Replies

Thank you. That is sound and solid advice. I definitely get your point about our rich history. I have been an amateur CW buff for 50yrs and I would never even pretend to know even an eighth of what there is to be learned about it. While others maintain the complete elenchus-ness of the issue, I still have my own row to hoe. For example, my own younger sister found a Minnie ball on Little Round Top about 15yrs ago. Anyone would have thought that impossible after so many, many years of souvenir hunting, and that that ground had been gone over with the plow many times over. Of course, Gettysburg and most in particular Little Round Top was the high-water mark of the War for the Confederacy. Her Minnie ball was found where Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th Maine performed their swinging gate maneuver that may well have been the turning point of that battle, which was the turning point of the War. I told my sister that the Minnie ball she found was the shot that caused the turning point and Chamberlains decision.

I am new around here and enjoy the WBTS threads. I am learning that the threads teach more about the posters and who's who than they do about the War. Thanks again.

You'll generally find that WBTS threads follow one of three memes:

Civil War Battles

These are the most interesting because they focus on the players, the strategies, and the hard historical facts. It's too bad that they are so rare.

Was it Legal?

These threads center around the morality, legality, and consequence of the south's secession. These are more contentious, largely because they are so subjective. I know that some people seem to believe they hold the whole elenchu-lada, there have been dozens and dozens of these threads and no one has achieved concord yet.

Damn Yankees - or It Was Lincoln's Fault

This is the specialty of the lost causers. They find some lost cause mythology on the web that trashes Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, or some other northern person. Lincoln was bad. Lincoln was a tyrant. Lincoln was a homo. Lincoln was a vampire slayer. They are foolishly insipid but a lot of fun.

This last summer we introduced a fourth category:

That Damned Flag

These mostly center around the concocted controversy of the confederate battle flag, but also include Civil War memorials, schools, government buildings, or any other recognition of confederate soldiers. These threads shouldn't be controversial because the vast majority of FReepers are in agreement that banning the flag is stupid, pointless, and counter-productive. The lost causers often use them as bait to start fights with non-southerners. You'll soon enough learn that, to a lost causer, if you aren't from dixie you are a south-hater. Yea I know - it's stupid - but it can be amusing.