Why do you like the ACW

[Manassas 1861]

What got you interested in Civil War history? For me it was a trip to the ACW museum in Harrisburg and meeting reenactors, the next day I got to go to Gettysburg for the first time. I went back to Gettysburg a few months later and bought my first war relics. Those are the reasons why I know love the ACW. If it wasn't for that trip to Harrisburg and Gettysburg I wouldn't be part of my reenacting unit, or talking to here on CWT.

 

[Pollaco]

This probably won't ring a bell for you but way back in the 1960s there was this thing called the Centennial. Books, magazines, bubble gum, even Walt Disney were broadcasting something about the Civil War. Books,magazine articles (with pictures), trading cards, TV shows etc. were all "preaching" about it. I just had to find out more about that Civil War. The seed was planted!

 

[Pat Answer]

I was born just too late for the Centennial but one of the books that came out of it was the American Heritage Picture History and the "young readers" version by Golden Books. Not only interesting reading but those David Greenspan battle paintings inspired hours of play with Blue and Gray plastic soldiers… and the rest, as they say, is history: nearly fifty years of books, articles, strategy games - and increasing knowledge of how much I don't know.

 

[James R.]

Books. My grandfather was a local WW1 hero (two purple hearts) and he had a couple of old books on that war with lots of photos that I would pore through any chance I got. As an adult I read Killer Angels and after a visit to Gettysburg I was hooked on the ACW.

 

[Cato3rd]

My dad got me interested into the subject and collecting. My dad was a history teacher and got me into it at an early age. When I was a kid, he would put me to bed with stories of the battles and generals. Show me old pictures so I knew who these people were. They were my night time stories. Some kids got fairy tales, I got stories about these grand battles at places called Gettysburg, Antietam, Shiloh etc. People like Lincoln, Lee, Meade, Grant became these marble men. I cannot fully explain the excitement I had as a kid visiting these historic sites to see my night time stories in real life. In the 90s Civil War relics were relatively cheap so even as a kid I could save up some money and buy stuff. I still have the original mini envelopes with some bullets from the Horse Soldier relic shop in Gettysburg.They would just hand write where the stuff was found on them. They stopped doing the hand written notes because people were faking items as being sold from them.

 

[bayonet]

Can't say I "like" the ACW. I got interested in the ACW after I researched the family tree and found direct relatives that fought in the ACW. The same goes for the Rev War, I traced a relative who fought in that too. My Father had no interest in the ACW said it was a sad time in our history due to Americans killing Americans. He was a Rev War follower, I follow both and collect from them.

 

[Manassas 1861]

Can't say I "like" the ACW. I got interested in the ACW after I researched the family tree and found direct relatives that fought in the ACW. The same goes for the Rev War, I traced a relative who fought in that too. My Father had no interest in the ACW said it was a sad time in our history due to Americans killing Americans. He was a Rev War follower, I follow both and collect from them.

I have ancestors in the Rev War too. None in the ACW. I love learning about the war because there are so many interesting things to study. Naval warfare, New technology, uniforms, it's just a very interesting period.

 

[Pollaco]

That was another reason, ancestors. I found out that I had 2 gg + grandfathers (father and son) who were in that war. I had always assumed all of my ancestors migrated to America after the war. Then I found out some actually got here earlier. What really surprised me was that they enlisted instead of waiting to be conscripted.

 

[bayonet]

That was another reason, ancestors. I found out that I had 2 gg + grandfathers (father and son) who were in that war. I had always assumed all of my ancestors migrated to America after the war. Then I found out some actually got here earlier. What really surprised me was that they enlisted instead of waiting to be conscripted.

why wait, if Union getting paid $13 a month was good money back then. Plus the chance to travel (hopefully by horse) and fed for free, yum hardtack dipped in bacon fat!

 

[Pollaco]

why wait, if Union getting paid $13 a month was good money back then. Plus the chance to travel (hopefully by horse) and fed for free, yum hardtack dipped in bacon fat!

My ggg grandfather was already 45 and had 4 children. Him and his oldest son must have really loved their new country (Texas).

 

[Pollaco]

My ggg grandfather was already 45 and had 4 children. Him and his oldest son must have really loved their new country (Texas).

Or their English was so bad they didn't know what was going on. They were from Poland and I doubt they had mastered the language yet.

 

[Bentonville]

why wait, if Union getting paid $13 a month was good money back then. Plus the chance to travel (hopefully by horse) and fed for free, yum hardtack dipped in bacon fat!

This probably is a throwback to the 60s too. When I was in elementary school there were these short biographies in the library. I read a few for them and got interested. Turns out my mom sent thevsame books.

Then that civil war series was on.public broadcasting and that got me hooked. After that I got stuck. OCD kicked in. As a doctor friend I know says it's, "Big O, small c."

I went one summer with my grandmother to a lot of places. Nit just Gettysburg (it rains every time I go. Or snows this year) including Ft. Pulaski which is still my favorite place besides Chancellorsville/Wilderness/Spotsylvania.

Ft. Sumter was a real let down honestly. Infeel like Bstter Huger takes away from the place quite a bit.

 

[Bentonville]

@bayonet

You're making me hungry you know.

 

[H. J. Durgin]

What got you interested in Civil War history?

Illustrated books and paintings of our Civil War. Other reasons too that today, I still do not fully understand.

 

[SethJ]

My Grandfather was a reenactor. While he reenacted the American-Indian Wars, he also occasionally turned to be a Rebel Cavalier. His uniforms, original artifacts, and stories from his campaigns got me interested. But, it was after I saw my first Civil War Reenactment that I was pushed over the edge. Before, I had collected WWII gear (and I still do), but now I collect as much ACW gear (original or reproduction) as I can on a low budget.

 

[scooter748driver]

I've been interested since I was a child. Back then it was because it was military and war and I was interested in all of that, from the Civil War to WW2. But having gotten more "in to" the Civil War in more recent years, I find I like it because it was "our" war. Not a war to free another county, etc. Not a war involving other nations. It was ours. Our relatives, our family, our history. For me, that's what makes it so interesting.

 

[Taylin]

I had a great deal of interest in the First World War that I probably got from hearing stories about the Red Baron. After getting heavily invested in learning about WW1, I slowly started to peak at the Civil War Era and the transitioning period from Napoleonic to modern war. I was also getting into genealogy at the time, asked my grandfather if we had any relatives who fought and it just blew up from there.

 

[bankerpapaw]

My Aunt took me and a cousin to Vicksburg just before we graduated high school. They had just recovered the wheelhouse of the U.S.S. Cairo. Got bit by the Civil War bug and have been "sick" ever since.

 

[Rank and File]

The Centennial got me interested, but what really hooked me was finding Catton's trilogy in my parent's garage. I was 9 when I first read them.

 

[121st PA Vols]

What got you interested in Civil War history? For me it was a trip to the ACW museum in Harrisburg and meeting reenactors, the next day I got to go to Gettysburg for the first time. I went back to Gettysburg a few months later and bought my first war relics. Those are the reasons why I know love the ACW. If it wasn't for that trip to Harrisburg and Gettysburg I wouldn't be part of my reenacting unit, or talking to here on CWT.

I was first interested in all things Hannibal in the military, finding Cadiz (Gades) was a launch point and depot for him in the 2nd Punic War (invasion Italy). Then stumbled across the fact that Meade was born in Cadiz.
Didn't matter I was born and raised in G-burg. Go figure. We thought the monuments were things to crawl over/on as kids or backstops for baseball since we didn't have enough guys for a catcher; the 27th Pa on E. Cem Hill worked. After the military and studying the Punic Wars, a light belatedly came on about Gettysburg.