Newbie, does not that admonition also apply to California, Newark, Chicago, Detroit?
Posted on 07/10/2013 11:09:26 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Civil War commemorations and re-enactors are practically synonymous, but as the Gettysburg hoopla began last week, the Director of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College said very publicly the commemoration would be better without all the men in blue and gray pretending to be soldiers.
On June 29, the Wall Street Journal ran a story that said, "Peter Carmichael, a professor of history at Gettysburg College, calls re-enactments an 'unfortunate distraction' from a deeper understanding of the Civil War, including the motivations of those who fought and its legacy."
Later that same night, Carmichael quoted himself to me at the media reception in Gettysburg sponsored by the college: "unfortunate distraction."
Across town, in a field of canvas dog tents next to the Pennsylvania Monument, Tom Downes told me, "A lot of guys in this camp have probably done more research than a lot of academics - they just haven't written a book: they wanted to know what kind of cartridge box was used in 1862 in Virginia."
Downes, 63, has been re-enacting for 33 years. He's the founder of the 8th Ohio re-enactment group and leader of the National Regiment, one of the two re-enactment organizations the National Park Service asked to do Living History demonstrations on the battlefield during the July 1-3 commemoration.....
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.pennlive.com ...
The North was doing very well with free labor at the time in both agriculture and industry, and the South was doing equally well with slave labor but only in one crop -- cotton.
As to the labor standard 'across the world' I am not sure what you are talking about. The Southern section of the US was the only place in what we would call the 'Western World' that still allowed slave labor. You could argue Russia, Brazil or some Latin American country that still had surfs or slaves tied to the land or an owner, as well as the Mideast and China I'd guess, but they weren't any sort of 'standard' even then.
Newbie, does not that admonition also apply to California, Newark, Chicago, Detroit?
No doubt about it, Gramps. But nobody does the victim act better than Lost Cause Southerners.
Ping
Bastard should be fired. Just another damned enlist who thinks he has a proprietary right in a field of widespread public interest.
Concur. The reenactors are on a mission. I learned more by attending one event in MS than I ever learned in school. Expecially enlightening and entertaining were the presentations by General Grant and Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Research the reconstruction period. You’ll be appalled.
Just when I was formulating a comment, I spotted yours. And it is spot-on.
Great point.
I have. I'm not.
"I know Pete Carmichael. I worked under him briefly when he was first appointed to an associate professorship at Western Carolina University in the late 1990s. I was a first year graduate student. He is an admitted Marxist historian...that means that his entire understanding of history is through a Marxist interpretation. Of course, he states that he personally isn't a Marxist--I asked him how a person can interpret the entirety of history from a Marxist perspective, how their entire understanding of everything is based on the Marxist dialectic and yet you are not a subscriber and supporter of Marx? He could never answer the question. I'll tell you his problem, he is firstly a Marxist and resents competing interpretations of history.
"Secondly, he is threatened that so many of these reenactors know more about history than he and his little clique of academic buddies. God forbid anyone question the ivory tower crowd and their school of exclusivity. I think that a lot of people would be shocked if they could spend a little time in the halls of most any university graduate school--particularly history departments. They are little hives of leftist Marxist activism. I consider them dangerous having survived one myself."
You haven’t read extensively.
Something that some may not know is that re-enactments are prohibited on the actual battlefield in Gettysburg, a rule that applies to all national parks. Although I think there was a re-enactment on the actual battle site in 1913.
And there were two re-enactments held this year in Gettysburg, both on private land near the national park battlefield.
And I’ve been to Gettysburg many times. It’s always most crowded on a holiday weekend and especially on the 4th of July, but the last time I was there was in early October some years ago and there was a pretty sizable crowd although it might have been because of the National Apple Harvest festive in nearby Biglersville.
Just because I have no sympathy for what the rebels brought down on their own heads doesn't mean I "haven't read extensively".
T’weren’t much of anybody there but bikers today.
Mater Head
Having studied under Carmichael, I can tell you that no one wants their kids studying under him. He isn't very bright. Among many things, I was shocked at how little he knew about American history in general and military history period. He was writing critical articles on tactical and strategic actions in the Civil War that were being published and really didn't understand either tactics or strategy beyond a truly novice level. ...
LOL
You have also been sheltered and insulated during your life.
LOL. I wasn't aware that you suffered from the ravages of reconstruction.
Nice try but no cigar. :)
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