American Civil War Sesquicentennial

[Gamburd]

Thanks Landrik.

At the Gettysburg reenactment, were you reenacting a particular regiment that was at the battle? Which one?

 

[Landrik]

30th Virginia, Washington Guards. Picked because they were the regional unit of Fredericksburg, VA (where my father lives) and they were a rear-guard at the time of the battle of Gettysburg. It's a very new unit and led by my father. Civil War isn't as much of my area of interest as WWII, but it's fun and informative in its own right.

 

[Floyd]

Nice pics. Thx.

 

[Gamburd]

To aid the Union's recruiting drive, an imaginative artist drew this picture of confident Yankee Doodles marching down the road to Dixie.

At the start of the war, young men on both sides were eager to volunteer.




And don't forget to watch the following programs tonight on the History International channel and on History on Memorial day:


May 29: History International Channel:

1. 8:00 PM (EST)
   Sherman's March
   
   

   Known affectionately as "Uncle Billy" by Union soldiers, but reviled in the South as a brutal war criminal, General William Tecumseh Sherman is one of the truly enigmatic and complex figures in the American pantheon. His legacy was built during a five-week campaign of terror and destruction that would become known as "total war". Sherman ordered his troops to burn crops, kill livestock, destroy railroads, pilfer food supplies and to make sure the South's civilian infrastructure was shattered. Although the concept had been around for centuries, this is the first time in modern warfare that total war was used to such an extensive degree. First Savannah was captured, and then he marched from Georgia through South Carolina and burned the capital to the ground. On the heels of Sherman's destructive onslaughts, the Confederacy officially conceded victory to the Union on April 9, 1865.

   2. 10:00 PM (EST)

April 1865

Based on Jay Winik's bestseller 'April 1865: The Month That Saved America', our 2-hour documentary special offers a new look at the Civil War's final days that will forever change the way we see the war's end and the nation's new beginning. These 30 most pivotal days in the life of the United States witnessed the frenzied fall of Richmond, Lee's harrowing retreat, Appomattox, and Lincoln's assassination five days later. It's not only the tale of the war's denouement, but the story of the rebirth of our nation.

May 30: History (Channel):


Gettysburg: 9:00PM (EST) / 8:00PM (Central)

It's the summer of 1863, more than two years into our nation's devastating Civil War, and the stakes have never been higher. The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, led by Robert E. Lee, crosses into Pennsylvania. Trailed by the Union's Army of the Potomac, Lee's 75,000-strong army heads toward Harrisburg, but the forces meet instead near Gettysburg, a quiet farm town that would become synonymous with the epic battle that all but decided the outcome of the American Civil War.

For three long days, the two sides clashed in one of the war's bloodiest engagements to decide the ultimate question: Would the United States of America survive?

Executive produced by Ridley and Tony Scott, GETTYSBURG strips away the romanticized veneer of the Civil War to present the pivotal Battle of Gettysburg in a new light--a visceral, terrifying and deeply personal experience, fought by men who put everything on the line in defense of their vision of the American future. Cinematic in scope, GETTYSBURG is an information-packed look at the turning points, strategic decisions, technology and little-known facts surrounding the battle. Developed in collaboration with highly esteemed Civil War historians, GETTYSBURG reflects hundreds of individual accounts of the battle--the unique voices of struggle, defeat and triumph that tell the larger story of a bitterly conflicted nation.

 

[NoxNoctum]

YouTube - ‪The Whitest Kids U'Know: The Civil War on Drugs Chapter 1‬‏

Interesting documentary.

 

[Gamburd]

Enthusiastic crowds lined the streets to cheer New York's Seventh Regiment, a crack parade unit, as it marched down Broadway on April 19th, 1861:

Here, the shot-torn Fort Sumter flag waves from the statue of George Washington in New York's Union Square on April 20, 1861, surrounded by 100,000 New Yorkers demanding vengeance:

Civilian volunteers patrol the lawn of the Executive Mansion in April 1861, waiting for the northern army to arrive:

"On to Richmond!" was the cry as the Army of the Potomac paraded down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, rank upon rank.

In the background the unfinished dome of the Capitol rose against the sky:

'Battle Cry of Freedom' (banjo and vocals):

YouTube - ‪Battle cry of Freedom‬‏[/URL]


'The Girl I Left Behind Me (a.k.a. 'Brighton Camp'; fifer and recorded drums):

YouTube - ‪The Girl I Left Behind Me‬‏[/URL]

 

[Gamburd]

More Civil War:

During the first few giddy weeks after Fort Sumter, Confederate volunteers like these men of the 1st Virginia Militia--the 'Richmond Greys'--were confident that their next encounter with the enemy would bring the same effortlessly happy result.

