In the Minority?

[DanF]

Never been to a CW battlefield and dont really have any interest in going to one. My interest in the CW is primarily the political and social history of the conflict.

I grew up assuming that all my southern ancestors were confederates, but doing genealogical research revealed that my ggg grandfather (dads side) was a union soldier while ggg grandmothers family (dads side) and my mothers family were confederates.

 

[BlackHattedFeller]

I grew up in Alaska and have lived in Oregon for all of my adult life so I never had that feeling of having a side in the conflict. My mothers side of the family came from Missouri and Kansas so we have family fighting on both sides (including against each other in the same battle!). My dads side were all unionist from Indiana, but I didn't learn that until a couple of years ago.

I tend to lean unionist due to my belief that the union cause was the right and just cause. My leaning is especially pronounced while reading somebody like Shelby Foote:

Southern attack: "They were suddenly struck by unstoppable waves of hornet-mad grey coats howling like demons from hell! This was another assault from the soldiers who had won the admiration of the world!"

Northern attack: "They were struck by a vastly more numerous northern force and were forced to grudgingly give ground."

But generally speaking, I just see them all as Americans who were caught up in great and tragic events beyond their control. Men of both sides fought bravely and sacrificed all for a cause they believed in, even if that cause was just to fight for the men around them. I feel a sense of pride in all of them when I read of the charge of the 1st Minnesota or the Army of Northern Virginia's defiance at Petersburg. I'm proud of them and moved by their experiences.

 

[Barnesville Blues]

Well as I have said before, I am a Genealogist first and a historian second. My interest in the civil war came from researching my family. I have so far proved 11 ancestors who served in the war in some capacity, all for the South. So yeah, I do tend to lean towards the southern side, particularly if I am on a battle field where one of my ancestors fought, I can't explain it but it deeply moves me. I can almost hear the gun shots, the screams, and almost see the formations moving across the battlefield.
However, I will say that my recent research project has kind of made me start looking at the Union side more than I ever have in my life. While researching the 4th Battalion Georgia Sharpshooters, I have found it very helpful to read accounts by the Union units who were facing them, sometimes they give details that the Unit member didn't mention for what ever reason. It never ceases to amaze me the respect some of these men gave to the other side (both sides) and how these solders who were shooting at each other and trying to kill each other, seemed to get along better during this conflict than some of use do 150 years later just talking about it.

 

[Buckeye Bill]

Never been to a CW battlefield and dont really have any interest in going to one.

Wow!

Most ACW students usually visit a battlefield or two.....

Visiting these grounds opens up my perspective on a particular conflict.

 

[Georgia Sixth]

My latest obsession, for example, is minstrelsy, which is totally blowing my mind, because it turns out that so much of what I previously thought was "American folk music" is actually stuff that was created for one of the most racist institutions ever designed -- and one that, appallingly, was huge in this country for nearly a century! I had no idea....

As for the heroes and villains.... As recently as six months ago, when a friend who found out I had become a Civil War buff suggested that I might be interested in the life of Stonewall Jackson, I told him no, I was not yet at the point where I could even stand to look at one of the enemy leaders in any depth; it would just raise my blood pressure too much. Now, of course, I find Stonewall fascinating.

I remember, years ago, asking my sister, who was a huge Civil War buff for many years -- and long before I had any interest in it myself -- how she could stand to devote attention to something so horrible, the worst experience in our national history, one that I couldn't even bear to think about, let alone study in depth. She replied that perhaps it was because the war is, like a Zen koan, something that can never be fathomed; it's so complex, and so profoundly mystifying, that you're compelled to keep gnawing on it, turning it over and over in your mind, trying to plumb it every way you can. But no matter how much you learn about it, no matter how much you try, you'll never grasp it -- and so its magnetic pull on you remains.

Your sister is very insightful, Kansas. The more you look at this mess the country was in, and the more you divorce your emotions from it, the more you find. It never stops.

And yes, those minstrel shows morphed right into vaudeville, which of course gave birth to Hollywood. Show biz is great, ain't it?

