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At 4:30am tomorrow morning is the 150th anniversary of the beginning of The Civil War.

Many will pause to honor and reflect [we hope].

But what will you do for tomorrow and the next four years?

At my office desk will stand Johnny Reb and Billy Yank GI Joes to commemorate the fallen. apy:

I am also reading two excellent Civil War day by day chronicles [has it been five months since Lincoln was elected? my how time flies!]

http://www.amazon.com/Civil-War-Day-1861-1865-Paperback/dp/0306802554

http://www.amazon.com/Civil-War-Chronicle-Matthew-Gallman/dp/1568527519/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1302569170&sr=1-1

I also plan to play a looooonnnng game of AACW taking each two week turn every two weeks.

What will you do for the next four years?

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I will train to be a emergency physician, and hopefully find time to sneak off to various Missouri-Kansas events. If I'm really lucky, I'll do some reenacting with a Federal unit in Kansas City.

Tomorrow? Working in the radiology department of the Navy's First and Finest Hospital, then hitting the Outer Banks.

Well the mention of the anniversary caused me to put AACW on my new computer (working great on windows 7, and using the the 1.15 patch). have been playing and re-learning a lot in my 3 year layoff. an excellent game.

Yesterday bought a new book on the civil war, this one on Shiloh, adding to my two dozen or so on this conflict.

Gray_Lensman wrote:The last week of this month and the first week of next month, me and my wife are making a swing thru Gettysburg, Antietam, Washington, Richmond, Charleston and maybe Appomattox Courthouse. Is that enough of a vacation trip?

That is if they don't shut down the gov't with a budget failure this week...

Well, You're clear on the shutdown, and that's one helluva trip. Have fun.

I fear it won't even deserve a mention in news in France, since it will be outshadowed by Gagarin's space flight 50th Anniversary...

Tonight on BBC radio 4 had a piece on the start of the American Civil War last night. Amazed to hear several americans who wished the South had won.
Surprised that 600k soldiers had died during the war.
Would the attack on Sumter have taken place if they knew the cost?

jokeon wrote:Surprised that 600k soldiers had died during the war.

Yes, the civil war accounted for roughly as many American deaths as all American deaths in other U.S. wars combined.

Taking into account all the casualties (i.e. dead and wounded), around 1 million, and the population at the time of the war, around 30 millions, I'm always amazed that the war had not bigger impact on US development and that people consent such a sacrifice

The really astonishing thing: during the US Civil War, China was also having its own civil war called the Taipeng Rebellion (led in part by a demagogue who believed himself literally to be Jesus' brother).

The ACW takes up all the space in western history books, but the death toll for the Taipeng Rebellion was 20,000,000. Yes, twenty million. (!)

And today there's a good editorial by Ken Burns (who made the well-known Civil War miniseries for PBS) in the New York Times:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/11/a-conflicts-acoustic-shadows/?ref=global-home

(Note that the NYT has now gone to a subscription model, but you're allowed to read 20 articles a month for free.)

Paul Roberts wrote:The ACW takes up all the space in western history books, but the death toll for the Taipeng Rebellion was 20,000,000. Yes, twenty million. (!)

Yes , but most of those were civilian casualties, whereas in the ACW most were military. I've seen civilian casualties in the South estimated at 50,000, much less in the North.

Jorje Vidrio wrote:What will you do for the next four years?

Wow, I actually got a post to upload! Seems it only works if I include a quote, so to answer the OP's question:

Reading Civil War history. I have a collection of about 300 volumes, many of which I have not read, so I'll start with the battle histories in chronological order and then go on to biographies and special studies. I'm currently reading Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West by William L. Shea and Earl J. Hass. I highly recommend this detailed study by authors who have done both their historical and topographical research, walking the battlefield, locating the original roads, fields and fences.

And supporting my local Civil War museum (battle of Averasboro, in NC). And playing AACW a lot. I may even dig out some of the old SPI board games I never got around to.

Short term? Salute
Long term? Read novels, study battles and strategies, and visit battlefields (Fredericksburg/Manassas/Antietam/Gettysburg). apy:

Yesterday, I dug a hole in the yard and crouched in it while my wife threw firecrackers at me.

It was brutal. The cat tried to mediate and almost got singed for her troubles. Eventually, I surrendered and became her prisoner.

The rest cannot be found in histories.

GraniteStater wrote:Yesterday, I dug a hole in the yard and crouched in it while my wife threw firecrackers at me.

It was brutal. The cat tried to mediate and almost got singed for her troubles. Eventually, I surrendered and became her prisoner.

The rest cannot be found in histories.

Awesome. "There is nothing civil about war"

GraniteStater wrote:Yesterday, I dug a hole in the yard and crouched in it while my wife threw firecrackers at me.

It was brutal. The cat tried to mediate and almost got singed for her troubles. Eventually, I surrendered and became her prisoner.

The rest cannot be found in histories.

It is well that war is so terrible - otherwise we would grow too fond of it.

Found today this interesting map on civil war casualities.

You can zoom on an area and/or choose a period in time.

Mickey3D wrote:Found today this interesting map on civil war casualities.

You can zoom on an area and/or choose a period in time.

Thanks, that's pretty neat. I've already spent an hour on it.

That's great!!

Very interesting and instructive. Thank you very much, Mickey.

Greetings!

Great map! thanks for the link!