Animated Map of The Battle of Bull Run, Virginia, July 21st, 1861 (a.k.a. Manassas); the first major battle of the American Civil War:

[URL]http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/firstmanassas/first-manassas-maps/bull-run-animated-map/bull-run-animated-map.html[/URL]

Battle of Bull Run from 'Gods and Generals', the 2003 film which follows the rise and fall of Brigadier General Thomas J. Jackson.

(I thought the title of the film, 'Gods and Generals', was a little ridiculous, but the movie itself is very good.)

‪Gods and Generals movie - First Battle of Bull Run‬‏ - YouTube[/COLOR][/URL]

Travel Promo: The Journey Through Hallowed Ground:

Recognized as the region which holds more American history than any other swath of land in the country.

It is home to significant and unique historical, cultural, scenic and natural legacies. The Journey Through Hallowed Ground corridor follows US Route 15 and Route 20 on a 175-mile meandering course from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, through Frederick County, Maryland and ending in Charlottesville, Virginia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LJqWlZtCML8

150th Battle Of Bull Run Reenactment - Manassas, Virginia Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the American Civil War 2011-2015:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dyu1M-i13CM

'The 2nd Vermont Regiment at Bull Run' by Captain James Hope, a famous Civil War artist (I'm not sure of the actual title of the painting but it depicts the 2nd VT Regiment at Bull Run):



Henry House Hill, Manassas Battlefield, VA:



Battle of Bull Run-- by Jimmy Horton:

‪Johnny Horton- Battle of Bull Run‬‏ - YouTube

'Dixie': The de facto anthem of the Confederacy performed by the 2nd South Carolina String Band:

‪Dixie's Land - Confederate National Anthem‬‏ - YouTube

This photo gallery highlights various Civil War reenactors and sites from the Prince William-Manassas area of Virginia. From men in battle to women with children, all dressed in fashions from an era gone by.

http://www.manassasbullrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=gallery.display&gallery_ID=3&currentpage=1

 

[Karabiner98k]

I play the fife myself (and the banjo). The fife is damn hard to play. I'd like to point out the difference between the steel stringed, fretted banjos often heard in these versions of American Civil War and antebellum songs and the banjos actually played back then.

There's a replica of a fretless gut stringed banjo made by Hartel Banjos (banjos in this style are often called "minstrel banjos"). The style of playing was also different back then, using what is called "stroke style" as opposed to more modern clawhammer and Scruggs styles. The 2nd South Carolina String Band use both types of banjos in their songs (which are excellent).

‪Keel-Row, an English reel.‬‏ - YouTube
That's an excellent example of minstrel banjo playing. I hope to get a minstrel banjo some day or build one.

 

[tpenn]

Great links.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Gamburd]

YOUNG "NAPOLEON":​

​

General George McClellan (1826-1885)

​

The American Bald Eagle, sitting in its nest symbolizing the Union, destroys its rebellious offspring in this 1861 lithograph. ​

In June, a few weeks before the Federal defeat at Bull Run, George McClellan sent his 20,000 troops across the Ohio River into the western part of Virginia. He had two objectives: to prevent Confederate forces from severing the Baltimore and Ohio (B & O) Railroad, Washington's direct link with the West and to preserve the Union anti-sessionist section of Virginia.​

He would succeed on both counts. With three times as many men as his foe, he sent his troops into a series of clashes that routed the Confederates and paved the way for the region's entry into the Union two years later as the new state of West Virginia. These were not major battles, and casualties on both sides were light. But with the exception of Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon's small victories in Missouri, they were the only Federal successes on the battlefield during the first months of the War. So McClellan was immoderately celebrated in the Northern press, and when he was summoned east, reporters awarded him the romantic title: "Young Napoleon."

On July 26 1861, the day he reached the capital, McClellan was appointed commander of the Military Division of the Potomac, the main Union force responsible for the defense of Washington.

On August 20, several military units in Virginia were consolidated into his department and he immediately formed the Army of the Potomac, with himself as its first commander.[29] He reveled in his newly acquired power and fame: ​

As the man of the hour, with all Washington at his feet, General McClellan plunged into his new assignment with supreme self assurance. "By some strange operation of magic I seem to have become the power of the land," confided McClellan in a letter to his wife. "I see already the main causes of our recent failure; I am sure that I can remedy these, and am confident that I can lead these armies of men to victory once more . . .

