In the Minority?

[JeffBrooks]

I favor the Americans.

 

[damYankee]

I have only been to a few CW battlefields, but have been to others, the Alamo, Brandywine, Pearl Harbor.
It becomes almost spiritual to me, it may sound silly, but I feel I'm on sacred ground.
On the few CW sites I have been to, Vicksburg, Pea Ridge, Port Royal, Beaufort armory and area cemetery's, (50 years ago) I never identified with one side or the other, I just feel absorbed.
I can walk through a stone garden, reading names, dates, and time flashes past me.

 

[Brian Denison]

My only civil war ancestor that I know of was a New Yorker, with the 77th NY Inf. And I've always lived in the North. So I'm a Yankee.

 

[ole]

My only civil war ancestor that I know of was a New Yorker, with the 77th NY Inf. And I've always lived in the North. So I'm a Yankee.

By George, I believe I know where Warrenville is. Lived in Downers Grove for a few years, but Warrenville was the sticks then.

You ought to have been around when I tried to get some Illinois folks together at Mokena. Aborted. Maybe next time you can be included? I'm near Kankakee.

 

[Buckeye Bill]

I will admit one thing......

I gravitate more towards the Confederate commanders than the Union commanders.

 

[Stony]

As far a the soldiers are concerned I respect both the north and the the south. I don't remember studying the civil war in school. Maybe my mind was on sports and girls. I don't know. I just started following the civil war when I joined this website, so I am pretty much a newby. I have learned so much in the past two years.

 

[Rebforever]

When I was a youngster, when we went to Staunton, Va. for whatever reason, we always went by the Yankee Cemetery, which was not in the city at that time but in Augusta Co.
Annexation brought a new name. The National Cemetery. There are folks still being buried there on occasion and the
NPS service for the Cemetery is in Culpepper, Va. Next time I go up there I will take a picture and post it. I have one someplace but just can't seem to find it.

 

[kevikens]

I have gone to Gettysburg many, many times. Though I am glad that the Union prevailed I have always seen the war as quintessential tragedy and every act in it devoid of any comic relief. My feelings at any Civil War site are those of grief, a profound sadness (except for those of anger for those who brought the war about).

 

[Rebforever]

I have gone to Gettysburg many, many times. Though I am glad that the Union prevailed I have always seen the war as quintessential tragedy and every act in it devoid of any comic relief. My feelings at any Civil War site are those of grief, a profound sadness (except for those of anger for those who brought the war about).

There is just 2 Confederates buried on Cemetery Hill, right?

 

[Pat Answer]

And then I come across something like this:

"One of the field hospitals for the Federal wounded was established at Savage's Station, less than two miles behind the lines. Chaplain J. J. Marks was on the scene. "During the entire night the wounded were brought in, and they covered the grounds around the house of Mr. Savage, and filled all the outhouses, barns, and sheds. Lying alongside of our wounded were many Confederate soldiers and officers….
"…In another group of sufferers I found a little boy apparently not more than twelve years of age. The long hair thrown back from a beautiful forehead enabled me to see by the lantern light a very childlike face. His right leg had been amputated above his knee, and he was lying motionless and apparently breathless, and as white as snow. I bent over him and put my fingers on his wrist, and discovered to my surprise a faint trembling of a pulse. I immediately said to my attendant, 'Why, this child is alive!' 'Yes, sir,' said he, opening his eyes, 'I am alive. Will you not send me to my mother?' 'And where is your mother,' said I, 'my child?' 'In Sumterville, South Carolina,' he replied. 'Oh, yes, my son! We will certainly send you to your mother.' 'Well, well,' said he, 'that is kind. I will go to sleep now.'"

Sword over Richmond: An Eyewitness History of McClellan's Peninsula Campaign Richard Wheeler (1986, p. 239)

It's really hard to choose a side when you're crying.

 

[Buckeye Bill]

And then I come across something like this:

"One of the field hospitals for the Federal wounded was established at Savage's Station, less than two miles behind the lines. Chaplain J. J. Marks was on the scene. "During the entire night the wounded were brought in, and they covered the grounds around the house of Mr. Savage, and filled all the outhouses, barns, and sheds. Lying alongside of our wounded were many Confederate soldiers and officers….
"…In another group of sufferers I found a little boy apparently not more than twelve years of age. The long hair thrown back from a beautiful forehead enabled me to see by the lantern light a very childlike face. His right leg had been amputated above his knee, and he was lying motionless and apparently breathless, and as white as snow. I bent over him and put my fingers on his wrist, and discovered to my surprise a faint trembling of a pulse. I immediately said to my attendant, 'Why, this child is alive!' 'Yes, sir,' said he, opening his eyes, 'I am alive. Will you not send me to my mother?' 'And where is your mother,' said I, 'my child?' 'In Sumterville, South Carolina,' he replied. 'Oh, yes, my son! We will certainly send you to your mother.' 'Well, well,' said he, 'that is kind. I will go to sleep now.'"

Sword over Richmond: An Eyewitness History of McClellan's Peninsula Campaign Richard Wheeler (1986, p. 239)

It's really hard to choose a side when you're crying.

Outstanding post, Ted!

 

[OVI]

And the trees are all kept equal......

By hatchet, ax and saw.

~ Neil Peart

* Union graves at the Winchester National Cemetery in Winchester, Virginia.

View attachment 65696

* Confederate graves at the Mount Hebron Cemetery in Winchester, Virginia.

View attachment 65697

* Photos courtesy of William Bechmann (2014)

You quote The Professor, you are okay in my book!

 

[Buckeye Bill]

My 19 year old son is named after the bloke.

