The Atlantic: The Civil War, Part 2: The People

[SaltwaterServr]

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/02/the-civil-war-part-2-the-people/100242/

Before you click that link, folks should note that there are a few images that will be disturbing.

To offset, one of the most beautiful love letters I've ever heard/read. It comes from Ken Burn's "The Civil War" which aired on PBS 20 years ago. IIRC, the reading of the letter closed out the first episode of the series. If you fancy yourself with any kind of interest in the Civil War and the history, you'd do well to rent/buy the documentary. It's an amazing piece of television.

If you take time to look at the love of your life while you listen to the clip, think about how much they mean to you and how empty your life would be without them, and you don't get a little misty eyed at the end...well...I don't know how you managed it.

[youtubehd]HxDP6q6C5mE[/youtubehd]

 

[YosemiteSam]

When I saw this guy's facial hair and his name, I though his last name should have been Sideburns instead of Burnside. Then I read the text above his name. :laugh2:

===============================================

Union Major General Ambrose E. Burnside, conducted campaigns in North Carolina and Tennessee during the war. Afterwards he served as the Governor, and later as U.S. Senator from Rhode Island. His distinctive style of facial hair is now known as sideburns, derived from his last name.

 

[SaltwaterServr]

Random note, the Post Master General's son was killed by forces under the command of Robert E. Lee. As retribution, he had Lee's home near the nation's capital designated as a cemetery so that Lee could never return home to his beloved estate.

Lee's estate, from that point onward, has been ever known as Arlington National Cemetery.

A little more randomness...

Ulysses S. Grant had a habit of riding into battle with his left hand raised, citing that it helped his circulation. Supposedly he first ate hot buttered bread with honey and found it so enticing that he never ate it again. Grant was a weird cat.

Before the Civil War, the United States of America was considered a plural title. Afterwards, we became singular.

Every state within the Confederacy, save South Carolina, sent at least a full division of volunteers to fight for the Union.

The Confederacy won both the first and last battle of the Civil War. The last being the Battle of Palmetto Ranch (I think that's the title) in Texas.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Great set of images.

For many, Lincoln is still considered the greatest president– ever. But, boy did the war age him.

The image of the dead soldier with his hand blown off and the rifle laying across his body was staged to some degree with the hand placed next to the body and a prop rifle laid across him.

The picture of the confederate soldiers marching through Frederick is stunning in its rarity... I'm not sure off the top of my head if there's another image out there of southern soldiers marching– especially in a northern-controlled city.

 

[SaltwaterServr]

Great set of images.

For many, Lincoln is still considered the greatest president– ever. But, boy did the war age him.

The image of the dead soldier with his hand blown off and the rifle laying across his body was staged to some degree with the hand placed next to the body and a prop rifle laid across him.

The picture of the confederate soldiers marching through Frederick is stunning in its rarity... I'm not sure off the top of my head if there's another image out there of southern soldiers marching– especially in a northern-controlled city.

One of the depressing images I carry from Ken Burns' documentary was one image of a few soldiers posing before they headed off to the battlefields. It was mentioned that the photos age and the images were lost off of the glass plates with time. The scene pulls back and you see the original glass plate, maybe 4"x6". It pulls further back and you see a few more perfectly clear plates, some with only hints of the images that have bleached out. Then it pulls back further and further until you see thousands and thousands of the clear glass plates that used to contain photographs, that were put together to build a greenhouse.

There was no market for the images after the war, but there was for the glass. As a history buff and a hobbyist photographer as well, I consider that a tragedy on both fronts. How many tens of thousands of priceless images of history, of such a critical turning point in our nation's history, were lost to time?

My other post, that wasn't Grant that did the riding into battle, it was Sherman. At least I'm pretty sure it was Sherman.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Awesome pics!

 

[MichaelWinicki]

One of the depressing images I carry from Ken Burns' documentary was one image of a few soldiers posing before they headed off to the battlefields. It was mentioned that the photos age and the images were lost off of the glass plates with time. The scene pulls back and you see the original glass plate, maybe 4"x6". It pulls further back and you see a few more perfectly clear plates, some with only hints of the images that have bleached out. Then it pulls back further and further until you see thousands and thousands of the clear glass plates that used to contain photographs, that were put together to build a greenhouse.

There was no market for the images after the war, but there was for the glass. As a history buff and a hobbyist photographer as well, I consider that a tragedy on both fronts. How many tens of thousands of priceless images of history, of such a critical turning point in our nation's history, were lost to time?

My other post, that wasn't Grant that did the riding into battle, it was Sherman. At least I'm pretty sure it was Sherman.

Yeah, I remember that too. Very sad indeed.

The images of the soldiers all dressed up and heading off to war, north & south alike, all prim, proper and full of pizz & vinegar... And then they found out how war really was... Ugly, destructive and for the most part boring.