Vicksburg
-
Interesting! Thanks for sharing.
(But I wish they would have included some maps in the story)
-
In Ken Burns’ civil war documentary he said that Vicksburg (which fell on July 4th, 1863) didn’t celebrate July 4th again until 1943, when their sons were fighting in Europe and the Pacific.
-
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
-
I wish I knew more about the Civil War - the battles, strategies, etc.
Not so much the politics, of course.
The largest (and I think oldest) National Civil War Memorial Park is Gettysburg. Number two is Vicksburg.
Vicksburg is well worth the self tour through the battlefield and the Cairo.
-
I wish I knew more about the Civil War
Yes, visiting the place makes a difference. Everywhere you look in Virginia you are close to a Civil War site, which means you have been close.
Just a 15 minute ride from where you saw the Enola Gay is Leesburg, just down the street from there is White's Ferry. It was near this Ferry where Lee's Army, stripped naked, crossed the Potomac and invaded the North.
And Manassas is just a quick drive from there. Close enough to Washington so Congress people could take their families for weekend picnics to go watch the war.
The Shelby Foote history is an important series, you should look at that.
I have been thinking about the West Point History books, specifically the West Point History of the Civil War.
I have held off because I do almost all of my reading on Kindle these days and I don't think it would do the maps justice. I have looked at it briefly in the library, one of these days I'll get it. That along with Shelby Foote will give you a good start.And of course there are tons of free web sources.
-
@taiwan_girl said in Vicksburg:
Link to videoInteresting! Thanks for sharing.
(But I wish they would have included some maps in the story)
You can speed the video up by 2x and also mute it, but gives a good idea of the South vs North land control.
Of specific note:
- Vicksburg is just west of Jackson, on the Mississippi River
- Summer 1863 sees both the Gettysburg battle (in Pennsylvania, furthest north the South ever got), as well as the connection of the whole Mississippi by the North
- December 1864 sees the 2nd big dissection with Sherman's march through Atlanta to the Atlantic Ocean
-
As suggested Shelby Foote’s trilogy is a good read. Excellent narrative that is objectively delivered. I think Jolly mentioned the other day it was no longer politically correct. Might be the case, but I could care less. It may not scholarly as it lacks footnote sources and bibliography, but it is a first rate narrative for someone wanting to read about the Civil War.
Another good study is Douglas Freeman’s trilogy, Lee’s Lieutenants: A Study in Command. Although it’s been around a long time, it holds its own as substantive historiography on the subject. There also a single volume abridgement of the trilogy out there. I bought the trilogy 35 years ago and found a copy of the abridgement at a used book store 5 or 6 years ago.
From a Union perspective you could also have a look at Bruce Catton’s trilogy. More scholarly and denser narrative than Foote, it still remains an important source on the subject. I believe there is also a two volume abridgement of Catton.
The only single volume survey on the subject I have read is James McPherson’s, Battle Cry of Freedom. I recall that it was quite readable but limited in scope. Like Catton, it also presented the narrative from Union perspective.
“Little by little I am learning the art of being quite content by doing very little slowly” ~ Lionel Hardcastle
-
@Renauda all good recommendations. McPherson’s Battlecry is also part of the 10 volume Oxford History of the United States. He studied under C VanWoodward so he had plenty of exposure to the Dixie pov.
McPherson used to give battlefield tours. My parents went on a couple.
Oddly, he pronounces the middle syllable of his name “furr”.
It’s always something.
-
I wasn’t aware of that. In fact it has been 27+ years since I read Battle Cry so my recollection of it is clouded by time. I actually bought my copy at a bookstore in Helsinki when I was there for a few days to decompress after several months straight in Yeltsin’s wild Western Siberian oil and gas extravaganza. I ought to reread it just reacquaint myself with the author’s historiography.
