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Top Civil War Battlefields
Town Hall ^ | June 23, 2005 | Marvin Olasky [Creators Syndicate]

Posted on 06/22/2005 9:43:16 PM PDT by quidnunc

Now that it's officially summer, here's my advice to parents who want to continue teaching their kids during the next two months and learn something themselves: visit Civil War battlefields. I probably overdid it with my own children, visiting about 35 in all, but here are my top five:

1. Gettysburg (July 1863)

Much as I'd like to make a surprise choice, there's no avoiding Gettysburg's primacy and sadness, with over 50,000 soldiers becoming casualties over three days.

Driving and walking this Pennsylvania battlefield explains much: the big rocks of Devil's Den were indeed devilish, and the awesome difficulty of "Pickett's Charge" — across a vast expanse, sloping slightly uphill — makes it seem that Robert E. Lee's hope that day was for God to intervene. (That's what Michael Shaara suggested in his fine novel, "The Killer Angels"; it's well worth reading before a Gettysburg visit.)

2. Antietam (September 1862)

The 30-acre Maryland cornfield through which soldiers charged and countercharged is still a cornfield; the farm road worn down by erosion and called Sunken Road until it gained a new name at the battle, Bloody Lane, is also a good place to meditate on 23,000 casualties incurred in one day.

-snip-

(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: chancellorsville; dixie; franklin; fredericksburg; gettysburg; sharpsburg; shiloh
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To: Non-Sequitur; justshutupandtakeit; Modernman
How 'bout discussing battlefields like everyone else instead of derailing this thread?

If you notice, everyone else is discussing battlefields, not politics, legitmatcy, consitutionality, secession, slavery, etc?

If there is one thing we ought to agree on it's battlefield preservation.

121 posted on 06/23/2005 12:49:16 PM PDT by stainlessbanner
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To: stainlessbanner

I will not let falsehoods pass but have no intention of derailing this thread. Complain to the one who posted the falsehood. Normally I don't comment on the subject of battlefields.


122 posted on 06/23/2005 12:55:22 PM PDT by justshutupandtakeit (Public Enemy #1, the RATmedia.)
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To: Modernman
"It was a rebellion, nothing more"

I am sure that you will consider yourself in rebellion the next time the government comes by to claim your property, tax you to extremes, or declares their laws guarantee you no rights.

You might want to ask yourself why a handful of southern states could be such an irritant to the grand Union, and why Lincoln would bother to pick a fight. Most in the North at the time were glad to see the South leave. Many in Massachusetts had advocated secession from the South many years prior .

I would have thought Lincoln and the abolitionists in the Republican party would have been glad to be rid of the "slave problem".

What was the threat to the Union?
123 posted on 06/23/2005 12:57:29 PM PDT by PeaRidge
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To: stainlessbanner

You are right. I will stop here. Thanks.


124 posted on 06/23/2005 12:58:27 PM PDT by PeaRidge
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To: quidnunc

I'd be curious to know which major history book most accurately describes and explains the Civil War.


125 posted on 06/23/2005 12:59:15 PM PDT by Fester Chugabrew
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To: PeaRidge
I am sure that you will consider yourself in rebellion the next time the government comes by to claim your property, tax you to extremes, or declares their laws guarantee you no rights.

Since this is not what happened to the South, I'm not sure why this is relevant.

You might want to ask yourself why a handful of southern states could be such an irritant to the grand Union, and why Lincoln would bother to pick a fight.

Because, as the President, it was his duty to preserve the Union and to quell rebellion. We've been over this.

Most in the North at the time were glad to see the South leave. Many in Massachusetts had advocated secession from the South many years prior .

And yet, Northerners were willing to die by the tens of thousands to preserve the Union and defeat slavery. The people in the North had the chance to kick Lincoln out of office in 1864 in favor of a pro-appeasement candidate. They decided to keep fighting.

What was the threat to the Union?

Rebellion and treason that attempted to take over the territory of the USA.

126 posted on 06/23/2005 1:02:12 PM PDT by Modernman ("Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made." -Bismarck)
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To: Fester Chugabrew
FR threads you will be interested in, Fester Chugabrew
Best U.S. Civil War books - FReeper opinions sought

Best U.S. Civil War books - FReeper opinions sought

The South and Southern History


127 posted on 06/23/2005 1:04:38 PM PDT by stainlessbanner
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To: stainlessbanner

Interesting that you directed that at us, and didn't include river rat, taxesareforever, PeaRidge, or TexConfederate1861 who just happened to hew the southron line in their replies.


128 posted on 06/23/2005 1:05:34 PM PDT by Non-Sequitur
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To: PeaRidge
There were no laws regarding secession so there were no legal means.

Then I guess the rebels were out of luck. They rolled the dice and failed. They got off luckier at the end of the Civil War than probably any group of rebels and traitors in world history.

As you know, Lincoln would not even speak to them.

Of course not, as they had no legitimacy. They were the representatives of a treasonous group of rebels, not a legitimate nation.

No, they resorted to peaceful negotiations.

Then why did the CSA raise armies?

That term is conveniently thrown about, but no one was ever convicted, much less charged with treason

They were not convicted and hung due to the benevolence of the government in Washington. The South, and its leaders, got off much more leniently than they ever had any right to hope for. But that doesn't mean that they didn't engage in treason.

Again, point out the illegalities, please.

They raised armies and waged war against the legitimate government of the USA.

