What question would you ask?

EricW48

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Apr 18, 2015
If you were able to ask a Civil war soldier, a normal enlisted every day grunt, one question. What would it be? My question would be, "How in a major battle did you manage to keep a cool head and keep going back into battles over the span of the war?"

Also if you had one question for any officer or civilian leader, from either side. What would it be? Mine would be to R E Lee, of course, "Why Pickett's charge on the 3rd day of Gettysberg?" Pretty generic, I know, but he could of managed a fighting retreat and gotten back to Virginia.

I know there are many and much better questions to ask. Like all Civil War decisions hindsight is 20/20
 
Similar to your question above I would ask them were the battles so full of confusion, noise and distractions and the rush of orders and maneuvers that this prevented one from focusing on the terror of the battle.

I would also like to know what was the most important item (not including shoes) they owned that was indispensable to every day life.

I f I could talk to my ancestors I would want to know everything they could tell me about their specific uniforms, arms and equipment.
 
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What it was like for a soldier in the 1st Texas who survived the Cornfield at Antietam, or a soldier in the Missouri Brigade who made it through the charge at Franklin.

But if I could, I would also ask what their overall experience in the war was and just hear what they have to say. That's why I love reading diaries and memoirs by the average soldier. All had their own unique experiences and the I'd much rather listen to their stories than read any fiction.
 
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If you were able to ask a Civil war soldier, a normal enlisted every day grunt, one question. What would it be? My question would be, "How in a major battle did you manage to keep a cool head and keep going back into battles over the span of the war?"

I suspect the answer to that one would be "drill." It's well known that Civil War soldiers spent vast amounts of time drilling. One soldier wrote: "The first thing in the morning is drill, then drill, then drill again. Then drill, drill..." The purpose being to let muscle memory and automatic reactions and responses take over when faced with the horror of battle rather than being ruled by emotion. Didn't always work of course, but I think that was the general idea.
 
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I'm asking the question for 2 reasons. The first one is that I hate to see a good thread dry up and go away from lack of participation.The second being the actual question that I would ask. My grandfathers (father + son) were from Poland. Wars and famine were very much a part of Europe. They escape the ravages of Europe only to step into the big one here. I always thought they were conscripted. But family research tells me that the 45 yr old father enlisted. WHY?
 
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