American Civil war

[Deadly_Nightshade]

Where is Calax going to school?

 

A California Community College.

[Calax]

Where is Calax going to school?

 

A California Community College.

actually what I know about this is a mixture between two seperate community colleges. it's... interesting some of the teachers I get.

[Walsingham]

I get quite angry with professionals who make the mistake of believing in big battalions. To say that the North would inevitably win due to economic weight is nonsense. Mass is quite useful, and logistics are essential. But both can be easily mismanaged, and ultimately they both have to withstand fighting. Fighting is partly to do with mass, of course but it is far more to do with determination, initiative, and firepower.

 

GD: I did not know that all the officers in the North were westpointers. Can I at least continue to take on superior airs because West Point was relatively young?

 

Gorgon: especially early in the war it is important to realise how fragile morale was. You had enthusiastic men of all ages and backgrounds joining in, and being confronted with a savage and often impersonal slaughter. Fighting in a block may expose you to fire, but it is a tremendous boost to morale. Even today men have a dangerous tendency to clump together under heavy fire. It's also a question of control. The bettlefield was covered in smoke, very noisy, and you had to articulate these massive armies somehow. Blocks was one way of doing it.

 

I'm a bit of an apologist for WW1 generals. The tactics they used were defined by the aims set for them, and the tools available. If you've been taught and told to apply attrition - that is grinding away at the opponent until he is dead - then standing more or less still and grinding makes good sense. They did try to break out and use manoeuvre, but when the defender moves at the speed of a railway engine, and you move at the speed of a mark 1 foot, then the breaking out is impossible.

[Guard Dog]

I get quite angry with professionals who make the mistake of believing in big battalions. To say that the North would inevitably win due to economic weight is nonsense. Mass is quite useful, and logistics are essential. But both can be easily mismanaged, and ultimately they both have to withstand fighting. Fighting is partly to do with mass, of course but it is far more to do with determination, initiative, and firepower.

 

GD: I did not know that all the officers in the North were westpointers. Can I at least continue to take on superior airs because West Point was relatively young?

 

Gorgon: especially early in the war it is important to realise how fragile morale was. You had enthusiastic men of all ages and backgrounds joining in, and being confronted with a savage and often impersonal slaughter. Fighting in a block may expose you to fire, but it is a tremendous boost to morale. Even today men have a dangerous tendency to clump together under heavy fire. It's also a question of control. The bettlefield was covered in smoke, very noisy, and you had to articulate these massive armies somehow. Blocks was one way of doing it.

 

I'm a bit of an apologist for WW1 generals. The tactics they used were defined by the aims set for them, and the tools available. If you've been taught and told to apply attrition - that is grinding away at the opponent until he is dead - then standing more or less still and grinding makes good sense. They did try to break out and use manoeuvre, but when the defender moves at the speed of a railway engine, and you move at the speed of a mark 1 foot, then the breaking out is impossible.

 

In those days all Army Marine and Naval officers were academy graduates. The Union and Confederate officeres we ALL in the US Army prior to the split. In his memoir From Manassas to Appomattox James Longstreet recounts a farewell party in California with a Civil War all-star guest list. Pickett, Hood, Hooker, Reynolds, Stuart, Doubleday, AP Hill, etc. They were all fellow US Army officers who had know each other since they were beardless boys at West Point, VMI, etc. They had fought Mexico and the Indians together and now they were going back east to fight each other. Longstreet often wrote that "The boys in blue never quite seemed like the enemy".

 

Another true story, following the massive CSA victory at Fredricksburg General Thomas Jackson was assesing the battlefield. He happened on one of his own soldiers digging a grave to bury a fallen Union soldier. Jackson asked the man why he was taking such pains to bury an enemy. The man replied "He is my brother".

 

I think the thing about the Civil War I have always found so compelling is the personal stories like that. More Americans were killed in those four long years than in all of our other wars combined. I've always wanted to visit Gettysburg, Harpers Ferry, and other places like that. I have visited a few right here in Tennsessee I was was strangely moved by the experience. I think next summer I might go. The Sioux have a saying, "The land remembers". I really believed that after visiting Shiloh last year.

[Hurlshort]

Harper's Ferry is one of the most interesting places I have ever visited. They've done a great job of preserving the history of the place. Gettysburg was less exciting for me, it's basically just a big field with a few rocky outcroppings.

[Walsingham]

I've been to a few battlefields and I'd agree that the land remembers. Damned unscientific, I know, but there it is.