I grew up on the other side of the tracks from you, in a place (some would say a country) where schools named Lee, Jackson and Davis were commonplace and Lee's birthday was a holiday and where the term "yankee" was one of derision, except when discussing baseball. There was no question who the bad guys were in that war. Thankfully, the zen of history has helped me move beyond all that (or is it "outside" all that?) and see it more from a universal perspective. I've been able to see quite admirable things in those I learned as **** Yankees, especially Gen. Grant. I've also developed an appreciation of Lincoln, warts and all. And that's key. To see the warts on all the players and respect them as human beings anyway. People sadly tend to gravitate towards tribalism and view the members of their own tribe as flawless and unworthy of any criticism, while seeing the other tribe as hopelessly corrupt, vile, mendacious, scheming, greedy and on and on. Play these loops long enough inside your head and you're on the road to serious conflict.

Childhood never leaves you, so I still have echoes of viewing the confederates as "us", but mostly now, I just see the whole war as one immense tragedy. The loop running in my head nowadays as I read about the war is "no, no, don't do it -- stop this madness!"

 

[DanF]

Wow!

Most ACW students usually visit a battlefield or two.....

Visiting these grounds opens up my perspective on a particular conflict.

My interests are in why the conflict took place. It is interesting to see that the seeds for the CW were present at the very begining of the Nation.

So my focus has always been with the why it took place rather than how and where it was fought.

 

[Buckeye Bill]

My interests are in why the conflict took place. It is interesting to see that the seeds for the CW were present at the very begining of the Nation.

So my focus has always been with the why it took place rather than how and where it was fought.

Fair....

 

[John Winn]

I missed this thread somehow when it first was posted. I find the responses vety interesting; quite a variety of sentiments.

I don't have a side. However, I do find myself often more drawn somehow to the experiences of Confederates (while not having even the slightest warm feeling for the Confederacy). Maybe that's because my family were Confederates or because I was born and raised in the south; not sure. I do think there's a bit of just recognizing that the south bore the brunt of the war (and for years afterward) even though, of course, many families in the north lost brothers, husbands, and sons. As the war dragged on it just got harder and harder and I have sympathy for what those of the south endured. In fact, I'd say I even admire their fortitude and resourcefulness even if I don't have sympathy for the ultimate cause of their sufferings.

I know there are many here who don't think it's possible to separate individual Confederates from the Confederacy and its ultimate goals but y'all will just have to accept that for me it is possible. And while it's not the topic exactly of this thread I also feel that many didn't see themselves as fighting to defend slavery (even if that was the defacto purpose of the Confederacy and thus the war) and did so for other reasons (e.g. defend their state, escape boredom, escape being called a coward, go with another family member, impress the girlfriend). That just adds something to the tragedy of it for me.

So I feel deeply for all who suffered through those years and who died or were terribly damaged and I'm certainly glad that the Union eventually prevailed but my heart is closer to those of the south.

 

[Will Carry]

I was raised in the Jim Crowe South. My relatives did everything they could to indoctrinate me as a Southern Patriot of the Lost Cause. It just didn't take, my parents were a part of the minority of Southern liberals. I was not allowed to use racial slurs, "BUT MOMMA! All the other kids are saying it!" "I DON"T CARE!...." and then she gave her speech about how Black people were enslaved, lynched, imprisoned and deprived of their liberty and I should, out of respect, not call them names. Her speech was unimpeachable and her logic inarguable. I have spent a great deal of my adult life trying to understand American history and Southern Culture. It still grinds me when non-southerners talk trash about us. They call us trailer trash, dumb rednecks and such....until they have a war and then we are heroes! One of my oldest friends was a young soldier from the Bronx getting ready to leave for Viet Nam (Rich man's war. Poor man's fight.) His dad told him to "Make friends with some of the Southern boys, I here they know how to fight."

 

[ErnieMac]

My Civil War interest started at about the age of ten with a visit to Gettysburg. My early leanings tended toward the Confederacy. I suspect it was a kind of Lost Cause / Underdog mentality. In addition the only Civil War ancestor of which I was aware was a West Virginia Cavalryman who fought for the Union, but named his eldest son for Robert E. Lee. Reading about the exploits of Lee, Jackson and Stuart (most of my reading at that time was the Eastern theater before Gettysburg) contributed.

