1863, because I’d be sure to stuff my pockets with memorabilia right before I came back. Also, even though I’m no medical doctor, I could save potentially thousands of lives with just a bit of info (avoid infection by sterilizing equipment, check cans of food for even the tiniest holes, etc.). All I know about zombie invasions is what I learned from reading World War Z, which I would figure a lot of other people had done already.
1863, here I come.
I’d set up a trust fund in a bank, & leave it to myself.
- 7 months gives me plenty of time to travel from Texas to Cleveland, where I stakehold a young John Rockefeller the $70,500 he needs to buy out his partners oil refinery business. Re-invest the dividends (if possible), place the rest in National City Bank of NY, give JR my proxy and instructions on what to do with the shares come his death in 1937, come back to 2011 and use my hundreds of billions to build Fortress JohnT to fight off the Zombie Hoards.
My accent? I’ll tell everybody I’m from California. Or Canada. Or I grew up in Georgia, but went in the Gold Rush back in '48, but made my way back East. Or I’ve got a problem with my tongue. Something. It’s not as if they have recordings or anything.
Where are you guys going to get the money, take American Express back to 1863?
I’ll pay him in hyperinflated Confederate Notes. 
Or set up bets about the outcome of future battles. Any takers on betting Grant wins in Chattanooga? Burnside in Knoxville? What’s the over/under on when Atlanta falls?
I’m in Indiana, which saw one Civil War battle. And that was in Corydon, down near the Ohio River, while I’m near the site of the 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe. I’m also 52 years old, so I don’t see myself getting pushed into joining a local regiment and shipped down to Dixie to fight.
Obviously lots of people survived the Civil War. Who knows whether anyone will survive the zombie invasion?
A chance to see real honest to god history??? 1863 all the way for me. I’m a woman, so I’ll be treated kindlier (sort of), plus I got a lot of future knowledge to take advantage of. No way I’m passing this chance up!
I’m unemployed in real life. How come this sort of stuff never happens to me?
Fast or slow zombies? I’m not fucking around with any fast zombies - I’m slow.
Going to 1863 screws me a bit on the medication side, but its not likely to kill me if I’m careful, just shorten my lifespan a tad. Also going to 1863 for seven months then returning with the knowledge that a zombie apocalypse is impending means I have time to prepare for the impending zombie apocalypse. Preferably on an uninhabited island somewhere.
Nope, 1863 in California is far preferable, however much of pain in the ass it may be. As a demonstrably literate white man with semi- passable people skills I should at the very least be able to get a job to keep myself from starving.
Yeah, but how hard would it be to give them the report without actually going back?
BTW, I’m addicted to modern technology. Since I wouldn’t have time to prepare and take stuff back with me, I guess it has to be the future. Hopefully the zombie outbreak won’t be too bad–I mean, they apparently know about the future, so they should already know if I’m going to come back or not. They’d be foolish to waste their secret on multiple people, so it would make sense to check first.
Unless, of course, they are going to kill me anyways. But then it doesn’t matter–and covering up multiple deaths isn’t as easy as one.
I hate to break it to you guys, but according to every zombie movie I’ve ever seen, you’re also the wrong color for a zombie outbreak.
Peeve: Safe deposit box. It’s not a place of refuge. It’s a box that gets deposited in the safe.
Or…:(…bites!
The OP says “you’ll end up in the closest state that was involved in the war.” Cali doesn’t count.
ETA: Oh yeah. I’ll take the zombie outbreak. I don’t understand why everyone agrees that the modern US Army could annihilate Ceasar’s legions effortlessly, but they can’t tackle a disorganized mob of shuffling biters. Hell, given welding gear and a VW bus, I can make a good-enough tank to retake a whole city easily. Seriously, four survivors could kill at least a thousand zombies a day.
Being female, young, healthy, and in a really far-off corner of the country, I’d end up in pretty good shape to survive 1863. If a time machine really exists, though, I’m going to assume that zombies follow movie rules and not realistic rules. I’m not going to step into that without some serious preparation.
So 1863 for me. Although I’ll curse myself the entire time for not having studied more civil war history.
Speak for yourself, square. I’d be planting a whole new family tree. 
Beyond that, hours of George Romero movies, the Zombie Survival Guide and Left 4 Dead 1& 2 have convinced me that 2013 is where I am most needed.
Ok, both of you can be on my team.
I live in Nevada. Nevada in 1863 had no air conditioning. Oh, HELL no. Zombies it is.