Featured The Civil War - Why We Care

Italy in 1973, I was 8 years old, there was a movie on TV: "Shenandoah". it was love at first sight. A few years later my dad gave me the book "History of the American Civil War" by the great professor Raimondo Luraghi. Since then removed the time that I give to the family and at work, every second of my life is absorbed by the history of this conflict so tragically fascinating.
Thanks-you know, there's something about the age 8!!! I've seen it MANY times here on this thread...(weird! do-do-do-do, do-do-do-do) including myself!
 
Now I need to learn how to post a photo, so I can have a respectable avatar! Can you even believe with my education, I know nothing about computers? It's laughable, I know...And there are so many photos I want to share! (frustrating!)

Look at the bottom of the page and click on Upload a File ( that means a picture! ); a box will appear at the top of the page - somewhere ( depending on your OS or "operating system" - Windows or whatever ) there will be a link to open your own computer's Pictures that you have stored on your computer. ( If you don't have any pictures stored, this doesn't work! ) Click on the picture you want to post, and it should appear in the box where you compose your message. IMPORTANT: After you do this and the photo has uploaded, there will be a choice for you to make and CLICK on: Thumbnail ( tiny picture ):

DSC03007.JPG

or Full Image ( big picture ):

DSC03007.JPG


Even if you forget to do this, the picture will still show at the bottom of your post, but in an unattractive format that has to be CLICKED on in order to be seen. In the unlikely event you DON'T have any pictures or photos stored on your computer, you can copy them from almost any website by right-clicking to get the menu, then left-clicking on Copy Image to save one. You'll probably have to experiment and practice doing this, but you likely won't hurt anything by doing so!

Edit: You'll also need an image stored to use as your avatar; the process is similar, and can be accessed and performed through your own personal information. Click on your name in the box at the left; when the box comes up, click on Profile Page.
 
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Thanks-you know, there's something about the age 8!!! I've seen it MANY times here on this thread...(weird! do-do-do-do, do-do-do-do) including myself!
I think 8 is probably the age when most children discover that there is a much bigger world than the immediate one around them. One can read by then, and reading is the big gateway to everything!
 
I honestly cannot remember a time when I wasn't interested in the Civil War, which is kind of odd, for a kid growing up in Ontario, who had no relatives who fought in that war and no family interest. My parents had a book of illustrations from the Civil War that was likely a Book of the Month Club selection that they forget to cancel. I am sure I was the only one who ever opened it. I was fascinated by the illustrations, and by the whole idea of the war, as much as I could understand at the age of six or seven. Now, my sister-in-law, who also has an interest, and I have become war-aholics, and have made several trips to Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, and are looking forward to many more.
I have read many books and studied a lot from the internet, but my knowledge has increased by leaps and bounds since I joined CWT. Now I am CWT junkie and need several fixes every day or else I get very cranky!:D
 
Ever since I was a young boy, I remember running thru the woods playing army with my friends, I was always a Confederate and have won the war single handedly many times lol. My Mother told me I was a reincarnation of her father who once scolded her for whistling glory alleluia lol. That was the beginning.......
 
Ever since I was a young boy, I remember running thru the woods playing army with my friends, I was always a Confederate and have won the war single handedly many times lol. My Mother told me I was a reincarnation of her father who once scolded her for whistling glory alleluia lol. That was the beginning.......
When my mom was a child, singing Battle Hymn of the Republic in a church would likely get the choir director ridden on a rail or something.
 
I am a thirty-two-year-old Caucasian-man and I have been interested in the American Civil War since I was seven-years-old. Despite being a Conservative Christian Texan who loves my region, the woods, hot weather, BBQ, and southern culture, I have always been what would have been called a "Lincoln Loyalist" in the 1860's. Since I was young, I have defended President Lincoln and the Union from Neo-Confederates online and offline. (Present company excepted by the way. I'm really not trying to cause a debate.)


I believe the reason why the U.S.A. vs. C.S.A. clash has always been so popular is because the conflict fundamentally decided how the United States of America was going to be socially and politically. Up until that point, European-Americans were completely divided in regards of how much power states should have and how the other races should be treated. The War between the States essentially solved the problem in due time.


For me personally, I find history fascinating because when studying the subject it's almost like reading about life on another planet. The way people dressed, spoke, the entertainment they enjoyed and their day-to-day lives are so extremely different from 2015, and quaint things often provoke curiosity.


The War on slavery is intriguing for me because with the exception of the battles with Native-American tribes (which are not celebrated at all) it was the last mainstream hostility that took place in the U.S.A., so I am able to relate to it slightly since it figuratively-speaking took place in my backyard basically.


