What most started your lifelong interest in the American Civil War?

privateflemming

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Jul 2, 2019
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California, USA
I saw a discussion about whether the Civil War needs to be taught more in school for younger people to be interested in it so I decided to make this poll. I know a lot of these factors probably play a role for most people but choose the one that you think is the earliest/most fundamental reason for your interest.

Feel free to elaborate more in the comments.
 
None of the poll options caused my interest. I did have a passing interest in the Civil War, probably just from living in the South, where the battle flag was just a part of the culture, but it was very casual. I didn't read the history, and I didn't care much about it, or so I thought anyway. It was the removal of the battle flag from the SC state house grounds in 2015 that got my attention and made me care, and which sent me on a search for answers about the war. I devoured books about the war and every page I turned had some new fact that I never knew. I'm still learning, and I can't see myself ever exhausting the topic or losing interest at this point.
 
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This is the book that got me interested in the Civil War when I was a lad of 12 years of age. I still refer to the great battle maps.


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Mother read to me from this book each afternoon while my sister napped. We would read, and listen to the news on the radio, praying for the troops in Vietnam and .."God bless our President and his helpers.."
I learnt my letters and numbers from it. It was left to me along with a dog-eared original set of Grant's Memoirs.
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Watched the movie Gettysburg and that did it for me. My dad and I were watching the movie he turns to me and says hey I have a little money you wanna go to Gettysburg? I never hesitated, he said pack clothes for u and your brother I did it in record time lol. We went picked brother up from work and off we went......have been hooked since! Thank u dad!
 
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The first thing that got my attention was around 55 years ago when I was about 5 or 6, it was a book about the Great Locomotive Chase. My family took a trip out to Pa. to see relatives and came back with some souvenirs, I took an interest in them for some reason. Later another book came along The American Civil War. I would go through these books repeatedly for some reason. Although we live here in ND far removed from the actual historic grounds (this is going to sound weird) I felt a familiarity with that era. I have always had an interest in things and ways from then. Don't know why, but that is the way it is.
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It started in 8th grade for me. I had a real good teacher who taught our civil war lesson in way which really appealed to me. She also showed the movie "Gettysburg" in class which I became enthralled with. Shortly after that I read Shelby Foote's 3 volume work on the civil war which I just adored. So all those three things lead me to become a civil war addict. Yet it started out with the lessons in class, the way I see it.

In my life a took two hiatuses from studying about the civil war. The first was my first years in college. For some reason I do not remember, I went back into it reading Foote's volumes again. Then outside of college with my first long-term romantic interest, I stopped reading about it for several years. Then I went back to it again, and again I don't remember why. It's been about 10 to 12 years now that I've consistently been studying it--and I hope to never stop!

My most intense study is when I delved into Harvey Hill's life, traveling the eastern part of the country trying to find all the primary sources I could about him. During this same time is when I also traveled from Las Vegas to the east coast four times a year (I had a wonderful job which allowed me to do this) to tour battlefields. Now I finally moved out to the area, but alas I have so much less time (with my work and garden business). Some times I want to throw all that to the wind (well, not my real job) and spend all my spare time on my true passion, reading and studying about the war; it may be that I will eventually do that.
 
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Two of my older brothers were co-owners of the Marx "Blue and Grey" army men playset. I was forbidden to play with it when they were in school and I was still home with Mom.
That "forbidden fruit" may have started my fascination, but a family vacation to Gettysburg circa 1967 (when I was 9) really captured me for life.
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My fascination started when I was around 6 and my parents took me to Vicksburg. Being from the South, I always found the Confederate army fascinating with it's chilling battle cry and cunning Commander's. The older I got, the more I was grateful that the Union won, we were able to stay together as a nation to face new challenges, and no man is able to own another man. To me that is the enduring legacy of the war and why it must be taught. It was pivotal for our nation.
 
