Why Study the Civil War?

[Reconstructed Rebel]

My son asked me this. He said all it does is keep century and a half old grievances alive and fermenting. Well, ouch, that hurt. (He did apologize.) So what should I have told him?

 

[JOHN42768]

Well first I would tell him the reason to study it as so it never never occurs again. I can understand grievances being expressed for a generation or maybe two. Someones GG Grandfather was killed or another lost a hay barn and those are remembered things. Even in this era we see upsets, heck one can notice bias in many postings. Let him know that even though there were ill feeling the American in all of us united in the Spanish America, WW1, WW2, Korea, VN and all the other conflicts North & South fought on the same side

 

[John Winn]

One doesn't have to take sides to study a conflict. The Civil War is, likely, the most important thing that has happened to this country and turned us into - as has famously been said - "the United States" rather than "these United States." Knowing our history and how we came to get where we are is important so as to really understand why many things are the way they are (and not the way they once were). It provides insight and perspective on a lot of things we're still dealing with today.

One can also learn family history and what it might have been like for the great grandparents which is also important (I think) in knowing who you are and how you ended showing up where you did. Or you might just have an interest in things or technologies that have roots in the Civil War era (e.g. railroads; photography).

I could probably come up with a few other reasons but I think those are the main ones (for me).

 

[Booklady]

Wasn't it Shelby Foote who made the point that the American Civil War was critically important in world history since it preserved the United States, so we were later able to assist in the defeat of Hitler? Surely it's important to study and remember it for that reason alone.

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

I have to admit in my own happy youth I believed the war was about Southern "rights" (whatever the heck those were, I wasn't sure) and wasn't it cool to read about the raids of John Hunt Morgan and Mosby's Raiders? I kept a Confederate battle flag on my bedroom wall and jumped to my feet when the band started to play "Dixie." But it wasn't until I actually started studying the CW that I figured out the issues were a whole lot more complicated and it wasn't like cheering your favorite football team.

Why is it you always think of something to say after the conversation is over?