But, McClellan envisioned himself as an American Napoleon and had a strained relationship with the President as exemplified by his reference to the Commander in Chief as an “idiot” or “the original gorilla.”

McClellan had been a good student at West Point and thus followed the doctrine taught at the academy which was based on the ideas of Antoine Henri de Jomini.

In general, the military strategy involved maintaining supply and communications lines and securing key locations.

****True to his organizational strengths, McClellan and other Union generals tended to take their time in preparation and tended to make deliberate, rather than decisive, moves.****

McClellan was born in Philadelphia, the son of a prominent surgical ophthalmologist, Dr. George McClellan, the founder of Jefferson Medical College. His mother was Elizabeth Steinmetz Brinton McClellan, daughter of a leading Pennsylvania family, a woman noted for her "considerable grace and refinement".[3] The couple produced five children: a daughter, Frederica; then three sons, John, George, and Arthur; and a second daughter, Mary. McClellan was the grandson of Revolutionary War general Samuel McClellan of Woodstock, Connecticut. He first attended the University of Pennsylvania in 1840 at age 13, resigning himself to the study of law. After two years, he changed his goal to military service. With the assistance of his father's letter to PresidentJohn Tyler, young George was accepted at the United States Military Academy in 1842, the academy having waived its normal minimum age of 16.[4][/FONT]

At West Point, he was an energetic and ambitious cadet, deeply interested in the teachings of Dennis Hart Mahan and the theoretical strategic principles of Antoine-Henri Jomini. His closest friends were aristocratic Southerners such as James Stuart, Dabney Maury, Cadmus Wilcox, and A. P. Hill. These associations gave McClellan what he considered to be an appreciation of the Southern mind, an understanding of the political and military implications of the sectional differences in the United States that led to the Civil War.[5] He graduated in 1846, second in his class of 59 cadets, losing the top position (to Charles Seaforth Stewart) only because of poor drawing skills.[6] He was commissioned a brevetsecond lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.[7]

The New York Evening Post commented in McClellan's obituary, "Probably no soldier who did so little fighting has ever had his qualities as a commander so minutely, and we may add, so fiercely discussed."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_B._McClellan

『ナポレオン』監督ｱﾍﾞﾙ･ｶﾞﾝｽ、提供ﾌﾗﾝｼｽ・ｺｯﾎﾟﾗ - YouTube[/URL]

ANTEBELLUM SOUTH:


Drayton Hall Plantation, South Carolina:

LCV Cities Tour - Charleston: Drayton Hall Plantation - YouTube[/COLOR][/URL]


Ryan's Mart, Charleston South Carolina (Old Slave Mart Museum):

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/OldSla


National Park Service Volunteer Jeff Baldwin discusses 19th century music and plays Stephen Foster on his stringed instrument

150th First Bull Run Event - Civil War Music - YouTube[/URL]

 

[Gamburd]

Miller's Cornfield, Bloody Lane, Burnside's Bridge . . . the bloodiest single day battle in American history took place near Sharpsburg, Maryland on September 17, 1862 with 23,000 Union and Confederate casualties at the Battle of Antietam.



Well done, low budget short film which explores the strained relationship between President Lincoln, the Commander in Chief, and General George McClellan, Commander of the Army of the Potomac and the lost opportunity to end the Civil War in 1862.

Although the chance to end the Civil War was lost, the hard won and costly Union victory (Lee retreated back to the South) at Antietam allowed Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation which declared slaves in the Confederacy as free persons.


I think this film was made by the National Park Service and it was shown at the Visitor's Center at Antietam
National Battlefield until recently when a new film replaced it:


Antietam Visit:





Part 1:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXG0CUohkPo&playnext=1&list=PL4C34F75E8C49D9D6&feature=results_main" target="_blank">Antietam 1.mp4 - YouTube

Part 2:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKMtgCb5CoU&playnext=1&list=PL4C34F75E8C49D9D6&feature=results_video" target="_blank">Antietam 2.mp4 - YouTube

Part 3:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EeWAKZvbgU&playnext=1&list=PL4C34F75E8C49D9D6&feature=results_video" target="_blank">Antietam 3.mp4 - YouTube




Battle of Antietam 150th Anniversary:

Battle of Antietam, Artist Unknown, Showing the Union Advance on the Dunker Church

Depiction of the Battle of Antietam by Kurz and Allison




On C-SPAN3 TV:

Battle of Antietam 150th Anniversary:

Sharpsburg, MD

Sunday, September 16, 2012

On Sunday, September 16, 2012, C-SPAN 3’s
American History TV will be live from noon to 8:30pm ET at the Antietam National Battlefield near Sharpsburg, Maryland. We'll cover events marking the 150th anniversary of the battle, and Civil War historian James McPherson and Emancipation Proclamation historian Edna Greene Medford are among the guests who will join us to take viewer questions.

