordered to fall back, but due to the fact that the confederates were quickly approaching the ridge, and many of his men where killed, he refused to give up his command. He remained on the field, and since he couldn't yell out his orders he passed them along to his 1st. Sgt. When the Confederates hit the High Water Mark, Cushing was killed by a bullet that entered his mouth.

War is tragic no matter what, and there are so many elements of this war that made it even more tragic than most. The friends and family that were on each side fighting against each other. Armistead and Hancock for example at Gettysburg. The way the battles were fought. I mean, it just is beyond our comprehension, and no movie or documentary could ever begin to do it justice.

I definitely could go on and on with this subject. Here in my office I have a nicely framed New York Times newspaper from late June 1863 that talks about the troop movements and things going on around Gettysburg just before the battle took place. I also have a framed display dedicated to Lincoln which includes a signature, a piece of the flag that draped his funeral procession, and a lock of his hair (I know the hair sounds creepy but that was a big deal back in that day, people did that all the time).

Shawshank wrote:

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

it sounds like you have some awesome memorabilia there. i'm sure there are museums that would pay a large price for that lincoln item. i would like to see it. if you have a pic can you post it?

i was just thnking, the country was so divided back then, imagine if there was the current talking head media that we have today back then. it would have just fueled the fire. what would beck, hannity, rush, olberman, malloy, maddow, etc have said? if they had our media today there might have been no reconstruction. it is certainly interesting to think about.

I'll definitely try and post some pics. The media was pretty ruthless with Lincoln at times. The war obviously grew very unpopular as it went along, mainly due to the fact that photographers like Matthew Brady and Timothy O'Sullivan brought the war home to the people through their graphic images. Up until that point, war was thought of as a spectator sport. "Hey there's a battle going on just outside town, throw some ham in the picnic basket and let's go watch". When people started realizing that it wasn't glamorous, it wasn't exciting, and that it was infact a terrifying very bloody event, then it became not so cool.

The longer the war went on, the tougher it became for Lincoln to maintain the war effort. He was under tremendous pressure to negotiate peace with the South. Eventually he started to try and take control of the situation by doing things that would seem unfathomable to us. Under his power, the Federal government made huge power grabs, suspended Habeas corpus, spent loads of money before congress every authorized it, and detained thousands of people without sufficient cause. This was the ugly side that many people don't associate with Lincoln, but in his mind it was all about the greater good, which of course was to preserve the Union. As was mentioned earlier, while he was a staunch opponent to slavery; slavery in and of itself was not the driving force behind the war. He would have never sacrificed the Union in order to free the slaves. It's also important to note that slavery was never the driving force behind the South's decision to leave the Union. It was a huge issue, but the bigger issue was that the southern states believed the constitution provided them the authority to govern themselves. They saw the north as becoming what England was to the Colonists.

I've always felt that if Lincoln had not been assassinated, that this country would be a much much different place. I believe that had he served his second term, and oversaw the Reconstruction phase, that this country would have become much healthier as a result. Lincoln was, more than anything, a compassionate man. While others in his administration couldn't wait to "punish" the South, Lincoln couldn't wait to let them back into the family and reconcile. His attitude can be summed up by what he said to one of his Generals when he first visited Richmond after it fell. The general asked Lincoln how he should handle the defeated Confederates, and Lincoln's reply was to "Let 'em up easy". This was how he planned to deal with South overall after the war, and I believe had he been able to do so, the bitterness and hatred that raged through the South afterwards would have at the very least been lessened. It's like if you have a boxing match between unequal opponents, the smaller guy gets some good hits in, and the fight last longer than everyone expects, but inevitably the big guy knocks out the little guy. Now imagine the big guy kicks the little guy in the teeth while he's down. That pretty much sums up what happened after the war. Whereas Lincoln was the kind of person to kneel down next to the defeated opponent, give him some water, and then help him to his feet. I don't know, sometimes I just wonder how different things would have been.

MrSmith wrote:

I lived near Vicksburg for a few years. last i checked, they had a lot of civil war stuff there (and thats pretty much it).