Posted on 07/19/2009 6:24:16 PM PDT by BigReb555
Do you know who Gen. Robert Edward Lee, Major Gen. George Edward Pickett and Major Gen. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain were?
(Excerpt) Read more at huntingtonnews.net ...
I am not one to believe in ghosts, yet I can barely describe what I felt one evening at the Triangle near Devil's Den as the sun went down.
Yes I know that feeling, at Gettysburg and at Little Big Horn, the wind carries the sound of battle even today.
The war never really ended in 1865, as the Union army kept tracking down all sorts of remnants, KKK, etc etc for many years to come. Veterans had what we now call PTS, along with thousands who were addicted to morphine. In many families, defacto polygamy was practiced as remaining males struggled to take care of many widows.
The remarkable thing isn’t that the war happened, or exacted such a terrible toll. The remarkable thing is that by the time of this reunion, the USA had healed to the point that it had!!!
General Lee invented that cool car they had on Dukes of Hazzard.
Something almost no one knows who isn’t at least a bit of a history buff is that the Union and Confederate casualties were very close to even. In fact I think the best sources show the Confederates lost a few less.
“Some call the Gettysburg Battlefield the most haunted place in America...”
Antietam / Sharpsburg... especially at the Sunken Road... totally spooky. And I’m not a “ghost type” either.
The “Crater” in Petersburg has its moments too.
And, if you get to visit any major battlefield in off-season, when no one else is around... Malvern Hill, for instance... Once you know what happened there....
A highlight of the reunion was the Confederate Veterans walk on the path of Gen. George Pickett’s charge that was greeted, this time, by a handshake from the Union Veterans..................................................Hmmmmmm? There was one reunion where the GAR members stood their ground at the center of the line at Gettysburg and a fight erupted. The white haired veterans used their canes on the Confederate veterans stopping them from going over the line and shouting something to the effect of; “You didn’t do it then and you ain’t going to do it now”. It turned into a geriatric brawl.
“In fact I think the best sources show the Confederates lost a few less.”
But in percentages... far far higher. The Union could afford to match losses 1-1, or even 2-1, and in fact, Grant did just that in his 1864 campaign. Grant lost every major battle of that campaign until Petersburg, when the logistical support of the Union overwhelmed the hapless CSA logistical system.
While the CSA troops in Petersburg wanted for everything, the warehouses in Richmond (a short distance away) were full. As it turns out, the CSA government refused to release the stuff until the paperwork was in order, which it never was. By contrast, the Union had a bakery that produced bread daily for 100,000+ men, and had it in their hands before it cooled.
And the NEA is making a concerted effort to ensure that young Americans do no know what happened where and why it happened.
“And the NEA is making a concerted effort to ensure that young Americans do no know what happened where and why it happened.”
That’s okay... various people have tried for years to distort the reasons for the entire war ever since it started. And, quite frankly, the more I learn about the period, the more I realized that everything I thought I knew is WRONG.
It is written through the viewpoint of the victors. And the PC crowd.
I’ve walked on portions of Antietam after dark...talk about putting chills down one’s spine.
I remember reading an account of this reunion sometime ago, where the reenactment of Pickett’s charge wasn’t as dry and perfunctory as the above - the difference being that both sides could not contain themselves as the Confederates neared their high tide; Union and Confederate both broke ranks, many with tears, and embraced each other as brothers.
And that, my friend, is simply why this Northerner will always, always accept with pride a Confederate flag. Only one reason, but the purest and most benign possible - Americans died for that flag as they did for the Stars & Stripes.
God Bless & Keep them all in the Palm of His Right Hand.
JG
Yes, I was at the Crater before daybreak once. Definitely.
I like a story about a reunion held some twenty years after the battle by veterans who fought during Pickett’s charge. They had a big barbeque on Cemetery Ridge in the same spot they had fought over and one of the confederate veterans said that if this chicken had been there in 1863 the Yankees never could have held that position.
There will probably be an even greater interest in the Civil War with the 150th anniversaries soon upon us.
Dan Sickles was the only remaining corps commander at the 50th....still defending his decision to move the Third Corps forward on the second day.
“Americans died for that flag as they did for the Stars & Stripes.”
Go to any Civil War battlefield. See the close quarters. See the size of the bullets, as well as the pictures of what happens to the human body when such a bullet hits it.
I cannot understand, for the life of me, why the Union troops kept attacking at Fredericksburg, or Cold Harbor. Cannot understand in the least.
“The war never really ended in 1865,”
I believe generational poverty and “white trash” mentality in the south can be traced to the loss and 10 year occupation of the south. People just didn’t give a damn anymore and we’re still seeing that attitude.
Is it wrong of me to wish I could have seen Pickett's charge? It must have been beautiful and at the same time horrifying to watch...
Bttt. I’m planning on being in Gettysburg July 1-3 2013.
I heard a couple of things why the Civil War was so bloody... first of all, the guns fired the bullets at low velocity... so when it struck the limbs... the bone got destroyed which explains why there were so many amputations.
The second of course was that the military strategies hasn't caught up with the modern weapons at the time... that is why so many massed charges had epic failures...
What is that?
“Is it wrong of me to wish I could have seen Pickett’s charge? It must have been beautiful and at the same time horrifying to watch...”
Sadly, it too has been mis-told in the history books. Had George Armstrong Custer (yes, the same guy) not broken up the CSA cavalry charge into the rear of the center of the Union line, and had the cannon fire been directed to where the reserve troops really were (up front, and not behind the center of the lines), that charge might’ve ended differently.