Neil is 62 and still thumping the skins!!!

 

[OVI]

My 19 year old son is named after the bloke.

Neil is 62 and still thumping the skins!!!

I just saw them for the 30th time. First time was in your town 1986. Probably the reason I picked up drumsticks too.

 

[KLSDAD]

I just saw them for the 30th time. First time was in your town 1986. Probably the reason I picked up drumsticks too.

Never cared much for Rush (their musical style and particularly the vocals!!) but my brother loves them and I watched a documentary a year ago at his urging. Gained alot of respect for them as musicians and as a group. Might even go see them some day.....if my brother paid!

 

[ForeverFree]

As I study this war, I do not find myself rooting for one side or another side as I would root for my favorite football, baseball or basketball teams. I try to place my feet into the shoes of Union and Confederate soldiers and sailors. I do this because both sides were Americans......

In my opinion, there were heroes and villains on both sides.

I do feel like I am in the minority........

Semper Fi,

Bill

I think we would all agree that there were heroes and villains on both sides. I think we all (I hope we all) agree that respect and honor is due to all the fighting men and their families.

Having said that, as an African American, I cannot escape the fact that I owe my freedom and my rights to the Union victory. Had the Union not won, slavery would have lasted decades longer, and maybe, never officially ended. Had the Union not won, there might not be a 13th, 14th, or 15th amendment. The 14th and 15th amendments were the basis of the Supreme Court rulings and 1960s legislation that legally ended segregation.

My life would probably be totally different if not for the defeat of the Confederacy. This is not a matter of taking sides; this is a matter of historical fact. But that fact does affect the way I approach the war.

One other thing. Growing up in the 60s and 70s, my education, the education of my peers, and of my parents, had almost no content concerning the history, roles, and expereinces of African Americans during the war, save for the fact that black people were slaves. One of my personal goals has been to learn about that history, and share it with others. This is not as easy as it might sound. As I do this, I have a decidedly pro-emancipation and pro-equality bias, and so for good or ill, I tend to have more "good" things to say about the USA versus the CSA.

- Alan

 

[Buckeye Bill]

I think we would all agree that there were heroes and villains on both sides. I think we all (I hope we all) agree that respect and honor is due to all the fighting men and their families.

Having said, as an African American, I cannot escape the fact that I owe my freedom and my rights to the Union victory. Had the Union not won, slavery would have lasted decades longer, and maybe, never officially ended. Had the Union not won, there might not be a 13th, 14th, or 15th amendment. The 14th and 15th amendments were the basis of the Supreme Court rulings and 1960s legislation that legally ended segregation.

My life would probably be totally different if not for the defeat of the Confederacy. This is not a matter of taking sides; this is a matter of historical fact. But that fact does affect the way I approach the war.

One other thing. Growing up in the 60s and 70s, my education, the education of my peers, and of my parents, had almost no content concerning the history, roles, and expereinces of African Americans during the war, save for the fact that black people were slaves. One of my personal goals has been to learn about that history, and share it with others. This is not as easy as it might sound. As I do this, I have a decidedly pro-emancipation and pro-equality bias, and for good or ill, I tend to have more "good" things to say about the USA versus the CSA.

- Alan

Awesome post, Alan!

Thank you for sharing.......

Bill

 

[DR_Hanna]

@ForeverFree - Do you ever think of the irony that if the South had not seceded at all then emancipation could have been many years down the road? Alternatively, if the North had won quickly then emancipation again was not a sure thing. Things had to happen just the way they did for it to occur.

And as far as the OP goes - I think of my Confederates as the Villains they were - like pirates whose antics are so long in the past that we can hear their stories without thinking about all the murder and mayhem.

 

[ForeverFree]

@ForeverFree - Do you ever think of the irony that if the South had not seceded at all then emancipation could have been many years down the road? Alternatively, if the North had won quickly then emancipation again was not a sure thing. Things had to happen just the way they did for it to occur.

Yes, I have seen several historians note the irony that, in leaving the Union to protect slavery, the secessionists indirectly caused its demise. Emancipation was not part of the Union's initial plan, although many Republicans and abolitionists and free blacks said at the outset that abolition should be a war aim. Military necessity was a key driver of emancipation.

In his second inaugural speech (March 4, 1865), Lincoln stated:

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it--all sought to avert it. While the inaugeral [sic] address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war--seeking to dissole [sic] the Union, and divide effects, by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.

One eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union, even by war; while the government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war, the magnitude, or the duration, which it has already attained.

Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding.​

In the last paragraph, Lincoln says that neither the Union nor the Confederacy expected that the war would have the fundamental and astounding result of the end of slavery. But it happened. Lincoln goes on to suggest that the long, bloody war may have been due to divine providence:

If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those offences which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South, this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a Living God always ascribe to Him?

Fondly do we hope--fervently do we pray--that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether."​

Was Lincoln correct in his speculation? God only knows.

- Alan

 

[Andersonh1]

Question : When individuals study this bloody conflict and tour the related sites, do you gravitate towards the Union side or the Confederate side?

I have two Confederate ancestors from NC, and my family has lived either in North or South Carolina since before the Revolutionary War, so when it comes to the fight for independence and self-government, my heart is with the South. I disagree with them on slavery, and wish they'd found it within themselves to get rid of it much sooner, and without all the devastation of the war and Reconstruction. That being said, I can't help but admire the spirit and tenacity they showed, and the pride that so many still feel about the South.

My wife is from Ohio, and has two ancestors who fought for the Union with Ohio regiments (including one that marched with Sherman, sadly), so our daughters have a mixed Civil War ancestry to explore, if they ever become as interested in the topic as I have!