Finally, I find it highly compelling how almost one-hundred-and-fifty-years after General Lee surrendered to General Grant, thus ending the anti-slavery war, Americans still debate who the heroes and the villains of that huge confrontation was. With other combat, naturally, the giant majority of us all typically side with the Americans, but with the Great Rebellion, *both* sides were patriotic Americans.


The disagreement reminds me a lot of William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar". For hundred of years, humans still inquire as to rather Brutus was the savior or the outlaw of the play. In general, I love stories like that and often (but not always) find classic "Good vs. Evil" tales entertaining, but not acutely stimulating.


Mr. Shakespeare's mentioned work and the War of the Rebellion create competition and discussion among the fan base. It generates that same pleasurable fever many Americans get during the Super Bowl or during the presidential election and that plays a big factor in why I enjoy studying it. Verbally, the strife will never truly end.
 
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I grew up playing in an abandoned antebellum mansion with slave shacks out front (yes, out front - the road is not where it once was). My cousin lived in a house with a garden on the spot where Nathan Bedford Forrest supposedly once rendesvoused with his officers before a raid. My grandma and mother were friends with Shelby Foote. Half the boys I went to high school with were named "Kirby Price" or "Lee Forrest" or something similar and had Confederate flags in their cars. Some had Confederate sabers over the fireplace. My mother listened to her Fulton cousin's first hand stories of hiding her father and his brothers from the Yankees when he swung by home about the time Forrest was at Fort Pillow. My dad was a huge Bruce Catton fan. And Gone with the Wind is still a really good book.

But despite all that I managed not to be more than passingly interested in the Civil War until fairly recently, when I set out to build a late 19th century NC town in the Sims. I make textures for video game models for a living, and the Sims is kind of a busman's holiday for me - it allows me to sit back, enjoy someone else's work, and create environments from my imagination without having to build the models for it. I also like the challenge of creating something specific using a limited toolbox that wasn't created for that purpose - thus the 19th century town, as opposed to a modern one which would be easy. I also find the period immediately after Reconstruction in NC particularly interesting. Everything changed so much in such a short period of time, and with a few differences, so much that happened could have turned out very differently.

Being the kind of person I am, I can't just stop with building, though. I have to learn stuff. So I started asking, what kind of architecture was there? When was this building built? When was the town square built, and what was there before that? What history did this town have? Who lived there twenty years ago? And before I knew it my little town was two towns, one starting in the 1880's and moving forward into the 20th century, and an older version, set during the War. My little town had its own little company of Confederate mounted riflemen, and some Union sympathizers, and a pro-secession congressman, and a judge with secret abolitionist sympathies. All the time I was doing research for this I was learning something else: the Civil War is really interesting. Amazing things happened, quite often next door to you. Larger than life people did larger than life things.

At the moment I'm researching my own family history, with a focus on one company of the 7th TN Cav (CSA), and learning all kinds of things about every aspect of the war. But my little town is still there, and in my spare time I'm still working on it.
Fascinating in a dozen ways!
 
Niggling is always a word I've used for pestiferous comments. Never did look it up. Stuff that you shake off. Not important.
I use in the sense that something bothers you about a person or a situation that you cannot quite put your finger on. A niggling doubt of the person or a memory that doesn't quite surface. Does that mean I am illiterate?:confused:
 
It has been said the ACW is the most researched, debated, and analyzed war in history. Why do we HERE on this forum, not to mention millions of civil war "buffs" around the world, "love" it so much? Some for the broader picture of the times and such a devastating war; some for specifics (from politics to weaponry to battle strategy and even food eaten) and everything in between. A "waitperson" at the Dobbin House" along with several others I spoke with on my last Gettysburg visit, said she knew she belonged in Gettysburg--something drew her to move there. I have the same "feeling", have since I was 8, that I, too had fought there...Lots of you have ancestors who fought and/or died in this war. At the end of many conversations in my experience, always is it asked---"Why your interest...when did it start?" I don't think I'm alone in wondering why WE HERE have thirsted for and absorbed so much knowledge about the CW. Why are YOU here?! By the way, I use capital letters because I can't italicize --don't mean at all to sound menacing--quite the contrary. Thanks.
I lived in Bartow County for over 20 years and almost all of the county was involved in the war. When I researched my own ancestors and found they served it only added to my interest.
 
