OldReliable1862
First Sergeant
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2017
- Location
- Georgia
This is a much more "cerebral" question than I usually ask, one that deals more with our own perception of the continuity of historical events, and the feelings they evoke within us. However, despite this, I still it could be worth airing these thoughts.
I've been reading about the Civil War for about as long as I can remember, and from early on, it seemed the war started to change around 1863. There seems to be a kind of theatrical quality to the first two years of the war. Colorful zouaves marching to the sound of bands, Stuart's ride, Jackson's Valley Campaign. Figures like Beauregard and Van Dorn almost seem to serve as the inevitable comic relief. Even the bloody battles of Shiloh and Sharpsburg seem to have a quality of drama to them.
But with 1863, it seems this leaves the war, and is replaced by horrifyingly bloody fighting, trenches, and the feeling of two forces locked in a death grip. In Virginia, there's no longer an Army of Northern Virginia turning back every incursion, but Lee and Grant engaging in one bloody battle after another, ending in the mud and blood of Petersburg. In Georgia, Johnston and Sherman are in a campaign that looks almost like an alley knife fight, as the two men turn and parry to land a perfect strike. Things finally come to a head as Atlanta burns and then Georgia with it, as Hood and the Army of Tennessee go on a last, futile campaign to Nashville.
This is probably my strangest thread idea yet, but does anyone else feel this way?
I've been reading about the Civil War for about as long as I can remember, and from early on, it seemed the war started to change around 1863. There seems to be a kind of theatrical quality to the first two years of the war. Colorful zouaves marching to the sound of bands, Stuart's ride, Jackson's Valley Campaign. Figures like Beauregard and Van Dorn almost seem to serve as the inevitable comic relief. Even the bloody battles of Shiloh and Sharpsburg seem to have a quality of drama to them.
But with 1863, it seems this leaves the war, and is replaced by horrifyingly bloody fighting, trenches, and the feeling of two forces locked in a death grip. In Virginia, there's no longer an Army of Northern Virginia turning back every incursion, but Lee and Grant engaging in one bloody battle after another, ending in the mud and blood of Petersburg. In Georgia, Johnston and Sherman are in a campaign that looks almost like an alley knife fight, as the two men turn and parry to land a perfect strike. Things finally come to a head as Atlanta burns and then Georgia with it, as Hood and the Army of Tennessee go on a last, futile campaign to Nashville.
This is probably my strangest thread idea yet, but does anyone else feel this way?
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