The Battle of Antietam took place September 17th, 1862, and was the
bloodiest single day of fighting in all of American history. President Lincoln
took advantage of the Union victory to issue the preliminary Emancipation
Proclamation a few days later.

<a href="http://www.c-span.org/History/Events/LIVE--Battle-of-Antietam-150th-Anniversary/10737433813/" target="_blank">http://www.c-span.org/History/Events/LIVE--Battle-of-Antietam-150th-Anniversary/10737433813/

 

[Gamburd]

Looking for Lincoln:

LINCOLN is in theaters November 9th, 2012 (Limited) and Nationwide November 16th, 2012.

Steven Spielberg directs two-time Academy Award

 

[Gamburd]

Thanksgiving Holiday:

Thanskgiving became a National Holiday during the American Civil War (from 'Burt Wolf's Travel and Traditions'):

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8sEWV0hqk4" target="_blank">Thanksgiving: Burt Wolf Travels & Traditions - YouTube


'Michigan and the Civil War' Promo (Reenactors very briefly interviewed: Michigan woman who fought as a Union Soldier; Brigadier General George Armstrong Custer (portrayed by Steven L. Alexander); President Abraham Lincoln; Mrs. Grant :

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nBkYcEyLDI" target="_blank">The American Civil War Years:The Michigan Experience: - YouTube




Historic Civil War era songs:



'Listen to the Mocking Bird' (Instrumental version) (1855) is an American folk song of the mid-19th century. "

Its lyrics were composed by Septimus Winner under the psuedonym "Alice Hawthorne", and its music was by Richard Milburn.":

"This song dates way back (a bit little prior) to the American Civil War and was a favorite song for then President Abraham Lincoln. Years later around the 1930's this song was adapted to the humouros threesome Stooges known as Curly and Moe Howard and Larry Fine."


<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK_cm66QC58" target="_blank">Listen to the Mockingbird by Septimus Winner - YouTube



'Kingdom Coming (or The Year of Jubilo')'; written and composed by Henry C. Work in 1862; played by the 2nd South Carolina String Band.:


<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wgpJDGy4Bo" target="_blank">Kingdom Coming (The Year of Jubilo) - YouTube

 

[Gamburd]

Union Army Drum Quick Steps from the 1862 Camp Duty:

Rope Drum: Roll Break-Down & Quick Steps. - YouTube


The Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia:

"The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, between General Robert E. Lee's ConfederateArmy of Northern Virginia and the UnionArmy of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen.Ambrose Burnside. The Union army's futile frontal attacks on December 13 against entrenched Confederate defenders on the heights behind the city is remembered as one of the most one-sided battles of the American Civil War, with Union casualties more than twice as heavy as those suffered by the Confederates . . .


The Union army suffered 12,653 casualties (1,284 killed, 9,600 wounded, 1,769 captured/missing).[2] Two Union generals were mortally wounded: Brig. Gens. George D. Bayard and Conrad F. Jackson. The Confederate army lost 5,377 (608 killed, 4,116 wounded, 653 captured/missing),[3] most of them in the early fighting on Jackson's front. Confederate Brig. Gens. Maxcy Gregg and T. R. R. Cobb were both mortally wounded. The casualties sustained by each army showed clearly how disastrous the Union army's tactics were. Although the fighting on the southern flank produced roughly equal casualties (about 4,000 Confederate, 5,000 Union), the northern flank was completely lopsided, with about eight Union casualties for each Confederate. Burnside's men had suffered considerably more in the attack originally meant as a diversion than in his main effort.[45]"



Good short documentary about the Battle of Fredericksburg (although the main student narrator's voice sounds bad); looks like it was probably made by some local high school or community college students; contains short interview segments with Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park Historian Frank A. O’Reilly (he has written several books about the Battle of Fredericksburg and is considered to be one of the premier historians of the battle), who makes some insightful comments about the battle:

The Battle of Fredericksburg - YouTube



Film Footage from 'Gods and Generals' (Stephen Lang as Stonewall Jackson, Jeff Daniels as Lieutenant Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment):

