Actually, you killed us. Ha ha.
In all honesty I found that one of my ancestors kept a journal and his letters from the war. It was published in 1980 something.
In it, slavery did not seem to be THE issue with them. Although they mentioned being against slavery the thought of the day was that slaves were not very smart and were pretty much “beasts of burden.” His terms, not mine.
He, the ancestor, seemed to be more miffed with the whole idea of secession. Although, form the distance of 150 years it was clear he was falling prey to the propaganda of the day.
It was a fascinating read. Aside from date specific comments most of the entires could have been written by any infantry man from the beginning of time. I guess hurry up and wait has been going on forever.
I am always impressed with the literacy of the common man during those times.
Fang’s great-great grandfather was in a Yankee prison camp
right before the end of the war. He wrote the family a
letter & started it off, “I sure do hate to have to be
writing ya’ll a letter on this dam*ed Yankee writing paper!”
My great-great grandfather, the one who fought at Shiloh,
was asked by my grandmother when she was a small child,
“Grandaddy, what was it like at Shiloh; did YOU kill anybody?” He told her, “Izora, it was just awful; the biggest mess I’ve ever seen
in my life. In fact, I could not tell whether or not I
killed anyone! The smoke was THAT thick!” - I grew up not
30 miles from Shiloh. I’m almost 70 yrs. old; and The
Bloody Pond at that time was a much darker BLOOD color, an
“old blood” hue from the bloodstains on the rocks at the
bottom of the pond where both Yankee & Rebel wounded
crawled to wash off their wounds. Many died right there
at the edge of the pond. WAR IS HELL! My dad also was a
combat soldier during WWII in N. Africa, Italy & Germany.
An American combat soldier, in many ways hardened by a
Southern upbringing.
Fang’s great-great grandfather was in a Yankee prison camp
right before the end of the war. He wrote the family a
letter & started it off, “I sure do hate to have to be
writing ya’ll a letter on this dam*ed Yankee writing paper!”
My great-great grandfather, the one who fought at Shiloh,
was asked by my grandmother when she was a small child,
“Grandaddy, what was it like at Shiloh; did YOU kill anybody?” He told her, “Izora, it was just awful; the biggest mess I’ve ever seen
in my life. In fact, I could not tell whether or not I
killed anyone! The smoke was THAT thick!” - I grew up not
30 miles from Shiloh. I’m almost 70 yrs. old; and The
Bloody Pond at that time was a much darker BLOOD color, an
“old blood” hue from the bloodstains on the rocks at the
bottom of the pond where both Yankee & Rebel wounded
crawled to wash off their wounds. Many died right there
at the edge of the pond. WAR IS HELL! My dad also was a
combat soldier during WWII in N. Africa, Italy & Germany.
An American combat soldier, in many ways hardened by a
Southern upbringing.