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.
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.
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.
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.
Interesting news item. 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.
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.)
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.
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.
