Authentic campaigner is kind of the end all be all of the re-enactors hobby. First rate presentation though I do feel their mod team gets a bit carried away at times. All things considered though it is probably the premier site on the subject.
Military History online used to be a good site, to be honest I gave it up in favor of CWT though not from negative experiances. To tell the truth I doubt my account is even active anymore.
I've had regretable impressions from CWreenactors.com, different direction and goal in re-enacting I suppose. THough an amiable enough board w/ some superb info. It used to be one of my favorite "lurk" sites.
THe other sites I have only visited in passing, prefering to spend my time digging through the archives at CWT
__________________ Shane Christen
American Legion Post 352
SUVCW Camp Abernethy# 48
Lifetime NRA member
3rd MN VI
For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. Eccl 1:18
State specific sites listed there. Useful if you're trying to find out info on one particular unit. Many published authors there too. I just sent off three books to one of them for autographing.
I also tend to use the National Park Soldier/Sailor registry a lot too.
Back in 2002 CWi ran a "Top Civil War Websites" poll, here were the results:
# 1 The Authentic Campaigner # 2 The Ulysses S. Grant Homepage # 3 Military History Online # 4 The 5th New York Vol. Inf. (Duryee's Zouaves) # 5 Shotgun's Home of the American Civil War # 6 Berdan's Sharpshooters # 7 Civil War Album # 8 L.S.U. Civil War Center # 9 The Longstreet Society #10 S.C.V. Main Site #11 Causes of the Civil War #12 Civil War Artillery #13 Library of Congress (American Memories) #14 Vermont in the Civil War #15 Friends of the Hunley #16 Civil War Preservation Trust #17 Battle of Lone Jack, Missouri #18 Cleburnes.org #19 Cornell University (OR's Online) #20 American Civil War
This site is a wild and wooly one, not for the timid or easily offended. When you log on there, just type into the search box some of the following key words like, BULLRUN, CIVILWAR, LINCOLN, DAVIS, LEE, GRANT, EMANCIPATION, etc., and you are on your way.
Sincerely,
Unionblue
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
For the serious "lead-head" Civil War Bullet offers a great discussion group on ACW bullets, cartridges and firearms and some of the country's top experts are members.
Mike, I believe all of the 'Top' sites are still in use.
Shotguns site has been rated the most visited CW site online, as several times his site has had to shut down for short periods due to exceeding his bandwidth allotment.I have his statistics somewhere here, and will post if I can find them. He gets very large numbers of hits, and he rarely visits CWi chat room due to the time taken to answer question from school history students, sometimes receiving 10,000/wk, IIRC.
The Grant's site discussion board was shut down at one time due to some issues with posters going way overboard on attacks on other posters, but it may be back up again.
CWi is not listed I see. Its back to being a free news site and with a new formate been very aggresive in obtaining fresh news. To post on the discussion board it is necessary to obtain a name/password. When requesting that, you can also request access to their Chat room, which is not linked presently to the CWi home page. The chat room is open 24/7 but most active in the evenings. Although there are members that sometimes meet for a coffee clutch in the am and at noon.
Another feature of the group is the ongoing book discussions on Sunday and Monday nights. Sunday being reserved more for 'battle' related books and Monday's for more civilian studies, diaries of the wifes of the top Union and Confederate officials and officers. Recently they did Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Presently Sunday is Vicksburg is the Key, and Sunday is The Color of Courage-Immigrants, Comen, and African Americans in the Civil Wars Defining Battle by Creighton. Books chosen are always easily obtained and unexpensive.
We are looking for more to join these groups.
This same group is also preparing for a Muster to Vicks in June.
Another thing, this chat room was set up by Shotgun, and originally was one of the old aol newsgroups, so some members have been around quite a while.
Chuck
As for some of my other CW discussion groups:
The American Civil War http://us-civilwar.com/
Open 24/7, but more active in the evening, although some come in mid afternoon.
If no one shows in the room, come on in anyway, as someone might show. Gentleman by name of Henry, owns the site.
And also member of American Civil War Message Board, along with Unionblue
civilwarwest http://groups.yahoo.com/group/civilw...yguid=90062016
a yahoo groups messaging board, set up by Shotgun as a study of only the war in the west. Messages are moderated, if you join make sure you keep within the limits noted.
cwsociety http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cwsociety?yguid=90062016
A group started by North & South mag. as a place to further discuss material from, but not limited to, the articles in the Mag. Need to be a N & S subscriber to join. It does give you access to some of the authors, even if sometimes its indirect.
leeandjacksoncivilwarclub http://groups.yahoo.com/group/leeand...yguid=90062016
The first CW group I joined. Presently owned by a gentleman from WV, teaching JrROTC, and is a Military Historian. One of the members does a 'On This Day" for the CW. Active members would spice up the messaging, again, within limites noted, The chat room is usually open Friday and Sunday nights.
For the ladies of the group, or even for those who just want to check out the other side of the coin, I highly recommend these sites:
http://www.missmary.com/ This is a great general Victorian site, that is loaded with information from medical treatments to how to wash silk. It is a great site and she has a regular on-line paper that you can sign up for.
http://www.bivouacbooks.com/news.htm I happened upon this quite by accident.I bought some CDV's from this man and actually have written an article or two for him. It is a great publication, and again a free on-line paper
http://www.rogerco.freeserve.co.uk/index.htm This site I could not do without. It is my favorite research site for CDV's. This guy has a huge collection and to offer it for everyone's viewing is spectacular.
http://www.geocities.com/victorianlace10/home.html What was life really like for the Victorian women? This site is great for that sort of research. It is chuck full of information. And one of the most complete ladies sites I have seen.
Hope you will add these for the women on the board. We could use some sources as well. It wasn't just about the men fighting, it was the homefront too.
These are some excerpts from one of Shotguns posts about the statistics on his site,
Sat, 1 Sep 2001.
" my website is one of the most popular
of its kind on the Internet. Last year I got a high of over 120,000 hits in
a day. One week it "averaged" over a 100,000 a day. These kind of hits
equate to more than 40,000 distinct visitors a day. For a Civil War site
that is virtually unheard of. The site, at least according to one source,
is in the top 2% of the most "linked" sites, of any kind, on the Internet."
"school has started now and whereas a
week ago the site was coasting along at about 20,000 hits a day (a little
high but not out of line for the summer) and this week they jumped to 35,000
hits a day and will ramp up from there. The email associated with these
hits increases proportionally. So I am fairly well occupied with the
"student" email."
Chuck in Il.
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