The United States Civil War Fascinates Me 1861-1865

Discussion in 'History & Geography' started by Lon Tanner, Apr 3, 2020.

  1. Lon Tanner

    Lon Tanner Supreme Member
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    It was such a a sad part of American History. The cause. the battles, the officers & men, Andersonville Prison. & finally RECONSTRUCTION. There is a mountain of material and I will not live long enough to do anything more than scratch the surface.
     
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  2. Lois Winters

    Lois Winters Veteran Member
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    That war was a disgrace and shameful to Americans. I had ancestors who fought on both sides and I think any civil war or war for that matter is terrible.
     
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  3. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    It does me, too. I have two shelves of books on the Civil War in my library, as well as several documentaries and some movies. I have mentioned it elsewhere, but there are a lot of Civil War memoirs available on Kindle now, some written by regular soldiers on both sides, and I find them to be fascinating. They write about the parts of the war that they were involved in, and without trying to put it in a larger perspective. This is much different than those written by the generals and the officers.
     
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  4. Lon Tanner

    Lon Tanner Supreme Member
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    Much of the cruelty & mis treatment towards black slaves by slave owners seems to have also been directed toward captured Union troops by Rebel troops. I too had ancestors fighting on both sides.
     
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  5. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    With any war, horrible things are going to occur. Yet, at the same time, so many of the generals and officers, on both sides, displayed a great degree of honor. Of course, it was also interesting that so many of them knew one another very well, in some cases even being roommates at West Point, now fighting on opposite sides.
     
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  6. Peter Renfro

    Peter Renfro Veteran Member
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    That is why the modern battle rifle a variation of the M-16 does not have an auto fire function. Three round bursts are produced when the trigger is held down.
     
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  7. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    The cruelest period in the War Between the States, was the brutal, deplorable Andersonville Prison, where Confederate captors kept Union prisoners in the most inhumane conditions.

    Hal
     
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  8. Lon Tanner

    Lon Tanner Supreme Member
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    I have been reading several stories by ex prisoners that were able to keep diaries. Pathetic!
     
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  9. Peter Renfro

    Peter Renfro Veteran Member
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    Elmira was not a whole lot better. But the victor writes the story.
     
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  10. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    That Tom Dooley ballad was recorded in 1958 and made world-famous by the legendary Kingston Trio.

    Hal
     
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    Last edited: Apr 4, 2020
  11. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    Lincoln wore a full beard for only one 18-month period during his entire life.

    Hal
     
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  12. Mary Robi

    Mary Robi Veteran Member
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    My boyfriend's great-great-great grandfather was a traveling Methodist Episcopal minister who rode around Maryland, Virginia and West "By God" Virginia establishing new churches and preaching at established ones. As such, he frequently crossed battle lines and was arrested on occasion by both Union and Confederate troops as a spy. Luckily, he was able to convince both sides sufficiently of his innocence to stay out of the worst of the prisons.

    We visited his grave in West Virginia several years ago.
     
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  13. Ed Wilson

    Ed Wilson Veteran Member
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    I live in PA and we have a Confederate soldier buried here a few miles away. He was a prisoner on his way to a prison camp in NY but never made it because of his wounds. He received a Christian burial in the same cemetery with Union troops. The local American Legion requested some Georgia soil from a Legion in Georgia to spread over his grave and they complied. He is remembered every Memorial Day along with the rest.
     
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  14. Tom Galty

    Tom Galty Veteran Member
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    Always loved this clip as well as the film says it all

     
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  15. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Peter Renfro

    Hasty generalization. U.S. Marines were issued an "M-4" model of the M-16 in the 2000s, having both burst-fire as well as full-automatic firing modes.
    Frank
     
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