Is anyone here interested in the Civil War, or the Old West, because if someone is...I don't know, would you be willing to talk about it, discuss it I guess, because I don't know anyone interested in either...and it's depressing....

I'm a big history buff, especially during the Civil War in America. What's it that you want to know, Choco Hazelnut? For your questions in the PM you sent me eariler, I wrote THE BONNIE BLUE FLAG a few years ago and it is posted on the internet fictionpress but I'm revamping, but I'm not planning to post the revamped version online, more like send it to a publisher once it's done. If you want to talk about the Civil War, talk ahead! I'll be glad to put in my own input and answer any questions that you have questions about. Also, I use the website:

http://www.civilwar.com/home/

a lot, it might be some use to you.

I hope you don't mind my asking, but are you planning to write a story set during the Civil War or do you just like talking about it?

-GE

Ah, really?! That's great! Hm, a publisher...well good luck! I don't have any specific questions for the moment, but, i just would like to ask...what's your opinion, was the war more on slavery, states' rights, or both? Just curious...Thank you for the site and I'm going to go look at it in a second. Eh, thanks again, and thanks for replying! I don't mind, and I am planning on writing one...eventually. I have to work out an exact plotline and, obviously, research like crazy. Thanks again.

--Hazel

Well, to be quite honest, I think that the war was started on a combination of everything. The tarrifs being admitted were mainly affecting the South, which was quite biased in my opinion, the new territories not being about to be slave states unless they followed the guidelines that Congress set up... the abololishinists and pro-slavery radicals acting up in Congress and riling up their supporters obviously didn't help. I think it started up as more of a rights war, but then it kind of changed in a war to end slavery. Of course, it didn't start out that way, no one would be that bold, not even Lincoln! But when the rules about which states could be slave and which were free, slaves running away, the die hard pro and anti slavery radicals fighting... (I think I'm being redundent here, but hey, I'm ranting!)

Okay, I'll get off my pedastal now.

I'm looking forward to reading your story! Care to share any ideas you have currently?

-GE

Yes, I agree completely! My dad won't let go of the fact that he thinks it was all about slavery, so it's good to talk to someone who actually looks deeper and such.

As for ideas, I don't know really, but most likely something with a woman who runs off to be a soldies. I know it's a standard subject, but I like trying to take common things and making them intersting. The only thing preventing me from starting I guess, is one question,a dn if you know the answer, I would appreciate it so much if you could tell me.

Do you know whether or not you could sign up in any town for the army, or if there were specific towns, and if so, which were in Georgia? Or Alabama? I can't decide, but if you know any of the answers...much obliged.

--Kate

I love the Civil War era although I'm particularly fond of the antebellum South--and therefore tend to do more research on that side. It's nice to see other people who are interested in that time period!

In my opinion, the War was over a number of factors (as wars usually are). From the beginning there were distinct differences between the North and South and tensions had been building up steadily for decades. The North was industralized and "modern" while the South relied heavily on the staple cotton and life was unchanging. I believe that the differences of opinion on westward expansion--particularly, the South's waning political influence as more and more new "free" states popped up--and the North's constant "meddling" in their business really fluffed up the feathers of the Confederate states. The South resented being [as some would consider it] bullied around and felt that they weren't getting fair political representation (partially due to the fact that the North was more populated than the South and that a slave was only 3/5ths [if I recall correctly] of a person in this sense).

The Confederate states felt they had a right to secede from the Union (I've seen a few biographical accounts of Southerners comparing the North to the British of the Revolutionary War) based on what they felt was unfair representation, bullying, a threat to their way of life, etc. I believe that the majority of CSA soldiers (most of whom did not own slaves) were fighting to preserve their way of life and that slavery was only a factor because it WAS their way of life. I don't think anybody (save for the abolitionlists!) *really* cared about freeing the slaves until the war was under way and the North needed more recruits. An ingenius stragedy, making the bad guy seem even worse ("not only are they trying to destroy the Union but they enslave innocent people!!"). Also, it's nice to be able to justify war, and nothing really justifies a war quite like freeing enslaved people. Some would compare that tactic to that of today's Iraq war where it was originally about finding weapons of mass destruction but is now called "Operation Iraqi Freedom." (Not necessarily my viewpoint, by the way, just an example).

