The Misunderstood

To be sure, there were horrible deeds committed by Commanders and Soldiers on both sides! I pointed this out earlier. Neither side is without guilt or shame.

As to the Union victory, and the reunification of our Nation? In hindsight it looks good, given what America has accomplished. For me, the removal of "legalized slavery" was the greatest achievement, even though Political and Economical slavery exists yet! I suspect that the "trials" that America faced on the world stage were easier to face with a unified Nation for sure.

However, as we will never know what would have come to be had the South won, and two separate Nations been born, we can not truly judge which would have accomplished more.

What I find just a bit curious (given the current Political Climate) is that the Two State Solution is being tossed around these days because of the huge Political/Social divides among our Peoples.

Disclaimer: I lean heavily towards such a Solution.

Anyway........

Oh, as for Lee and Grant........my personal observation is:

Lee proved to be what Grant was not.......that is a Humanitarian who truly cared for the men under his Command. Rather than subject his Troops to needless slaughter, Lee "retired from the Field of Battle." Now, some Southern folks considered Lee a traitor for doing so.......but he did what he believed was best for his Troops and the South, and, BTW, the Nation.

Grant (in my opinion) would never do such a thing.........and that is why I do not see Grant as a "heroic" figure in our Nation's History. Just my opinion though...........grain of salt and such

The Crusadors....

My argument though and where I think we disagree is that the Union and Confederate armies were largely composed of similar men who would have acted similarly were the shoe on the other foot at the latter end of the war.

Grant's willingness to sacrifice soldiers via assaulting of fortified positions was precisely how Lee decided to comport himself during Gettysburg. His gambit was to overwhelm the Army of the Potomac and continue his campaign into the Union. Bringing the war to the North would then make Yankee capitulation and Confederate victory more likely.

Grant was faced with the same prospect in battle after battle and acted likewise. I wouldn't doubt for a second either that Lee or some other general would seek to wreck Northern infrastructure and ability to make war. We'd get similar stories as the March to the Sea, only that time in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

Medieval Europeans in general.

Jean Cauvin.

You just reminded me of William "Buffalo Bill" Cody, who was actually a friend of Davy Crockett. I learned about him when I took a history of photography class. He was a friend of the indians and and an explorer and knew the rocky mountains like no other american and he spoke fluently with the indians there. He also was the one who discovered Yellowstone park and was a pioneer in taking the camera out on expeditions. They had to develop their own photos on the fly too.

He joined the Pony express (first US mail service) and later became a runner for Congress and was tasked by the government with reclaiming peace with the indians. There's a lot more to his story, but I can't remember all of it.

This one?
[video]http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/civil-war/[/video]

Good series! Good start!

ME.. I'm misunderstood. Y'all think I'm a weirdo.. Especially WillieT.. lol

It is funny, because sometimes his accent colors his autobiography.

Just yesterday, as I was hanging a rag of a T-shirt on a hanger in my closet, I asked myself, "Since they haven't finished my museum, how can I preserve this precious artifact?" So misunderstood

Nothing wrong with weirdos. Weirdos make the world go round. Besides that I have a theory that God made weirdos so that normal people can feel good about themselves.
Blessings
Bill

Way to go for his non-anglicized name.

I confess I had to look up how to spell Cauvin. Turns out I had it right, it just didn't look right to me

His mama call him Jehan Cauvin, I call him Jehan Cauvin.

I've run into at least three different spellings of the name...and for the record, it's not always a good thing to call someone by the name their mama calls 'em by. I would not want to go down in history with that handle.

It's a line from an old Eddie Murphy comedy.

The introverts

Introverts think they are misunderstood more than they are actually misunderstood.