As the Sesquicentennial approaches it is hard for us to wrap our heads around the enormity of the conflict. More than 620,000 soldiers died - 10% of all fighting age males in the North and 30 percent of all the fighting age white men in the South, more than all the other Wars combined, from the Revolutionary War through Vietnam. Absolutely astonishing as well as tragic, thus we commemorate.
How many Civil War sites have you visited? I have been to some: Manassas, Gettysburg, Antietam, New Market, Atlanta, and Chattanooga.. They are very sad to visit I think, but also fascinating and a way to honor our past and our ancestors.
I have not been to Shiloh, or Chickamauga or Vicksburg, even though they are much closer than the battles on the Eastern front. I want to get around to those in Alabama's neighboring states.
The AAA magazine Jan/Feb 2011 issue has an article "Places of Honor' that talks about the War and the sites that we can visit. We were very fortunate here in Montgomery that our city was not burned to the ground by Wilson and his raiders.The Confederates did set fire to the cotton so that the Yankees could not have it. A minor skirmish took place but the "flag of truce" was waved. The war was over.
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