# American Civil War Sesquicentennial **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 12, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-sesquicentennial/578136 "2011-04-12T19:56:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-sesquicentennial/578136/21 "2011-04-13T21:49:42Z")
My ex-husband’s family preserves the letters sent to and from soldiers in the family during the Civil War. They had them transcribed into a notebook and I read some of them. They were all CSA. It’s neat to see them mention sighting Yankee observation balloons, calling them “flying fools”. One letter has a notation at the end, made by the person who did the transcription, to the effect " by the time this letter was recieved the soldier who sent it was dead." And towards the bitter end of the war, one letter mentions lack of food and sickness in the camp, and hopes their pay(in CSA money) will be late again, so they will have a reason to desert. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-sesquicentennial/578136/22 "2011-04-13T21:53:33Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > Why was he acquited?.. Those who voted for acquittal weren’t asked to state their reasons, but the “defense counsel’s” closing was very good, and in effect argued that Wirz did the best he could with what he had, was not a brutal tyrant, and should not be blamed for the Confederacy’s widespread logistical problems. Not a winning argument to me, but there it is. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-sesquicentennial/578136/23 "2011-04-13T22:08:11Z")
The Score: Union 1, Confederacy 0-----HALFTIME! (Just a bumper sticker I saw this week) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-sesquicentennial/578136/24 "2011-04-13T22:42:40Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > The Score: > > Union 1, Confederacy 0-----HALFTIME! > (Just a bumper sticker I saw this week) Actually this week it would be Confederacy 1, Union 0. And at halftime the Confederacy was not doing too shabby; the fourth quarter was hell though. Must now erase images of hoopskirted cheerleaders from my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-sesquicentennial/578136/25 "2011-04-14T03:17:02Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Actually this week it would be Confederacy 1, Union 0. And at halftime the Confederacy was not doing too shabby; the fourth quarter was hell though. I think the implication is, the South shall rise again…2011 is still only halftime. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-sesquicentennial/578136/26 "2011-04-14T04:06:37Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I think if the Confederacy had won- though I’ve honestly no clue how that would have happened If Sherman had screwed the pooch in front of Atlanta ( at that point the only real military bright spot from the latest offensive, at least propaganda-wise ) and McClellan had subsequently been able to eke out a win in the 1864 Presidential Election, I imagine a negotiated settlement might have been possible. Maybe even likely, however much McClellan may have personally disliked the idea. Not so much a Confederacy _win_, as a battered Confederacy survival ( likely minus a few chunks by 1864 ). But still remotely possible. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-sesquicentennial/578136/27 "2011-04-14T04:08:01Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > I think the implication is, the South shall rise again…2011 is still only halftime. :smack: I forget the rest of the country isn’t talking about the Sesquicentennial that much. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-sesquicentennial/578136/28 "2011-04-14T04:13:47Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Others have flip-flopped to the other extreme in the south and elsewhere and see it as total GOOD v. EVIL, which of course is an equal simplification. One side bought little children and ripped them from their mothers. The other side stopped that. Seems pretty simple to me. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-sesquicentennial/578136/29 "2011-04-14T06:31:42Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > One side bought little children and ripped them from their mothers. The other side stopped that. Seems pretty simple to me. Most federal soldiers didn’t fight the war to stop that practice and most southern soldiers didn’t engage in that practice. Both sides lived on land taken from Indians who had been forced west in living memory. It’s really not all fish or all fowl and to see such social issues in such light is dangerously simplistic thinking. I[nteresting news item](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/civil-war-mock-slave-auction-virginia-elementary-school/story?id=13359723). Synopsis: a 4th grade schoolteacher staged a slave auction using black students as slaves and white as buyers while teaching the Civil War. It wasn’t viewed as a win-win positive learning experience. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-sesquicentennial/578136/30 "2011-04-14T06:51:33Z")
As a schoolteacher, I would have to join in the chorus of WTF on that one. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-sesquicentennial/578136/31 "2011-04-14T07:42:32Z")