None of that even made Gods and Generals, which became the movie....
The more you think you know about the war, the less you know about what really happened....
Basically it’s a 360 degree painting of Pickett’s Charge with your perspective being right in the middle of the battle. Now with the modern special effects it’s pretty impressive.
Part of the problem for the Confederate gunners over shooting was the new fuses they were using from Charleston burned slower than their normal batch from Richmond.
I’ve been to all those places, many times over, except only once at the Crater. Except for the first time I stood on Cemetery Ridge and looked down across the Emmitsburg Road, I have never felt anything ghostly about the place at all. And we’ve been at the Devil’s Den as it got dark several times. Don’t let your imagination run away with you.
“The second of course was that the military strategies hasn’t caught up with the modern weapons at the time... that is why so many massed charges had epic failures...”
More misconceptions and myths.
While in Richmond last winter, I met a local historian who was also a retired medical professor. He cleared up many of those myths.
1. By the end of the war, the survival rate for many CSA hospitals (and Union, I assume) rivaled today’s emergency room survival rates.
2. Even with all of today’s technology, the weapons inflicted wounds that would still require amputation, or result in death. Every once in a while in the Richmond area, a cannon ball will explode, and the local ER staff gets a chance to practice. Same results today.
3. Forget about the hot frying pan after amputations. Forget about the biting on leather due to not having anesthesia. Not true, unless someone ran out of meds.
4. The real tragedy in care for the period was that neither side was prepared for the huge number of wounded. Neither side planned on a long war, or one that had tens of thousands of wounded. This is the part that took a couple of years to recover. By Gettysburg, however, things were much more organized.
5. The era ushered in the idea of standard medical exams to assure competency. While there might have been some of the “see one, do one, teach one” training methods of surgery, for the most part those who were deemed “doctors” had at least passed medical courses of the era (6 months as I recall).
“Part of the problem for the Confederate gunners over shooting was the new fuses they were using from Charleston burned slower than their normal batch from Richmond.”
Yup. However, some accounts have them actually aiming for the land beyond (below) that front line, where Lee thought that the reserve troops were located. In reality, like the movie suggests, they were on the front lines when the cannons started.
We were at the new Visitor’s Center just a few days before they opened the restored Cyclorama painting. We had seen it in its old location.
As much as I like the new Center, I also liked the old one and I’m disappointed that they did away with the electric map. I’m also glad I got to go up into the tower before it was torn down when the purists took over. Maybe they should remove all the monuments so that the place looks exactly like it did in 1863.
“I’m also glad I got to go up into the tower before it was torn down when the purists took over.”
I’m not a purist. For instance, I like the tower at Sharpburg.
The Gettysburg tower was ugly, and it got into every photo that you took, and you couldn’t help but come away thinking that it needed to be torn down. It looked like a tourist trap, the kind of thing you’d see a “The Mystery Spot” or something.
Maybe someone will do tethered balloon rides instead? Would even be historically accurate...
I just watched a video shot at Devil’s Den.
(My Ghost Story. Bio Channel)
The videographer caught flashes and apparitions that looked like men walking in the woods below. They were semi-transparent.
I’m not a ghost believer but that video has me wondering.
I’ll see if I can find the vid.
This is a poor copy. The video on TV was much clearer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UovBlbzzwlE&NR=1
“Chamberlain, 20th Maine, so was Silvanus Otis. His canteen stopped a Confederate shot and I am here because of it. I have the canteen!”
But did he recite those lines that are attributed to him in the movie “Gods and Generals”???
Another thing about the low velocity bullets I learned this year is that because they were so slow they would drag dirt, threads, and stuff threw the wounds and cause infections or whatever where as the high speed bullets that we use today vaporize those things before they wound people.
Yes, today's Democrats are certainly perfecting what those brave souls who gave all did for us and what the surviving soldiers established.
Wow! Thanks man...
Eh! Probably true... thanks man...
We love Sharpsburg. A great, great, great uncle died there and is buried in the cemetery. Just last year, we found his grave. He was in the 9th NH Regiment. (Or was it the 6th?) Anyway, my great, great grandfather and two of his brothers were in the 5th, 6th and 9th NH Regiments. They were either dead or discharged, as in my g-g-f’s case, long before Gettysburg happened.
Only problem with Sharpsburg is there’s no place nearby to stay. That is not the case at Gettysburg, as I’m sure you know.
“Only problem with Sharpsburg is there’s no place nearby to stay.”
Sharpburg is the first CSA invasion of the north, aimed at capturing DC. Gettysburg was the second.
There was a third, which is not as well known, but still significant. If you stay in Frederick MD to tour Sharpsburg, look into the Battle of Monocacy, July 9, 1864. The Union forces were lead by Gen Lew Wallace, who later gained fame by writing “Ben Hur”.
Though many of the battles were high on total casualties, I would like to point out two battles that don't get much mention and that is the Battle of Stones River and the Battle of Chickamauga, both had very high % of casualties on both sides. Irony is they both battles were fought by the same Commanders, about 9 months apart and both were almost consider a draw.
A family friend of ours has CW era photo’s of one of his relatives and his unit along with a picture from several days after Fredricksburg with an arrow pointing to where he was felled by fragments about 100 feet from the wall. Took him 26 days to die from the injury. Our friend said it was well and truly tingly to stand on that ground...
I think I remember watching the Ken Burns film that the Gettysburg veterans had one last reunion, the 75th, in 1938, for the few surviving men. The last Civil War veteran to die was a Confederate in 1959 I think. I have always been an American history and Civil War buff and would love to visit this place someday.
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