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That might have been my first book to. Had a book sale in my grade school library, and you could order books. I couldn't wait to get this one. But I was already hooked before I entered school, don't think I ever missed a Gray Ghost Show, thats what really got me started. Dad taking me to the 1961 First Manassas really put fuel on the fire.
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I grew up in the 50's and 60's. As long as I can remember, my Dad always took all the family on one weekend outing during the summer to visit Shiloh (about 35 miles from home). That started my interest, then of course the Topps "Civil War News" trading cards during the Centennial , and much later tracking down stories about my great-grandfather and finding out he was a member of the 2nd Mississippi Infantry.
 
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My interest came from stories from my Granddad. His granddad was a veteran of the 45th VA Inf and my grandad heard stories first hand from his grandfather about the war, battles, marching and all sorts of things that happened to him including being captured at 3rd Winchester and sent to the hell hole known as Pt Lookout. In the farm house which my GGGrandfather built after the war and we still have today, when I was young there was CS money and letters written during the war tucked away in drawers. The canteen and sword he carried with him were in the house and there was a McClellan saddle hanging on a nail under one of the outbuildings. For me, it seemed not so long ago and it was part of my family's history. I had two cousins who lived just up the road and both were high school history teachers and both had a strong love for the war. One of them took me on the twenty minute ride to visit the Saltville battlefield and about half way from our farm to Saltville he said "this is the road that the yankees took when they marched to Saltville. See those cliffs up there? That's where sharpshooters were who shot down on the road attempting to delay the union men's march." So basically I was born into having a love for studying the war. It was all around me as a child growing up.
 
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I am a tremendous Gone With the Wind fan. Anyone who has read that book has to get immersed in the CW. As I grew in my knowledge about the war, the events that occurred hooked me more. I am an Arkansan. I didn't understand my state's attitudes and roles in the war until I began to research for a novel. Arkansas really didn't want to "fight" against our country in the beginning. Our legislature discussed dividing our state into two separate states because our Delta region(Planter society) didn't see how they could live with the culture from the parts of the state that did not hold with slavery. I never knew about that. Had President Lincoln not sent a letter to the governor of our state requesting recruits, we may have voted to remain in the union, as our first secession convention had decided to hold a general election to let the people decide which side to support. Who ever knew?
Welcome to the forums from the host of the Stonewall Jackson Forum! Here's a link to a thread of mine on a different subject that you might enjoy: https://civilwartalk.com/threads/scarlett-ohardys-gone-with-the-wind-museum-jefferson-texas.121573/

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From the American Heritage history of the war, featured in the American Heritage magazine as well, which we subscribed to, hard cover magazines in the 60s, full of fascinating photographs and images.
Oh, yes! My friend and I wore out that book that was in our school library. I don't recall ever reading through the entire history. I finally bought one many years later.
My brother had a small paperback book on Photos of the Civil War that was full of images.
 
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I had no interest in the Civil War when growing up or when in high school. The topic of the Civil War was a paragraph or two in an outdated and ragged history book we used then.

Instead, I was totally into World War II and read every book I could get my hands on in our high school library. I watched WWII movies with John Wayne on TV and couldn't wait to watch the TV series Combat! or Rat Patrol. I was inspired by such shows to join the US Army right out of high school at the age of 18.

I served the first 18 years of my 20 year enlistment with still no interest in the Civil War intruding upon my mind. It was into my last 2 years of military service that all changed when I went with some friends/fellow service members to see the movie, Glory. I was hooked. I bought the series Ken Burns Civil War and the movie Gettysburg, and became more interested in the period.

When I finally retired and began work at the US Post Office, I rewatched Glory and noted in the credits that reenacting groups had participated in the making of the movie. I heard that a fellow Postal employee belonged to such a reenacting group and I sought him out and he invited me to one of his unit's drill practices. I got involved big time, buying all my gear and uniforms, going to local and national reenactments for nearly 15 years until my health gave out.

Reenacting made me do research on soldiers of the time and that research branched out into the causes of the war and much, much more. And finally, a dear friend and reenacting partner told me about this forum. That friend, Ron Goodwin, formally known as oldreb on this forum, passed away a few years ago. But he left me with a wonderful gift, his friendship and the discovery of this excellent meeting place for all things Civil War.

And it all started with a movie.

Sincerely,
Unionblue
 
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