It's probably dangerous to admit this, but in truth I am not a "Civil War buff," although I do care a great deal about certain aspects. I would bet serious money that there is not a single person on this forum who knows less about ACW battles, generals and weaponry and so forth than I do (unless it involves the Department of the South, in which case I might know a little bit).

What I am interested in is the home front, especially as it involves women and enslaved people. I have been a serious student of African American history, literature, music, visual art, folklore and folklife for about 45 years (probably in part because I have an interracial family (white, black, Japanese). To be honest, I am more interested in the antebellum period (what caused the war) and the postbellum period (what the war caused) than I am in the fighting. I don't know why I have so little interest in the military aspects -- I've been both a military daughter and a military wife, but I've just never been into that aspect of history at any time period.

However, I love this forum and so many of the wonderful people on it. I first came to it because of a problem I had with a biography I am writing. My subject was the son of slaves that had been present during Kilpatrick's arrival in Liberty County, Georgia, at the end of Sherman's march to the sea. I had a lot of trouble understanding some things I'd read, and I thought the forum members might be able to help. I was stunned at the amount of time and education people gave me.

I admire so many people here -- even those with whom I sometimes disagree. Just one example -- Nateb1 is a big admirer of That Guy and I am not at all, yet she has shown me immeasurable kindness, over and over. I left the forum for quite some time due to health problems, but I'm pleased to be back. Before long, I'll have recovered completely and will have to go back to work, sigh...and will no longer get to post so much....but for a while at least, I'm so pleased to spend some time here every day.
 
What I am interested in is the home front, especially as it involves women and enslaved people. I have been a serious student of African American history, literature, music, visual art, folklore and folklife for about 45 years (probably in part because I have an interracial family (white, black, Japanese). To be honest, I am more interested in the antebellum period (what caused the war) and the postbellum period (what the war caused) than I am in the fighting. I don't know why I have so little interest in the military aspects -- I've been both a military daughter and a military wife, but I've just never been into that aspect of history at any time period.

That is so cool! I know virtually nothing about that aspect but it's amazing you do! Takes all sorts, eh?
 
Thucydides tells us at the beginning of his seminal History of the Peloponnesian war that he is writing its history to give the past "the honor of remembrance". When we teach the Civil War, read what its participants wrote in their letters, reenact its battles. tell their stories, both fascinating and tragic, we give these people the honor of remembrance. For as long as we do they are neither forgotten nor really gone.
 
I honestly cannot remember a time when I wasn't interested in the Civil War, which is kind of odd, for a kid growing up in Ontario, who had no relatives who fought in that war and no family interest. My parents had a book of illustrations from the Civil War that was likely a Book of the Month Club selection that they forget to cancel. I am sure I was the only one who ever opened it. I was fascinated by the illustrations, and by the whole idea of the war, as much as I could understand at the age of six or seven. Now, my sister-in-law, who also has an interest, and I have become war-aholics, and have made several trips to Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, and are looking forward to many more.
I have read many books and studied a lot from the internet, but my knowledge has increased by leaps and bounds since I joined CWT. Now I am CWT junkie and need several fixes every day or else I get very cranky!:D
I LOVE it! Thanks for your post! lol--I don't get cranky, but I too need the fix every day! (I get cranky fora Fedex guy that doesn't speak English, and almost tossed my "Burnside's Bridge" Chilmark on my driveway today...After 25 years of searching, I finally have it! I'll send you a photo when I figure out how! It's breathtaking!
 
Look at the bottom of the page and click on Upload a File ( that means a picture! ); a box will appear at the top of the page - somewhere ( depending on your OS or "operating system" - Windows or whatever ) there will be a link to open your own computer's Pictures that you have stored on your computer. ( If you don't have any pictures stored, this doesn't work! ) Click on the picture you want to post, and it should appear in the box where you compose your message. IMPORTANT: After you do this and the photo has uploaded, there will be a choice for you to make and CLICK on: Thumbnail ( tiny picture ):

View attachment 62101

or Full Image ( big picture ):

View attachment 62101

Even if you forget to do this, the picture will still show at the bottom of your post, but in an unattractive format that has to be CLICKED on in order to be seen. In the unlikely event you DON'T have any pictures or photos stored on your computer, you can copy them from almost any website by right-clicking to get the menu, then clicking on copy to save one. You'll probably have to experiment and practice doing this, but you likely won't hurt anything by doing so!

Edit: You'll also need an image stored to use as your avatar; the process is similar, and can be accessed and performed through your own personal information. Click on your name in the box at the left; when the box comes up, click on Profile Page.
Sincerely, James, I really appreciate your help! Thank you! You're very kind...
 
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