Yeah, I think her heart was in the right place but it was an “As God is my witness I thought turkeys could fly” moment. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-sesquicentennial/578136/32 "2011-04-14T12:52:44Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > … the fourth quarter was hell though. Don’t even get us started reconstructing overtime. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-sesquicentennial/578136/33 "2011-04-14T17:19:12Z")
I believe the sesquicentennial is a tribute to the fact that people really like nice, round numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-sesquicentennial/578136/34 "2011-04-14T17:29:44Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > I believe the sesquicentennial is a tribute to the fact that people really like nice, round numbers. Some of my favorite memories of childhood are of the Bicentennial. Now that was a round number that produced some kick ass toys. (And I still think that tricorns are gonna come back in fashion big time.) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-sesquicentennial/578136/35 "2011-04-15T17:02:34Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > those who fought, struggled and died , …to destroy slavery, \* Sigh. As usual, you forget Delaware and Maryland. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-sesquicentennial/578136/36 "2011-04-15T17:58:35Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > If Sherman had screwed the pooch in front of Atlanta ( at that point the only real military bright spot from the latest offensive, at least propaganda-wise ) and McClellan had subsequently been able to eke out a win in the 1864 Presidential Election, I imagine a negotiated settlement might have been possible. Maybe even likely, however much McClellan may have personally disliked the idea. > > Not so much a Confederacy _win_, as a battered Confederacy survival ( likely minus a few chunks by 1864 ). But still remotely possible. Agreed, but I am with Bruce Catton in adding my opinion that Sheridan’s Ride (Cedar Creek) contributed to the emotional tide of victory just before the election, even if the material effect was less substantial than the capture of Atlanta. Also, although probably to a lesser extent, Mobile Bay back in August. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-sesquicentennial/578136/37 "2011-04-16T20:21:29Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Colibri, before your g-g-grandfather died, maybe he even met mine. Weird. No way of ever knowing of course, but it was possible, seeing as they were both prisoners. Thomas Coleman was captured on 22 June 1864, and probably reached Andersonville in a week or so. He was dead by October 9, after only about 10 weeks as a prisoner. Do you know when your great-great grandfather was captured? What was amazing to me in reading about the battles he went through was the incredible casualty rate. Between their first engagement at Spotslyvania on May 19, and the time Coleman was captured 36 days later, the 2nd NY Heavy Artillery lost 733 men killed, wounded or captured, out of about 1,500 - nearly 50% casualties in just over a month! According to many accounts, 6,000 Union soldiers were killed or wounded in just the first 30 minutes of the assault on Confederate lines at Cold Harbor. To put this in perspective, U.S. forces took only about 2,500 casualties on D-Day. Cold Harbor was the worst defeat of Grant’s career. Regarding Wirz, as has been said there were things he could have done that could have reduced fatalities in the camp. For example, it has been suggested he could have allowed forage parties to gather berries to stave off scurvy, which might have saved my g-g-grandfather. I don’t think that Wirz was particularly concerned about the death rate. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-sesquicentennial/578136/38 "2011-04-16T23:23:12Z")
> [@](#): > > “as the storm of bullets whistled around me, and as the shells and shrapnel burst close to me in every direction with hissing sound, the excitement grew more glorious still. Oh, it was sublime!” In a letter to a friend he said, “I felt like a young girl of sixteen at her first ball … I felt more like a god than a man.” > > Within ten or fifteen minutes, by his own reckoning, Humphreys had lost 1,000 men, a fifth of his command. But that didn’t seem to disturb him. A different battle, but the same attitude. [Andrew Humphries.](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eads/peopleevents/p_humphreys.html) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-sesquicentennial/578136/39 "2011-04-17T17:08:29Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Sigh. > As usual, you forget Delaware and Maryland. 🙂 Well, by 1863 that was an official Union war aim, so since they didn’t secede, I implicitly included them. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-sesquicentennial/578136/40 "2011-04-17T17:43:59Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Well, by 1863 that was an official Union war aim, so since they didn’t secede, I implicitly included them. 😉 Always with the fine print, already. 🙂 If you speak of the Emancipation Proclamation though, it specifically says, “the States in rebellion.” Now I’m making with the Fine Print… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-sesquicentennial/578136.md?page=1)