I'm not ripping on the North or anything, but I do have a lot of sympathy for the South in the sense that a lot of the Confederates were only fighting for their homeland (most parts of the south were so rural that many people had never been north before) and the only way of life they'd ever known. Am I glad they didn't win and thus continue the institution of slavery? You bet. But do I wish that the South hadn't been deforested, polluted with factories and drained of its antebellum beauty by the destructive "Reconstruction"? Of course, but I also realize that times were changing and the South couldn't be stuck in the past forever. Such is progress. But when I was in Washington DC last summer, standing on the front porch of Arlington House (Robert E. Lee's plantation), staring down at the never ending horizon of gravestones under the setting sun, it was amazing to imagine what that house had been like before the War.

Well, it seems I can add another Civil War era lover to my acquaintances. Yay. Yes, it is nice. So very, very nice. Sorry....

Yes, wars do tend to be (about a number of factors that is). And it's very good to see another person (besides GE and me) who think that the war was not just about slavery. I swear, everyone I come across, then again, this is the North. It's good to see more people (two besides me...) who realize what was going on and bother to do research. Oh, and, a little off topic, thank you so much Great-Enchantress for the site you gave me. It's great. I agree with you, in the fact that the South felt they were being imposed on, and I'm not sure that that's much of an opinion anymore. I believe it's fact. 3/5ths, yes, that's right. Population, I don't remember who it was that decided on the 3/5ths plan and the whole "representation by population" (I can't belive I don't know that) but I have to say, they really should have taken more into consideration, even if the amount of Senators is evened out now.

Yes, they did, believe they had the right to secede that is. I feel compelled to agree with those Souterners that compare the north to the Redcoats of the Revolution. The South, the late "Patriots" believed they were being imposed upon, and though it was against the law, decided that they had had enough of it, and left. The North really had not enough rights to stop them from doing that, even though it was against the law. Morally they didn't, but legally, alright, I suppose they did. It is in the Constitution. But you would think that America of all places would recognize morally, that they shouldn't stop the South. It just amazes me, not how they declared war, but how so many rallied to fight against the Confederacy. The whole of America, at that time, should have recognized history repeating. I guess the saying that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it isn't true. Everyone hs to repeat history, whether they get it or not.

Sorry, that was off topic....

I agree (again) that the Southerners were just fighting for tradition, which just so happened to be slavery. In fact, unless I'm mistaken, quite a few of the Generals opposed slavery. General Lee, General Jackson...I can't remember anyone else...but oh General Longstreet. Powerful men, they were. If the North had just left the South alone, men with that much say would have gotten slavery abolished, just as the North would have. No, no one really did care about slaves I don't think. I mean, the Northern soldiers, from the accounts I've read, have complained about "fighting for the darkies." I wonder, why were they fighting then? Maybe the natural instinct to fight.

Personally, I'm a Confederate (I hope that doesn't change any conversations), so I side with the South except for the slavery debacle. The Confederates were fighting for their homelad. If you lookd back on personal accounts, including Generals Jackson, Lee, and Longstreet (again), you'll see that many of them didn't side with the Union, simply because they couldn't bring themselves to fight against their homes. And who, in their right mind, could? The only thing that made Generals Lee and Jackson resign from the Union army and join the Confederacy, was that they would be fighting, essentially, against their own families in Virginia. Not for slavery, not for secession, and that, in my mind at least, is a perfectly justifiable reason. Blood against blood, brother against brother, that sort of thing.

