Posted on 06/30/2010 1:45:25 PM PDT by GOP_Raider
Happy 234th birthday America!
The War Between the States Sesquicentennial, 150th Anniversary, runs from 2010 through 2015. The Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans has an information page. Make it a family affair to attend the events planned throughout the USA . The National SCV Sesquicentennial Commission has a website.
The fading photos and stories of Union and Confederate Veterans from that summer of 1913, shaking hands, sharing a meal and trading war stories is a special part of our National Heritage well worth sharing. Do young people know who Gen. Robert Edward Lee, Major Gen. George Edward Pickett and Major Gen. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain were? Do schools still teach children about these men and all those who met on that famous War Between the States battlefield at Gettysburg , Pennsylvania ? Some call the Gettysburg Battlefield the most haunted place in America as many thousands died on that fateful month in July, 1863.
(Excerpt) Read more at canadafreepress.com ...
See my post at 4. Said ancestor helped capture Early's wagons at Waynesboro on March 2 1865. We still have Early's inscribed personal Bible and camp lamp. I have contacted the board that is renovating Early's boyhood home and will probably one day donate his personal items to them. They have been in the family all these years but this next generation does not seem to have the intrest.
Not quite. Early had a chance to occupy Culp's Hill, which was on the extreme right of the Union line, on June 30th but never did. In several attacks over the next two days he failed to take Culp's Hill, and one of the soldiers who died trying to capture it was a soldier in the 2nd Virginia named Wesley Culp, who's family owned the property.
Not yet, but I’ll add it to the list.
Thanks!
I plan on being there on 2013...I’ve been with my boys a few times, the last time for the rally in the park on July 4th...agreed, you should go. General rule of thumb on going; give yourself days, not hours, take the walking tour, stay the hell out of the bus (unless you aren’t mobile) and the tour guides are good, but some forehand reading and mapping won’t hurt.
The tale of the lost ground at round Top is that Lee made the mistake of saying “take the hilltop when practicable” and they thought he said practical and figured it wasn’t. Too bad...southern gentility screwed them pretty badly.
Jubal Early (with Ewell’s Corp, formerly Stonewall Jackson’s) was coming from the north and failed to take Culp’s Hill. AP Hill came from the west, and failed to push past Seminary Ridge. The Round Tops didn’t come into play until the second day.
I thionk it was the Union Corps commander Sickles who was supposed to be occupying Little Round Top, but disobeyed orders and was too far forward in the peach orchard, where he was flanked and decimated on the second day. A union brigadier noticed that Little round top was not defended, so he grabbed regiments wherever he could find them to take up positions so that Cemetary Ridge would not be flanked. One of those units was the 20th Maine.
I think you may be thinking of Culps hill on the other flank that Confederate General - either Euell or Hill, I forget which, decided against occupying late on the first day.
I live twenty-five miles from Gettysburg in York, PA, which was occupied by elements of Early’s division just before the battle began. The battle is an integral part of local culture.
Two years ago, we had a visitor from Denmark, who wanted to see Philadelphia and Gettysburg, after which we watched the Turner movie. He also read a copy of the Constitution that he got in Philly, and was asking me very pertinent question about what the language means. Americans should be so interested in what it says.
Lee’s ‘practicable’ remark was made to LTG Richard Ewell, the new CG of the 2d Corps, and referred to Culp’s Hill.
Just finished reading Foote for the second time. His sympathies fairly obviously shift more towards the North as the books progress. He even explains why in the introduction to the last volume.
It took him 20 years to write the darn thing and the racist southern politicians of the 50s and 60s, who claimed to be upholding the principles of the CSA, soured him to some extent on the original enterprise itself.
1. I read the books like 15 years ago - so my memory isn’t very fresh.
2. I think Foote had some relatives that had served in the Confederate army - not sure about that though.
3. I think Foote had been an artillery captain in WWII - so he was predisposed to view armed conflict through that prism.
4. I think Foote talks about where he was physically placed when he wrote the books - maybe starting Memphis and then from there moving to points south - so his geographic perspective as well as his upbringing was that of a Southerner.
5. Foote was very much character driven - some of his favorites were obvious Jackson, Lee and in fact Lincoln. He talks about the grief that he had when he finished his writers since he had to say good-bye to those characters - as if saying good-bye to old friends.
6. As the narrative of the war marches on, in my opinion Lincoln becomes more and more of a central figure. Since Foote is so character driven it would perhaps be a bit natural for some amount of his sympathy and loyalty to drift towards Lincoln, and hence the north.
7. Your last comment puzzles me though. Foote is perhaps the all time champion of the point of view that we may only judge the characters of the time by what they knew and experienced not by our knowledge and experience. This was a HUGE deal for Foote. For example, Lincoln made many a statement over the course of this life, that if judged by today’s standards, would be unequivocally racist. Yet very few think of Lincoln as a racist, since as Foote says we can’t apply our point of view to the words and actions of those men of the 19th century. So to me, anyway, if Foote’s views of the civil war were influenced by the politics of the 1950’s and 1960’s, this would seem to violate one of his own core principles. I’m not so much arguing the point, as I am trying to make sense of what to me seems like a contradiction.
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Thanks GOP_Raider.The War Between the States Sesquicentennial, 150th Anniversary, runs from 2010 through 2015.Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution.CSA Vice President Alexander H. Stephens, Cornerstone speech, March 21, 1861 -- "...last, not least. The new constitution has put at rest, forever, all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution -- African slavery as it exists amongst us -- the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. Jefferson in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the 'rock upon which the old Union would split.' He was right. What was conjecture with him, is now a realized fact."To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. |
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Thanks for posting!
“Comrades and friends, these splendid statues of marble and granite and bronze shall finally crumble to dust, and in the ages to come, will perhaps be forgotten, but the spirit that has called this great assembly of our people together, on this field, shall live forever.” -----Dr. Nathaniel D. Cox at 1913 Gettysburg Reunion
A great sentiment and well expressed.
The Gettysburg Battlefield does have a special quality. We've also been to Shiloh, and the feeling is similar, though it seems more 'close' than Gettysburg, because the open battlefield area wasn't quite as large.
If you go in the summer I reccomend going early in the morning around dawn. The tour buses won't be there but you won't be alone.
Your points are all good, and I agree.
I was obviously paraphrasing, so I may have misstated or overstated something. I’ll try to hunt up the original comments he made.
The battle for the Round Tops gets a great deal of attention in the books, but that for Culp’s Hill was every bit as crucial, as the loss of either would have flanked the Union Army.
True enough. Probably a poor play on words on my part.
One of the many tomes on my Amazon wish list. Always heard very praiseworthy things about it.
Speaking of the Civil War two of my favorite movies are “Gettysburg” and “Gods and Generals.” It was understood that the trilogy would be complete with a third movie, “Last Full Measure,” based on the book, about the last two years of the Civil War. But the years have gone by and no movie. I’m highly disappointed. Does any Freeper know why there are no plans to complete the trilogy? I read somewhere on the internet that Ted Turner does not want to fund a third movie. Does anyone know?
Early, in trying to shift the responsibility for inaction and dithering off himself, helped start the “marble man” cult view of Lee and part of it was setting up a view held for many years that Longstreet executed Pickets Charge with Pickets Brigade in a half hearted manner.
Nothing could have been further from the truth, but Lee was not one to re-hash and clear his most trusted field general (Longstreet) and Longstreet had become a post-war Republican in an effort to see the South rebuilt so he lost the support of many comrades.
Jubal was a post war glory seaker.
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