Although I'm not a "Decendent of the Glorious Dead" (Charlaine Harris) or anything like that, I do find that war fascinating.
Don't know much about it.
Any American Civil war buffs here?
by PYRAMIDSCHEME 26 Replies latest jw friends
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sd-7
I used to be very into that, got interested in junior high school. I actually visited Gettysburg for a class trip. The teacher allowed us to watch 'Glory', which was pretty unsettling for a JW kid...
I think the days of being able to shoot a rifle 3 times in a minute, and where you walk directly towards a large group of men shooting at you...wow, glad those are over. They had us read 'The Killer Angels' back then, about Gettysburg.
I find it to be an era of history that really showed what the U.S. was made of. I do think we are on the verge of an extremely important time in American history where we will either break apart or claw back to the top of the heap again. Ironically, D.C. tag plates have had 'Taxation Without Representation' on them for several years. I thought that was the reason we broke away from Britain. Why is it happening in the nation's capital?
Well...I'm a novice compared to most history buffs these days, of course. I'll always remember Pickett's Charge, though. Now there was a bad idea.
--sd-7
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slimboyfat
History is my subject but I don't know much about the American Civil War. I did enjoy watching the Ken Burns series which I have on DVD.
I also enjoyed this book recently which discusses Scottish blockade runners who helped the South, perhaps a different perspective on events for American enthusiasts.
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snowbird
Pickett's Charge ...
July 3, 1863.
Yeah, General Robert E. Lee really screwed up on that one.
He was warned.
A bloodbath.
Syl
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sd-7
And Stonewall Jackson? Hey, I could see if he was standing BEHIND a stone wall, maybe that'd make more sense. Dude, they're shooting at you! At least take cover! What, you've never been shot at before or something?
But hey, there were brave souls on both sides. It would've made more sense to take all that man power and put it to work in helping each other. Maybe then slavery wouldn't have been such an easy cop-out.
But to be sure, Civil War history greatly inspired a lot of stuff I've written as far as fiction goes. But the reality was pretty awful, I'm sure--couple hundred pounds of gear, that hot uniform, people missing their limbs. Goodness. I sure hope they don't do that again. The Tea Parties should involve more sitting down with Lipton BRISK Iced Tea and less angry rhetoric. If we all did that, we'd be sayin', "Budget plan? I can't take it!" [Sips Lipton iced tea] "Yo! That's BRISK, baby! We just decided to stop meddling in other countries--deficit solved!!!"
--sd-7
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snowbird
LOL.
The US should have adhered more closely to the Monroe Doctrine, imo.
Sigh ...
Syl
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sd-7
I would derail this thread by posting a Marilyn Monroe picture and highlighting my ignorance on the Monroe doctrine, but that would be wrong...that may have been Kennedy's interpretation of the Monroe doctrine, though...awkward...
Anyway, I often see the remnants of what Grant did when he went through Richmond...at convention time, when we go for the district convention. Some of those houses look like they're Reconstruction-era or before... It's kind of weird to me to see Jefferson Davis Highway and all. I guess I have to remember that some people really feel that 'Gone With the Wind' is the way the world should work, except the South should've won and all... I know that's supposed to be a classic, but I really loathed it. Maybe being black is my problem. As usual. You know. "The black problem". Right?
Well, I'm disappointed to know that Lincoln didn't really free the slaves out of the kindness of his heart. I guess. It was more of a um, staging a jail break in enemy territory kind of thing, I guess. Bummer.
But I barely remember anything between Fort Sumter and Appomattox. There was a song about eating goober peas, somewhere in there. Remember that? "Goodness, how delicious--eating goober peas"? It made me eat Goobers sometimes, just thinking about it. Random. I know.
--sd-7
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snowbird
Ah, Thomas Jonathan Jackson - Stonewall.
After his left arm was amputated due to a severe wounding, General Lee is reported to have said, "He has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right arm."
I love history!
Syl
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snowbird
Goober peas!
Yum.
Syl
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snowbird
JONES, Virginius Walker, 2nd Lt. (KIA, The Wilderness; burial: Camden Cemetery, Camden, Wilcox Co., AL)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The above individual was a 20-year old 2nd Lieutenant in the Confederate Army when he was killed in the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864.
My mother sharecropped on his descendant's land, who bore the same name as he. Beginning at age 5, I remember picking cotton right alongside her.
We are all interconnected.
Syl
