Civil war buffs - Free content

[westofyou]

1 month only

We have just launched a new Civil War area of the site that makes it easier to view, search and browse our Civil War collection. Come see what you can find and discover the Civil War through the eyes of those who lived it. Visit our new Civil War website today.

What's New?

http://go.footnote.com/civilwar/

We have also been updating our collections and adding new Civil War titles to the site:

• New - Civil War Maps - 1,600 maps from the Library of Congress
• New - Civil War Subversion Investigations - Case files relating to the arrest, parole, and release of suspects
• Updated - Union Soldier Service Records: TN, DE, NC, MD, WV, LA, Colored Troops
• Updated - Civil War Pension Files

[Spazzrico]

Awesome! This is like nerd porn for me. Let's hope my wife doesn't catch me.

[Kingspoint]

westofyou, there's a priest at Mt. Angel Abbey, who supposedly has the greatest collection of Civil War Material west of the Mississippi River. For certain people he's shared his collection. Have you written him?

[westofyou]

westofyou, there's a priest at Mt. Angel Abbey, who supposedly has the greatest collection of Civil War Material west of the Mississippi River. For certain people he's shared his collection. Have you written him?

I'm not a CW guy, I'm an old newspaper guy and I got the email this morning about that content from one of the old newspapers sites I belong to.

[Kingspoint]

I'm not a CW guy, I'm an old newspaper guy and I got the email this morning about that content from one of the old newspapers sites I belong to.

Wasn't sure.

[Kingspoint]

For future reference for Civil War buffs, the Abbey is in the process of digitizing it's manuscripts.

Here's a reference for looking up a few years from now when it may be completed:

http://www.mountangelabbey.org/library/manuscripts.htm

The Library hopes to obtain funding to continue digitizing all the manuscripts in its collection as well as other rare materials associated with the Civil War.

[RBA]

I don't understand the need to re-enact the Civil War. I can cut the places where the battles actually occurred some slack. But I saw a news report that they are starting to do reenactments in Southern California.

[Kingspoint]

I don't understand the need to re-enact the Civil War.

Tens of Millions and tens of millions of people have information about their relatives who were in the Civil War. It's about their heritage. They have since moved to California, among other places. I'm sure it's as simple as that. But, also, with the short history of our Country, it's an incredibly interesting period of time.

[westofyou]

I don't understand the need to re-enact the Civil War. I can cut the places where the battles actually occurred some slack. But I saw a news report that they are starting to do reenactments in Southern California.

What's this?

The guy in the service fails to see why guys want to sleep in the dew and run with rifles?

This book helps explain some of the ponderings:

http://www.powells.com/biblio/9780679758334

[Rojo]

What I don't get is why so many want to be confederates. Uh...they lost.

[marcshoe]

That's what I keep telling the folks with the rebel flags. Even weirder here in WV, because we're a state 'cause we didn't want to secede (yeah, I know it's more complicated than that).

at any rate, i'll be spending some time at that site over the next few days.

[Kingspoint]

9 months from now (April 12th) will be the sesquicentennial of the beginning of the Civil War.

There should be plenty of events to attend next Spring.

[UKFlounder]

Thanks for posting those resources. I'll have to check them out.

I do not re-enact, at least not yet, as it's an expensive hobby, but I think if you want to try to understand what those soldiers went through, it would be an interesting way to find out. It's especially more appealing to me since I found out one of my g-g-g-grandfathers served in the Union army and I think that geneology aspect has a lot of appeal to re-enactors.

I recently walked the battlefield (at least part of it) at Perryville, and even in gym shoes and shorts, it was a tough walk for me. To do it while wearing those wool uniforms and having real bullets whizz by you would have been extremely difficult. Re-enacting is the closest most people can come to experiencing something like that and even seeing a re-enactment gives you (or at least me) a different perspective than even the best of books can.

From the re-enactors I know, there's also the usual "locker room comraderie" aspect to it, like you hear about from athletes so often and I also often hear them talk about "magic moments" on the battlefields, sort of like an epiphany where it suddenly seems real to them, with the smoke, the yelling, people marching all around you and a little bit of semi-organized chaos.

Plus, let's face it. Where else can you shoot a cannon? Or even stand in a battle line and shoot in the direction of others? Besides the real military, where death is a constant threat, of course? Seeing one of those cannons being shot is just absolutely cool in my opinion and I'd love to be able to pull the lanyard and cause the "boom" myself one day.

I guess it's a more personal question, like "why do people need to watch other adults play games?" Is re-enacting totally different in significance than trying to play a game where a player throws a ball through an imaginary zone and another player tries to hit the ball with a stick?

Of course, I've also thought a battle re-enactment was a ripe area for a good Mel Brooks-type satirycal movie, though I guess it might not have a wide appeal. Still, stuff like showing the "fighting" then showing something like the spectators doing the wave or vendors hawking products during the fight or that type of satire might produce some humor if done right.

[Rojo]

I think someone should do battle "pre-enactments" - stage battles that haven't been fought yet like the Seige of Tehran or the Battle of the Yellow Sea.

[Joseph]

Thanks for this link WOY, I've recently become interested [read obsessed] with my family tree and that site was actually able to provide me one more link in the chain. That link actually opened another few doors on other sites I've been using and I can trace one branch now back to 1444 which I'm very proud to say.