Free Republic

It’s only a matter of time, it seems, before it happens again. Only this time, it may be the spark that sets the nation on fire It becomes more and more obvious by the day that we are rapidly heading towards a second American civil war. As the leftists become a smaller and smaller minority, their frustration and desperation are driving them to more and more extreme positions, and more and more frequently, to violence of word and deed. The middle ground has disappeared under this rising tide of angry, threatening rhetoric. Debate is no longer an option. The left...

Researchers say they’ve solved one of the most enduring mysteries of the American Civil War: what caused the puzzling demise of the H.L. Hunley, the first combat submarine in history to sink an enemy warship. The Confederate craft famously disappeared with all its crew on 17 February 1864, just after destroying the USS Housatonic in Charleston Harbour. The Hunley’s wreck was not found until 1995. When it was raised from the seabed in 2000, the skeletons of its eight-man crew were still at their stations, with no evidence of escape attempts.

From the movie "Gods and Generals".

"The Gettysburg Address is a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, one of the best-known in American history. It was delivered by Lincoln during the American Civil War, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg..." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are...

Since the end of the American Civil War, America has been admired around the world for its ability to remain more-or-less unified in its diversity.  But lately I’ve noticed signs of that unity breaking, in what I would call the end of the “loyal opposition.” In parliamentary governments, there’s a ruling party or coalition which gets to form the government, appoint ministers, and generally run things, while the other not-in-power party or parties sit back and snipe as the “loyal opposition.”  They are opposition in the sense that they don’t support the majority/government party, but considered loyal to the nation...

The North rejoiced: The rebellion had been put down and the Union saved. But Northerners also breathed a sigh of relief. Many had feared that the Confederacy would not accept defeat, but instead would continue the struggle by means of guerrilla warfare. Indeed, Lee’s chief of artillery, E. Porter Alexander, had suggested this option before Lee’s surrender. The Confederate president, Jefferson Davis, also wished to continue the war in this manner. But Lee rejected the guerrilla option in favor of unifying the country. And General Joseph Johnston defied Davis’s orders to continue hostilities, instead surrendering his force to William Tecumseh...

On 6 November 1860, the six-year-old Republican Party elected its first president. During the tense crisis months that followed – the “secession winter” of 1860–61 – practically all observers believed that Lincoln and the Republicans would begin attacking slavery as soon as they took power. Democrats in the North blamed the Republican Party for the entire sectional crisis. They accused Republicans of plotting to circumvent the Constitutional prohibition against direct federal attacks on slavery. Republicans would instead allegedly try to squeeze slavery to death indirectly, by abolishing it in the territories and in Washington DC, suppressing it in the high seas, and refusing federal...

The Civil War -- already considered the deadliest conflict in American history -- in fact took a toll far more severe than previously estimated. That's what a new analysis of census data by Binghamton University historian J. David Hacker reveals. Hacker says the war's dead numbered about 750,000, an estimate that's 20 percent higher than the commonly cited figure of 620,000. His findings will be published in December in the journal Civil War History. "The traditional estimate has become iconic," Hacker says. "It's been quoted for the last hundred years or more. If you go with that total for a...

Surveying Washington’s Civil War hospitals, Walt Whitman remarked how the sight of soldiers unlocked a “new world somehow to me, giving closer insights, new things, exploring deeper mines than any yet, showing our humanity.” Despite the passage of more than a century—2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the inaugural mortar blasts at Fort Sumter—the Civil War and its famous actors continue to captivate. Largely lost to time, however, are the names and faces of those men who so touched Whitman: the ordinary Americans who fought, died, and are buried on the battlefields. The Library of Congress’s kick-off of the war’s...

Had the Civil War not occurred when it did allowing Nathan Bedford Forrest to serve as a cavalry officer, we very likely would not be studying or even reading about him today. Of course the same could be said about Ulysses S. Grant and many other notable Civil War commanders. What separates Forrest from other successful general officers are his accomplishments despite his almost total lack of education or military background and his impoverished upbringing. His rise from private to lieutenant general was clearly earned, not gained through political influence or social standing. His military success are due to virtually...

Producer Joel Silver's Silver Pictures has optioned Empire, an upcoming book from bestselling sci-fi author Orson Scott Card, for a big-screen adaptation. The novel is currently slated to hit bookshelves on November 28. According to the Card's official Web site, here is the story of Empire: The American Empire has grown too fast, and the fault lines at home are stressed to the breaking point. The war of words between Right and Left has collapsed into a shooting war, though most people just want to be left alone. The battle rages between the high-technology weapons on one side and militia...

NARRATOR After ten tumultuous years, Reconstruction died in 1877 in a back-room deal in Washington. The outcome of the presidential election the year before had been bitterly disputed. The two parties came to a secret compromise. Southern Democrats agreed to accept a Republican in the White House. In return, the Republicans agreed to abandon Reconstruction. WALKER The whole Civil War and Reconstruction process had been characterized by a deep ambivalence on the part of the North. And that ambivalence by 1870s, by the late 1870s, has crystallized into, "Let's cut our losses and get out. And the best thing is...

The book, "Generals in Bronze," comes out Nov. 1, and is already generating tremendous buzz in the world of Civil War buffs. Late in his life, artist James Edward Kelly tried to publish his memoirs, a book that would have featured his colorful interviews with the many Civil War figures who posed for him. But by then, the Great Depression had set in and publishers told him no one was interested in a war long past. Seven decades after his death, Kelly's dream is being fulfilled. Civil War historian William B. Styple has written a book that chronicles Kelly's life...

In the final years of his life, New York artist James Edward Kelly tried to publish his memoirs, a book that would have revolved around his colorful interviews with the many Civil War figures who posed for him. But the Great Depression had set in, and publishers told Kelly that no one was interested in a war long past. Seven decades after his death, Kelly's dream is being fulfilled. Civil War historian William B. Styple has published a book that chronicles Kelly's life and includes the artist's interviews with key 19th century figures. Styple embarked on the project two years...

WASHINGTON -- Civil War buffs are getting access to a treasure trove of information - thousands of original maps and diagrams of battles and campaigns between 1861 and 1865, all posted on the Internet. The Library of Congress is posting 2,240 maps and charts and 76 atlases and sketchbooks, while The Virginia Historical Society and the Library of Virginia are adding about 600 items. Much of the collection is online now; the rest will be by the spring. The items depict troop positions and movements, as well as fortifications. There also are reconnaissance maps, sketches and coastal charts and theater-of-war...

I've got a few weeks leave coming up and I want to use the time to do some study on the American Civil War. First off, I'm an Aussie so other than a module on tactics and technology in the American Civil War which was part of my officer training (and three months of American history way back in my high school days), my civil war knowledge is thin (well, thin compared to you guys anyway). I've tried to wade through the mass of sites a Google search spat out but frankly there's a hell of a lot of garbage...