My whole family on my dad's side were members though -- I still have my great-aunt's membership certificate in Children of the Confederacy.
Posted on 08/07/2006 8:54:36 AM PDT by Republicanprofessor
free dixie,sw
Dent's Battery was involved in the final action on Snodgrass Hill at Chickamauga -- the men pulled the cannon up the hill because it was too steep for the horses.
One of my other gg grandfathers was a buck private in the Partisan Rangers (51st Alabama Cavalry), and another was a sergeant in an Alabama infantry regiment. Had one cousin killed at Tunnel Hill and another at Resaca. Those are all on Dad's side -- Mom's side of the family were all too young or too old.
Your son is so lucky to have you not only as a dad but as a mentor. And I bet the two of you had a lot of fun just being together on this beautiful trip back into time.
We freepers are lucky to enjoy your writing talent and your acute observations here on FR, also.
Leni
True, but how different is the country today from say 1850? One difference that I know for sure is that the Federal government is bigger and more intrusive and powerful than it was back then. Also special interest groups have more say than they did back then. So another question you might ask is "What did we lose as a nation when the North won in 1865?" I know one answer to that would be "the validity of the principles of the first two paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence."
bump
Thank you for both sets of pictures of Antietam: the paintings and the real things. We enjoyed that trip very much. My son could swear he "saw" men coming through the cornfield. We sat and drew there a little; a very powerful presence. And I loved Burnside's bridge as well.
Interesting reply to the Spanish question (which I'd heard while south).
My only comment is that it was 3 million men who fought in the Civil War; which was about 10% of the population of 31 million and certainly more than the European forces. But it sounded like a greater number when you capitalize MILLIONS.
One correction: I ain't a dad.
The trip consisted of me the mother, my son 9 and my daughter 7. She actually got into it all by the end, but she was complaining initially that "we aren't doing anything that I want to do."
My husband works every summer out of the country, so if the trip was going to happen, it had to be me to do it. And I'm thankful that I made the effort, because I learned and gained more from the trip than I ever thought possible.
Last year I took three kids out west. This summer the eldest is with his father. I just love to travel and explore our country myself; having the kids is a bonus.
But your kids are still lucky to be in a family where seeking and learning is a life-long experience.
Leni
No problem. People often mistake this professor for a man.
But I feel like I know you through our art post conversations and I was sure you knew my gender.
I love surprising people when they expect me to be a guy and I ain't. I'm just a very strong women; and the more I travel, the more confidence I gain.
ping
As a '91 graduate of Gettysburg College, thanks for the photos and memories!
free dixie,sw
My whole family on my dad's side were members though -- I still have my great-aunt's membership certificate in Children of the Confederacy.
Thanks for that correction. Stupid mistake. Do you think, however, that modern field machinery would have made a lot of difference, or do you think the U.S. was just destined for a civil war? If it was indeed about more than "just slavery", the war might not have been avoided, anyway.
I've got a picture from many years ago of my boys sitting on one of the cannon in that battery.
And, when I was young, before it was against the rules, my Mom liked to take pictures of me and my cousin sitting on those pyramids of cannon balls over close to A.S. Johnston's tree.
It's really a historic place, and I'm glad they've kept it nice.
I did the same exact thing while traveling to Williamsburg from Chicago (via Gettysburg) two years ago. History, golf, great food, Gallagher, and the company of the most beautiful lady in the world made it a "never forget" vacation.
The biggest effect modern field machinery has had is to turn farming into something only 3% or so of the population does, as opposed to the majority in 1860. It was the industrialization of the textile industry of England that was the engine of the large plantations. They were the first iteration of the corporate farms of today.
So, I guess it would depend on how the antebellum South would have reacted to mechanization. If they continued to emphasize agriculture to supply other industrial areas in the North or Europe, I think their population would have crashed or emigrated West and North. If they chose to develop their own industrial base, then it would have urbanized. The question is if that would have killed off slavery as an institution, or if it would have preserved it for factory labor.
If the slave labor factory scenario was the one played out, I think the War would still have occurred, because all of the underlying tensions re: new slave States in the territories, "Bloody Kansas", the rise of Abolitionist political power, population disparity, etc. would still have been present.
If, OTOH, the South had become a rural agribusiness with mass emigration, I suspect She couldn't have sustained a war of the level of the Civil War. It would make for an interesting alternate history scenario: Industrialized, overpopulated immigrant North, rural Agribusiness South, and a West settled by a massive wave of emancipated and discarded ex-slave workers with access to modern farm equipment.
free dixie,sw
about 5-6% of Americans (approximately the same percentage of Americans owned slaves in BOTH north & south) owned slaves in 1860. the OVERWHELMING majority of the other 90+ % just did NOT care about "the plight of the slaves". (they SHOULD HAVE. they DID NOT care!)
in 1860, almost NOBODY would have fought a 10-minute skirmish over slavery, much less a war that KILLED a MILLION people NEEDLESSLY!
the war for southerners was about JUST ONE thing: FREEDOM for dixie.
for the northerners it was also about JUST ONE thing: preserving the union.
ALL the other "reasons for the war" are BILGE & EXCUSES (mostly "dreamed up" AFTER the war, to "cover up" what had ACTUALLY been done!)to attempt to WHITEWASH the HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of atrocities committed by the DAMNyankees, who came south to rob/rape/pillage/burn/MURDER civilians & CSA prisoners of war, rather than to "free the slaves", "preserve the union" or any OTHER EXCUSE for their WAR CRIMES!
i have always thought it very IRONIC that the "crusade to free the slaves" resulted all too often in the slaves "being freed from BEING ALIVE", by the "crusaders", who came south for FUN & PROFIT!
free dixie,sw
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.