I almost wish that the South had won, but then I think...and I may be crazy for it, but that's no matter...of the skies. You recall, the Union was blue, the Confederates (generally) grey. Now think, blue is the natural colour of the skies, yes? Well now think of storm clouds...disturbing the peace by rebelling against the blue, attempting to take over--their grey masses extending over the natural, sturdy, solid bue, much like the solid Union, that has been, and will be, forever blue and steady (let's hope so anyway). So, the South rebels, tries to get away from the North. The clouds cover the sky, try to stick around. But, they bring storms, thunder, lightning, snow, hail, and rain. And thunderstorms are nice, but constantly? So, if the South had won, would we be stuck in an incessant storm? Instead of at peace with the blue skies? I know, it's an incrediby strange analogy, but I think it fits, and anyone else who I've tried explaining it to, doesn't care, and/or doesn't get it. I just figured I would bring it up, see your opinions.

In Arlington Heights, up on General Lee's porch overlooking the graveyard...it must have been amazing.... I'm going there in th spring, Washington DC, and we'll thankfullr be going into Arlington. That will be great. Just think, standing where General Lee most likely stood some evening, thinking. And, like you said, IX Carpe Diem XI, wondering what the house was like before...

I know, what you said about the South having to change with the times, but it would have been so nice if our country had more amazing plains and forests, less new, mind eating technology, more forests etc. It's sad, how we were (I think it is, for me) born into a time with so much commercialism, technology, and pollution. I prefer telegraphs and live music, or you yourself humming a tune. Oil lamps...imagine how nice, and easy to breathe it would have been, before the war.

Has anyone here read The Killer Angels, Gods and Generals, and/or The Last Full Measure, by the Shaaras? They're amazing, and if you haven't, you really should. So well written, especially The Killer Angels, and two were made into movies, if anyone's seen those.

I'm involved heavily in Western "dude ranches in the east" tourism stuff east of the Mississippi and we also do reenactments from time to time. I'm also a cognitive archaeologist as far as the American Cowboy and Medieval Europe are concerned and am working on a degree in the stuff. If you need any Cowboy Era info, just holler. I have tons of info on the stuff and even once did an anthropology thesis on the Old West. Believe me, considering the kinds of questions we have to answer during our reenactments, ya need to know all the nitty-gritty details of the stuff. Let's just say that while Hollywood does often get the cowboy culture right in the movies, other times they mutilate it.

P.S. your symbolism concerning the colours of the Union/Confederate armies makes perfect sense. Trust me, I deal with blank looks all the time for my cognitive archaeology work *sighs* But hey, we can't all be Robert Langdons.

Regarding your first post....

Ooh, really? That is so neat! Thank you, and I will be hollering shortly, I can assure you.

Regarding your second post:

Oh my, someone else in the world with a similar problem! I never thought I'd find another soul. Good to know indeed.

Hi there, long time no...parler.

Does anyone know if General Sherman ever went out into the battles like Hancock, or did he keep to himself?

Less importante,

How ong did Gen'l Sherman generally stop in one place, along his march to the sea and back up? A day or two? A week?

Anybody who knows the answers, please respond with haste or I can't post the story I've finally found the will to write!!!

I am I HUGE Civil War buff and reenactor. Sometimes I feel like I'd do better there than in my own life! Does anyone feel the same way? Can anyone name any good books/shows on the New York 69th. (i'm trying to write a novel about them so anything would help.

"Never retreat from the clash of the spears"

LG

Sorry, I don't know. How about trying the local historical museum? For all you know, you might find someone there who could help you. It'd also be a great place to do research concerning members of the 69th and see if any were from your area. Then go from there....

If you live in New York, the New York Historical Society is a good place. Their library is very helpful.

I agree for the most part but the men of the South fought for the self esteem of being superior to blacks slave or otherwise. The North mostly fought to keep the Union intact.

Hey guys,

I made my own Civil War forum, its really open to anybody, check it out!