bradygirl_12 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bradygirl_12) wrote2011-04-12 11:37 am
bradygirl_12) wrote2011-04-12 11:37 am
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April 12, 1861
Today is the 150th anniversary of Confederate troops firing on Fort Sumter off the coast of South Carolina. It sparked the beginning of the Civil War, a conflagration that tore the country apart, literally brother-against-brother, father-against-son, mother-against-daughter. Families were torn apart, taking generations to heal, and the issue of race continues to affect us to this day.
During the early 1960s, the Civil War Centennial was widely celebrated. I remember years later picking up books of early Peanuts cartoons, and it was chic for Charlie Brown and the gang to wear the soldier caps and refer to the Centennial. The dominant Western genre of the time on TV delivered a plethora of Civil War stories, and it had been only in 1959 that the last Civil War veteran had died.
I don’t know if people will be observing the 150th anniversary as closely, because frankly, history in America is not well-respected. The future is king, and the old expression, “That’s SO five minutes ago!” gives you an idea of the American mindset when it comes to history.
Maybe it’s a little different for people in the older parts of the country, where the old Revolutionary and Civil War battlegrounds are still there to see and visit, and relics like Fenway Park in Boston approach its 100th anniversary as a viable ballpark, not to mention Paul Revere’s house and the Old North Church. ;)
The Civil War did not have the most American casualties (World War II takes that dubious honor), but in proportion to the amount of soldiers serving, the percentages were staggering. It didn’t help that the weapons of the War were increasingly modern, with the Gatling gun and cannons that could bring down cities and forts with more firepower than ever. The state of medicine was primitive and filled with quackery, and the method for saving a mangled arm or leg was to cut it off, the surgeons’ tent flanked by a pile of bloody limbs while the sawing continued to the sounds of screams, because there was no anaesthetic, just whisky, available for the patients. Soldiers died from bullets and disease, and many got hooked on morphine that were administered by clueless doctors.
The practice of towns and villages putting together companies to send to the War meant that if a company was wiped out, then the town’s young men were gone, too. Every small town and big city had a Civil War monument in the years after the War.
The Civil War is the great American folktale, stories of heroism and blood our national story. The greatest American President served during this time, a man destined for this time and place, and who is one of the giants of our history. The infamous ‘What-If?’ factor usually swirls around the Civil War: What if the South had won the War? The literacy rate was surprisingly high, better than we have today. Soldiers read newspapers and wrote letters home, and wrote in journals that detailed battles and life in camp. We have numerous primary sources that were uncensored to give us a picture of people dedicated to holding the Union together while others were just as determined to break away from it. And always, the issue of slavery was there.
So it’s been a long time, but it’s an event worthy of thought and contemplation.
During the early 1960s, the Civil War Centennial was widely celebrated. I remember years later picking up books of early Peanuts cartoons, and it was chic for Charlie Brown and the gang to wear the soldier caps and refer to the Centennial. The dominant Western genre of the time on TV delivered a plethora of Civil War stories, and it had been only in 1959 that the last Civil War veteran had died.
I don’t know if people will be observing the 150th anniversary as closely, because frankly, history in America is not well-respected. The future is king, and the old expression, “That’s SO five minutes ago!” gives you an idea of the American mindset when it comes to history.
Maybe it’s a little different for people in the older parts of the country, where the old Revolutionary and Civil War battlegrounds are still there to see and visit, and relics like Fenway Park in Boston approach its 100th anniversary as a viable ballpark, not to mention Paul Revere’s house and the Old North Church. ;)
The Civil War did not have the most American casualties (World War II takes that dubious honor), but in proportion to the amount of soldiers serving, the percentages were staggering. It didn’t help that the weapons of the War were increasingly modern, with the Gatling gun and cannons that could bring down cities and forts with more firepower than ever. The state of medicine was primitive and filled with quackery, and the method for saving a mangled arm or leg was to cut it off, the surgeons’ tent flanked by a pile of bloody limbs while the sawing continued to the sounds of screams, because there was no anaesthetic, just whisky, available for the patients. Soldiers died from bullets and disease, and many got hooked on morphine that were administered by clueless doctors.
The practice of towns and villages putting together companies to send to the War meant that if a company was wiped out, then the town’s young men were gone, too. Every small town and big city had a Civil War monument in the years after the War.
The Civil War is the great American folktale, stories of heroism and blood our national story. The greatest American President served during this time, a man destined for this time and place, and who is one of the giants of our history. The infamous ‘What-If?’ factor usually swirls around the Civil War: What if the South had won the War? The literacy rate was surprisingly high, better than we have today. Soldiers read newspapers and wrote letters home, and wrote in journals that detailed battles and life in camp. We have numerous primary sources that were uncensored to give us a picture of people dedicated to holding the Union together while others were just as determined to break away from it. And always, the issue of slavery was there.
So it’s been a long time, but it’s an event worthy of thought and contemplation.
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I've been to Gettysburg and stood on Little Round Top and behind the stone wall where the Union soldiers watched Pickett's Charge, and it's amazing how much you can feel the history of the place. World War II was a world-shattering event, but the Civil War is the most devastating event in American history. It changed everything and we're still influenced by the issues of those days.
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It wasn't just the men. Especially among the poorer soldiers, it was the practice at that time to take their whole families along. So you had wives and children in the camp along with the soldiers.
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Rare-Civil-War-Photos/ss/events/us/041211civilwarphotos
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There were camp followers of all kinds, and a hard life.
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As much as I applaud someone who recognizes the impact The War had on American history, I'm afraid your comment is incorrect. At least until the most recent Afghanistan/Iraq conflict, and possibly still, more Americans died in the Civil War than all other wars involving the US combined. Approximately 625,000 were killed and over 412,000 injured. Since the South's attempt to secceed failed, all the casualties were Americans.
My great-great grandfather Wiggins fought in The War, and his brother died in his arms in a Union prison camp. Two of my Bankson great-great-great uncles were at the Battle of Atlanta; one died there and was buried on the field by his brother. My great-great-great grandfather Snead was killed at Cedar Mountain. Every Southern family was touched in one way or another.
Remembrances of The War are thick on the ground here in Alabama. Farmers regularly plow artifacts from their fields. Every town has at least one Confederate monument, and all their memorial statues face north. Until the most recent generation, with its tendency to re-write history and sugarcoat the truth, every child in the South learned about The War.
It is our responsibility to remember The War, its causes and its outcomes, and see to it that it never happens again.
Lord God of hosts
Be with us yet
Lest we forget,
Lest we forget.
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no subject
"I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in anyway the social and political equality of the white and black races - that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. I say upon this occasion I do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the negro should be denied everything.
"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause." -- Abraham Lincoln
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He was a man of his time and place, was anchored by it at times, and visionary at others.