On April 12th-13th 1861 a great and terrible war began when shots were fired at Fort Sumter. More Americans were killed in Civil War than all other wars combined. This war changed the United States in many ways and revolutionized warfare. I spent this morning in a archives researching the civil war. So here is a newspaper article from that day:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...2_1_civil-war-150th-anniversary-conflict

The article from 1861 is great! As a Civil War buff, I'm pleased to think the 150th anniversary might get more people in the history of the conflict.

Very interesting. I have read a couple of the articles of secession from various states. To those who try to maintain that the South fought for "States rights", you need only read these documents to see that the secession and war was about slavery, period.

Also, I think I have mentioned this before. There is a cemetery near my house which has a plaque dated 1917. The plaque reads "In this cemetery lies veterans of ..." and lists different wars. But instead of calling it the Civil War, the plaque lists it as the Rebellion.

The level of needless tragedy and human suffering associated with the Civil War is just unimaginable.

If you want to start feeling pessimistic about the overall potential of the human race for incredible stupidity, just read some accounts of, e.g., the Battle of the Crater.

I'm not gonna be getting into this here. So this will be the only post I make on it, but...


sorry, no, Quis, it wasn't only about slavery. That just isn't true. The victory gets to rewrite history as they see fit. There were atrocities from both sides, many extending far beyond the war. Carpetbagging, etc...

It was also, as many have claimed this current war to be, a bit of an illegal one. Federalists far overstepped the bonds of the Constitution, which clearly named the States as the primary power of the nation. The federal government was to be very limited in scope.

I don't agree with slavery. Never have, never will, but while it was a part of the reasons for the civil war, it was most definitely not the ONLY reason.

And that is why the Civil War is still relevant till this day. We are still debating it because the results of the Civil War changed many aspects of American life.

I live in Missouri, but I teach in Kansas, two states that were a constant battleground during the Civil War and the years leading up the war.

It's difficult, I think, to understand how close the country came to splintering back then. I tell my students that most Americans today refer to themselves as Americans first and citizens of whatever state they live in second. During the mid-19th century, the opposite was true. If you lived in Kansas, you were a Kansan and your enemies came not from overseas but from Missouri. The legacy of that bitter feud lives on in terms such as bushwhacker and Jayhawker.

Johnson was a total dick.

Lincoln had a 'Marshall Plan' like intent mapped out to help the southern states recover from the economic blow, and build them back into part of a unified American economic union, and then that idiot shot him and put Johnson, who was adamant that the southern states should be punished instead, and ground down so that they would never be able to build up and become a threat again, in command of the country.

We still haven't recovered from what that bullet in the theater did.

Hmm... I thought it was the radical Republicans in Congress who were adamant about punishing the South? Isn't that why they impeached Johnson (for being too soft on the rebels)?

My understanding is that it was the radical Republicans who wanted to punish the South.