It was in my mid to late 20s when I been began to appraise what I was reading and seeing with a more critical eye. I don't really have a 'side' when I visit a battlefield these days. I'm more interested in seeing the lay of the land and trying to envision what the soldiers and their commanders on both sides were seeing, thinking and doing. Envisioning the line of Confederate dead in the Sunken Road at Antietam has as much meaning to me as envisioning the line of Union dead in the Sunken Road at Shiloh.

 

[Georgia Sixth]

I was raised in the Jim Crowe South. My relatives did everything they could to indoctrinate me as a Southern Patriot of the Lost Cause. It just didn't take, my parents were a part of the minority of Southern liberals. I was not allowed to use racial slurs, "BUT MOMMA! All the other kids are saying it!" "I DON"T CARE!...." and then she gave her speech about how Black people were enslaved, lynched, imprisoned and deprived of their liberty and I should, out of respect, not call them names. Her speech was unimpeachable and her logic inarguable. I have spent a great deal of my adult life trying to understand American history and Southern Culture. It still grinds me when non-southerners talk trash about us. They call us trailer trash, dumb rednecks and such....until they have a war and then we are heroes! One of my oldest friends was a young soldier from the Bronx getting ready to leave for Viet Nam (Rich man's war. Poor man's fight.) Has dad told him to "Make friends with some of the Southern boys, I here they know how to fight."

I truly admire your mother. She left you a priceless inheritance.

 

[Patrick H]

Bill, I'm glad to see your thread come up again. I've just read through the entire thread again. Lots of good insights and answers have been posted since the last time I was here. I was just thinking that growing up in Boonville as I did (which, for everyone's benefit, is in the center of Missouri, a river port town and the scene of two battles and two southern occupations) probably influenced my feelings. Like so many people have said, I'm glad the union wasn't split, but I am equally sensitive to the good soldiers of both sides. There were good guys and bad guys, but those were a random sampling of both sides of the conflict. Further, as I suppose everyone here knows by now, I am EXTREMELY sensitive to the civilians of both sides.

 

[Buckeye Bill]

Thank you Ladies and Gents for your participation!

I agree with Pat on the assorted answers to my original question.

Individuals constantly ask the same question to me.

"Why are you so interested in the American Civil War?"

I always reply, "I want to truly comprehend why fellow Americans would go to war with fellow Americans and kill fellow Americans."

I stand on different battlefields and pause to reflect on the past brutality.

I stand in complete Awe!!!

Bill

 

[civilken]

When it comes to the average soldier on both sides I make no distinction. However I must say I look at the southern leadership and offices as traders to the United States but none of the enlisted men.

 

[bankerpapaw]

Being from Arkansas, I would go to Devil's Den.

 

[thomas aagaard]

I do think the south had more interesting characters... (generals)

 

[StephenColbert27]

I gravitate to the Northern side, although I have ancestors who fought on both sides of the conflict. Specifically, I am most interested in the stories of Mid-Western troops, meaning that I focus more and more on the Western Theater and units like the Iron Brigade in the East. Originally I focused on the Eastern Theater, but that was more a product of having read more about the East and the focus of the media on that portion of the war than anything else.

In terms of generals, I much prefer the North. Grant and Sherman in particular fascinate me, as does Thomas. Enlisted men, I don't have much of a preference; whatever the value of their cause, I respect their courage and endurance.

 

[donna]

Somehow I have missed this thread. Great thread and enjoy all the responses.

I have always liked history of all kinds. I guess my really first interest in Civil War came when in 6th grade. We lived in New York. For summer vacation we were going to visit my grandparents in Ky. We stopped at Gettysburg and then went to Virginia and saw Lexington. I really liked the Lee Chapel.

I majored in history in College. So my interest has just grown year by year. I guess I do lean to the Confederate soldiers, since my ancestors fought on that side. But when we visit battlefields and other historic sites of Civil War, pay attention to information on both sides. I do have my favorites. General Lee, General Jackson, General John Hunt Morgan and General Basil Duke.

Also have my favorite women of the war including Mrs. Lee, Mary Todd Lincoln, Varnia Davis, Clara Barton, and so many of the nurses on both sides. Several spies are favorites, as the Moon sisters and Belle Boyd.

I am also very interested in the Food of this time, as I guess you on forum have noticed as I am host of Food Forum.

These are just some of my favorites about the Civil War.