Battle of Fredericksburg - YouTube


The Angel of Marye's Heights Documentary on Vimeo


http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sectionfront/life/short-film-retells-civil-war-soldiers-brave-act-of-mercy-275036/





Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore (Irish Immigration Song):

Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore - Paul Brady - YouTube



The Irish Volunteer Song:

The Irish Volunteer - YouTube



"The Glendy Burk is an American folk song by Stephen Foster. It appears in James Buckley's New Banjo Book published in 1860.[1] The Glendy Burk of the song is a paddle steamer plying the Mississippi River basin.[2] The boat was named for Glendy Burke: the 29th mayor of New Orleans":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Glendy_Burk


Gum Springs Serenaders - YouTube

 

[Gamburd]

The Abolitionists

Premiering January 8, 15 & 22 on PBS.

"Abolitionist allies Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Harriet Beecher Stowe, John Brown and Angelina Grimk

 

[Floyd]

Here's a link to a rather large .pps file of pics. A few are fairly common and we've all seen before, but a lot of them I've never seen. Some are quite graphic (for example: a severed hand by the body of a soldier with a nearby rifle with a bloody bayonet).

http://ro50pc.net/images/public/CivilWarpictures1.pps

really worth a look, imo.

 

[[Mad_Murdock]]

Just been getting into some Civil War history. Not really my forte as a historical subject, but its been growing on me. Thanks for the awesome thread!

 

[doomis]

Very interesting photos there! Hadn't checked civil war that much till now, I must admit some of those pics look very similar to WW1 stuff. Especially the ruined buildings/towns.

 

[Gamburd]

Aww, I didn't have time to savor the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg; I've left out the Battles of Shiloh and Chancellorsville; I wanted to back track to Antietam some more.


But here's just a little bit for the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania which ended today 150 years ago after three days of battle ending with General Pickett's disastrous Charge towards Cemetery Ridge with a major defeat for the Confederate forces.


A New Birth of Freedom: Gives an overview of the political issues in the United States before the Civil War started and the Battle of Gettysburg; Actors Morgan Freeman narrates and Sam Waterston is the voice of Lincoln) :


<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy5HGL3tsgQ" target="_blank">morgan freeman gettysburg/civil war - YouTube






General John Buford's Cavalry from the movie Gettysburg (aka Killer Angels); Actor Sam Elliot plays Buford:


<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzZOp-nPho8" target="_blank">Buford's Cavalry - YouTube


“For every Southern boy fourteen years old, not once but whenever he wants it, there is the instant when it's still not yet two o’clock on that July afternoon in 1863, the brigades are in position behind the rail fence, the guns are laid and ready in the woods and the furled flags are already loosened to break out and Pickett himself with his long oiled ringlets and his hat in one hand probably and his sword in the other looking up the hill waiting for Longstreet to give the word and it's all in the balance, it hasn't happened yet, it hasn't even begun yet, it not only hasn't begun yet but there is still time for it not to begin against that position and those circumstances which made more men than Garnett and Kemper and Armistead and Wilcox look grave yet it's going to begin, we all know that, we have come too far with too much at stake and that moment doesn't need even a fourteen-year-old boy to think This time. Maybe this time with all this much to lose and all this much to gain: Pennsylvania, Maryland, the world, the golden dome of Washington itself to crown with desperate and unbelievable victory the desperate gamble, the cast made two years ago....

William Faulkner, Intruder In The Dust” (sadly, the novel is not about the Civil War and it's just a murder mystery novel, set in, idk, 1930s-40s South; oddly as a Northern boy, I had to read this novel in High School; actually we read a lot, and I mean a lot of Faulkner (uh, I ask now: why? I guess Faulkner was sort of interested in civil rights in the South before there was a Civil Rights Movement).





2nd South Carolina String Band - Old Folks at Home (Swanee River) by Stephen Foster:

Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826 – January 13, 1864), known as the "Father of American Music":

2nd South Carolina String Band - Old Folks at Home (Swanee River) - YouTube

 

[Floyd]

Since this is the anniversary of the siege of Vicksburg, and since I live just a few miles from Bruinsburg Landing (but on the Louisiana side) I thought I'd post this here. Until WWII, the crossing of the Mississippi River by union troops was the largest amphibious operation ever recorded.

Local TV has been having a segment on the battle every evening for the past few days.


[URL]http://www.civilwarhome.com/siegeofvicksburg.htm[/URL]