Civil War and your thoughts

What are your thoughts so far about the Civil War based on the documentary we watched on Saturday (I'm asking about the actual event, not the documentary itself). We already discussed in last week's blog wheather or not the war needed to be fought. Has your opionin changed? Could it have been avoided? Are there any people from the event that impressed you -- Lincoln, Davis, Mary Cheastnut, Elija Hunt Rhodes, etc.? Are there any events that grabbed your attention? What else?

Comments

[Frank Prelesnik]

The thing that grabbed my attention the most while watching this Series was how pointlessly long the Civil War ended up being because of such terrible leadership by the Senior Commanders of the Northern Army. How many lives wouldn't have been lost if McClellan would have actually done something? The book, series and Prof. Weir have all spoken to what a great trainer of the soldiers McClellan was but Lincoln should have demoted him long before he did. What a waste of life it ended up being for both sides.

[Nagla]

The civil war was very bloody and even relatives from both sides would fought because what they believed in. The Civil War would not be avoided because each side, North and South are right, so no compromises would work. There was no way to avoid the war. North believed freeing the slave was to avoid many issues in future for the next generation. I think that the reason that made President Lincoln believed in freeing the slaves.
Slavery was one of the Southerners honor. Union and Confederate States must come to gather to be one nation. However, the Civil War first started for other reasons, but not slavery. The Civil War happened to make a new America, with new way of life and new ideas.

[Naima Alaoui-Ismaili]

I found the Civil War to be shocking for me; it saddens me on how much causality’s there were in a four year period. I feel that the Civil War needed to take place or else the North and South would have never joined again. Sooner or later whether it took place or not, it would have happened, but maybe in a different approach (in my opinion)
After seeing the documentary I don’t believe anyone impressed me in this event, but I loved the leadership of Lincoln.
Slavery during the War also caught my eye; I believe the Civil War couldn’t keep up with slavery while trying to fight at the same time. Most slaves escaped and by the end Lincoln declare the Emancipation proclamation which basically ended slavery.

[Teresa Miller]

I still agree with my point of view regarding the Civil War. It needed to occur. The political and social tension was building and the southern slave states were not willing to give up their “God given rights to own slaves”. When you look at the number of people that quickly volunteered to participate in the war effort you get a better understanding of the tensions that were mounding higher and higher. At the beginning of the war, no one believed that it would last very long. With the privilege of looking back, I believe the war should have been executed decisively. The resources were available, men, weapons, and the resolve to fight this war. We had West Point graduates as generals. They are trained to succeed in battle. I’m not sure why the Civil War lingered as long as it did.

[Karen]

One thing I find most amazing about the Civil War is that President Lincoln allowed "political" generals. Napoleon had revolutionized European army tactics by assigning career officers to lead, not royalty or the politically connected. As astute a leader as Lincoln was, I am surprised that he allowed this practice. And that he allowed it to continue throughout the war, even after these generals were proven to be so ineffective. He kept looking for a competent overall general, which he eventually found in General Grant, but he did not have those same standards for the next lower echelon.

Another thing that I find interesting about the Civil War, is how much it is still "re-lived" in the South. I grew up in the North, but one weekend every month, the family drove south to visit the Richmond Virginia relatives. No one ever mentioned the Civil War in the North except in history class - different story in the South. The words Damyankees (all one word) and Carpetbaggers were part of normal conversation. The good thing about Virginia clinging to its "heritage" is that most of the major battlefields have been preserved, and in suburban Richmond, Civil War trenches have sometimes been preserved as property lines and in Petersburg, Civil War trenches are clearly visible along several roads.

[Marina Solomon]

Little did i know about the causes of the Civil War, i was really impressed to find out more about it by watching the documentary. In 1860, when Lincoln was elected as a cheif executive for U.S., he wanted to end slavery. And then, they Southerners developed an illusion that the northerners were against them, which united the southern(Confederate)states.

Even though the Southerners didn't depend on slavery as much as the Norhterners in the factory job, because, many farmers were working on their own cotton field. But, it seems to me that, the Northern states triggered the war due to their anger over the South, because, the south treated their slaves better than the north. Hence, they destroyed their OWN way of life and i could possibly say, the contraction the North created is the main cause of the infamous Civil War.

[Maura...Civil War my thoughts...]

It’s really depressing to know that the issues over sectionalism, State's Rights, slavery, and economics would lead the North and South to war and the loss of many innocent lives on the battlefield.

My thoughts before not knowing enough about the Civil War was that "yes" it was ok, to go to war, in order to keep the Union together. But learning a bit more about the war I think President Lincoln should had given the South States more rights to their government over the federal government. I am sure they would had come back to join the Union sooner or later because the North was more economically stable and was becoming more prosperous then the South. By doing so this would have avoided the war and saved all those lives that were lost on the battlefield.