129 posted on 06/23/2005 1:07:22 PM PDT by Modernman ("Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made." -Bismarck)
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To: Non-Sequitur

You're right, I should have addressed the post to x as well.


130 posted on 06/23/2005 1:10:43 PM PDT by stainlessbanner
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To: stainlessbanner
How 'bout discussing battlefields like everyone else instead of derailing this thread?

This thread went off-topic as of post 2.

131 posted on 06/23/2005 1:10:49 PM PDT by Modernman ("Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made." -Bismarck)
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To: stainlessbanner
You're right, I should have addressed the post to x as well.

If not for double standards I sometimes wonder if y'all would have any standards at all.

132 posted on 06/23/2005 1:18:37 PM PDT by Non-Sequitur
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To: archy
You ever notice the name of Rooster Cogburn's cat in the John Wayne movie True Grit? Absolutely. When I first saw the movie I hooted, then had to explain to my wife who Sterling Price was. The last time we drove through the area, she was fascinated by the cannonball that's still lodged in the courthouse pillar.

One of the, "one of these days," things I have on my list is to get with a small group, load up packs, pick a unit (either side would be good, but Jackson's Stonewall Brigade would be a real challenge), and hike their route of march from site to site, but cutting out the bivouac time. Maybe even down to the point of beginning and ending marches at around the same time of day. I'm not sure I could keep up with Jackson's "Foot Cavalry", but it'd be fun to try, and I think it would be instructive to get a ground-level view of the distances and terrain these guys covered.

133 posted on 06/23/2005 1:23:35 PM PDT by Quiller
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To: stainlessbanner

Thank you. That's just what I was looking for.


134 posted on 06/23/2005 1:24:54 PM PDT by Fester Chugabrew
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To: PeoplesRepublicOfWashington
Well If you going to drive up to Gettysburg and take in that site's history...an almost equal amount of driving time to the Southeast of DC is rich in colonial history. I.E. SE Virginnia..., George Washington’s Mount Vernon, historic Jamestown (a few hours to tour), Colonial Williamsburg (a full day to tour), and the batterfield of Yorktown (a few hours to tour) are all the same area. If the 'kids' need a bit of today...there's 'Busch Gardens. amusement park outside of Williamsburg and 'Virginia Beach' south of Yorktown.

www.nps.gov/colo/

“……Colonial National Historical Park (NHP) administers two of the most historically significant sites in English North America. Historic Jamestowne, the first permanent English settlement in North America in 1607, jointly administered with the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, and Yorktown Battlefield, the final major battle of the American Revolutionary War in 1781.

These two sites represent the beginning and end of English colonial America. Situated on the Virginia Peninsula, these sites are connected by the 23 mile scenic Colonial Parkway. Colonial NHP also includes Green Spring, the 17th century plantation home of Virginia's colonial governor, Sir William Berkeley, and the Cape Henry Memorial, which marks the approximate site of the first landing of the Jamestown colonists on the Atlantic Coast in April of 1607. ……...”

AND a personal favorite of mine in Charlottsville VA..Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello
Located in the Virginia Piedmont, Monticello is about two miles southeast of Charlottesville and approximately 125 miles from Washington, D.C.; 110 miles from Williamsburg, Virginia; and 70 miles from Richmond, Virginia

135 posted on 06/23/2005 1:26:44 PM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
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To: Stand Watch Listen
Yorktown sounds perfect. Thanks.

I might have to make it a longer vacation to take your advice and visit those other sites. I need to make sure we take the vacation before there's any chance of Hillary or any other 'Rat sitting in the White House. I wouldn't even consider such a vacation while The 'Toon was in office.

136 posted on 06/23/2005 1:48:46 PM PDT by PeoplesRepublicOfWashington (Washington State--Land of Court-approved Voting Fraud.)
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To: PeoplesRepublicOfWashington
lol...Yes perhaps you would need a longer vacation...but it would be a shame to not take in Jamestown/Williamsburg/Yorktown while you are in the area. Jamestown to Yorktown..23 miles with Williamsburg just offset in the middle.

http://www.visitwilliamsburg.com/

Historic Jamestowne, the Yorktown Battlefield and the Colonial Parkway, a 23-mile scenic byway that connects Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown.

Just my 2¢

137 posted on 06/23/2005 2:12:49 PM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
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To: justshutupandtakeit

The Federals invaded my homeland. That is the reason my family fought. Not for slaves, not for wealth, simply to remove the presence of people who felt compelled to destroy the South, to force re-union, to end slavery, for whatever reason.

No matter the reason, the South had the right to leave, and did so. Slavery didn't give the North a valid reason to violate Southern homes & firesides.

If you are indeed from the South, you should have known these facts from birth.


138 posted on 06/23/2005 2:14:57 PM PDT by TexConfederate1861 (Secession....the last resort against tyranny.)
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To: Modernman

No rebellion. we simply LEFT. (Which was our right)


139 posted on 06/23/2005 2:17:32 PM PDT by TexConfederate1861 (Secession....the last resort against tyranny.)
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To: Modernman

WEll, I suggest you read up on the "Radical Republicans".
They maintained that since the Southern States HAD left the Union, that a period of "reconstruction" was needed.

I might add that Lincoln agreed with you, but Congress didn't.


140 posted on 06/23/2005 2:20:53 PM PDT by TexConfederate1861 (Secession....the last resort against tyranny.)
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