U.S. Civil War exhibit at National Portrait Gallery

EUDAIMONIA and other pursuits ^ | 12-15-08 | MT

[mft112345]

This video of the National Portrait Gallery U.S. Civil War exhibit features: Lincoln, Seward, Stanton, Beauregard, Butler, McClellan, Lee, Davis, Sherman, Jackson, Pickett, Mosby, Grant, Frederick Douglas, Hariet Beecher Stowe and the Fugitive's story.

After watching, please name your favorite Civil War era person and explain why. Thanks.

Watch video.

[SFR]

My heart says General Robert E. Lee - because I am from the South. My brain says President Lincoln - because the idea of democracy of the people, America survived.

[Red_Devil 232]

Jefferson Davis - States Rights!

[Badeye]

Grant on the North’s side of the war. He understood warfare had changed dramatically, and realized the war should have been over in 1862. He did what had to be done.

Lee on the South’s side of the war. Without Lee, the war would have ended in 1862, unless Grant had been in the same position he was in at the end of the war.

Now, the least favorites.

For the North, McClellan and Edwin Stanton.

McClellan was simply a bad joke, told twice during the war. Lincoln’s statement that the Army of the Potomac appeared to be nothing more than little Mac’s ‘bodyguard’ rings true a century and a half later.

Edwin Stanton’s actions helped prolong what should have been a 18 to 24 month conflict a full two years longer than it should have gone.

[NavyCanDo]

Lee - hands down winner.

No General ever has earned such respect from his soldiers.

http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/leon/leon.html

Excerpt from Diary of a Tar Hill Soldier:

July 14 - The roads are so bad that it is hard work to trudge along. I stuck in the mud several times, and lost one shoe in a mud hole, but of course took it out again. One consolation we have got, it is raining so hard that the mud is washed off our clothing, therefore they were not soiled too bad. But the devil of it is there is no blacking to shine our shoes with. Marched sixteen miles and halted. We are now, thank God, on Confederate soil, but oh, how many of our dear comrades have we left behind. We can never forget this campaign. We had hard marching, hard fighting, suffered hunger and privation, but our general officers were always with us, to help the weary soldier carry his gun, or let him ride. In a fight they were with us to encourage. Many a general have I seen walk and a poor sick private riding his horse, and our father, Lee, was scarcely ever out of sight when there was danger. We could not feel gloomy when we saw his old gray head uncovered as he would pass us on the march, or be with us in a fight. I care not how weary or hungry we were, when we saw him we gave that Rebel yell, and hunger and wounds would be forgotten.

[TLI]

John Hunt Morgan, (1825-1864)

One of the leading Confederate raiders, John Hunt Morgan found it difficult to comply with the constraints placed upon his activities by his superiors. Born in Alabama, he had served in the Mexican War as a first lieutenant with the lst Kentucky. Unlike many volunteer officers he did see action in that conflict. A Lexington merchant between the wars, he raised the Lexington Rifles in 1857.

Even though his state never did secede, he did join the Confederacy and his assignments included: captain, Morgan's Kentucky Cavalry Squadron (186 1); colonel, 2nd Kentucky Cavalry (to rank from April 4, 1862); commanding cavalry brigade, Army of Tennessee (November 20, 1862-February 25, 1863); brigadier general, CSA (December 11, 1862); commanding brigade, Wheeler's Cavalry Division, Army of Tennessee (February 25-March 16, 1863); commanding division, Wheeler's Cavalry Corps, Army of Tennessee (March 16 - July 26, 1863); commanding cavalry brigade, Department of East Tennessee (early 1864 - May 2, 1864); commanding cavalry brigade, Department of Southwestern Virginia (May 2 - June 22, 1864); and commanding Departments of East Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia (June 22 - August 30, 1864).

He led his squadron in central Kentucky and at Shiloh and was then promoted to colonel. He led his regiment during the Corinth siege and then took two regiments on a raid through Kentucky from July 4, to August 1, 1862. This raid, together with that of Nathan Bedford Forrest, greatly hampered the advance of Don C. Buell on Chattanooga. In October 1862 shortly after the collapse of the Southern campaign in Kentucky, he led his brigade on another raid through his adopted state. During the Murfreesboro Campaign he led a mounted division into Kentucky, from December 21, 1862, through January 1, 1863, against Rosecrans' supply lines. Having been promoted to brigadier general, he also received the thanks of the Confederate Congress for his exploits.

*************

This guy was a hoot. If you read the accounts of his campaign against the Union it is like a good novel. He did things like burned the bridge at Hamilton (north of Cincinnati)... three times in a row. Pizzed them off!

His escape from the POW prison in Cincinnati was really something. His reason for escaping was - "Winter is coming." How did he get back south? Went and bought a ticket and rode back on the train. The guy certainly had style.

[norton]

"My brain says President Lincoln - because the idea of democracy of the people, America survived. "

I'd choke trying to put Lincoln and Democracy into the same sentence unless it was overloaded with negatives and disclaimers. ("Despite suspending Habeus Corpus, initiating a draft, crushing states' rights, subverting the Constitution, and leaving our ancestors with a hundred (plus) year schism...America survived")

The war itself was Grant and Lee, albeit with a stellar supporting cast of both villains and saints, heroes and knaves. It would have been a real test, and much shorter in duration, had the two faced off from the outset.

[NTHockey]

Mosby - The Grey Ghost. They never caught him.

Long ago (before PC madness), there was a weekly show about his exploits. If only half of it was true, he had brass ones.

[Dionysius]

Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, CSA! The “Stonewall of the West”.

[stainlessbanner]

Dixie Ping

[cyclotic]

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a true citizen soldier. He left a position as a college professor to serve his nation as an officer with no military experience. At Gettysburg, the 20th Maine, under his command was pivotal in winning the battle and saving the union. He earned the Medal of Honor that day.

[stainlessbanner]

Jeffry Wert's book "Mosby's Partisan Rangers" has fantastic accounts of Mosby's exploits.

[afnamvet]

General T. J. (”Stonewall”) Jackson, a brilliant tactician for the Southern Cause. He had no match on either side in The War of Northern Aggression.

Lincoln and his arrogance and his ignorance of State's Rights and The Constitution would be my least favorite.

[Citizen Blade]

I’m a Sherman fan. Whatever his faults, the man knew what needed to be done to end the war. He grasped that the nature of warfare had changed and that the way to defeat an enemy was to deny him the logistical means to continue the fight.

There is a lot of mythology about how much damage Sherman’s army did to the South. Many people claim Sherman burned down their ancestors’ farms, even when his army was nowhere near the ancestral homestead.

[LeoWindhorse]

Lt. Gen. Stephen Dill Lee - CSA

[SFR]

I suppose the disclaimer would be he saved democracy and USA by trampling on the Constitution.

[OL Hickory]

only because..STONEWALL Jackson was shot prior to the battle.

[GOP_Raider]

Though it’s bound to be controversial, Nathan Bedford Forrest ought to be included somehow.

[cyclotic]

Maybe so. General Jackson was a fine American and a good man. Had he survived, the war may very well have taken a different turn.

Newt Gingrich has written a couple of books exploring events had history taken such a different turn. It’s intereting to explore that stuff.

So I guess my “saved the Union” comment got the reaction I was expecting.

I’m Yankee born and raised but with deep respect of the southern culture. I’m glad the war went the way it did, but I also believe that the South was correct in the their stance on states rights.

[kalee]

ping