Gettysburg is Coming...

Gettysburg is just around the corner, and we all are anticipating July 1, 2 and 3rd for the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg! 

I will be visiting Gettysburg in August, but the National Park Service has set up a live webcam on Pickett's Charge, so you can still be part of the action, while at home! 

For more information, please contact me at James.brino@live.com.

http://www.earthcam.com/usa/pennsylvania/gettysburg/

The Civil War; By Ken Burns

The Civil War; By Ken Burns

The Civil War; By Ken Burns

I have started the endeavor of watching the Ken Burns documentary, The Civil War. It is a total of 660 minutes on 6 discs and will take a while to watch. I have finished one disc, and am going onto the second one. 

I will write a really long response after I watch it all! 

Movie: Civil War Combat

Civil War Combat; America's Bloodiest Battles

A few days ago, I rented this movie from my local library, with other Civil War DVDs. This movie I put into my DVD player first, because it looked the most interesting, and by far, the shortest among all of them. I only had a couple hours to watch something that night, so I went with this one, which was the shortest at 200 minutes. If you have not noticed before, Civil War movie are all really long, for example, Ken Burns, Civil war is 660 minutes long. Now, lets get to the movie itself.

This movie was a 2 disc set and each disc had 2 different topics on it. The first one had the "Hornets Nest at Shiloh" and "Bloody Lane at Antietam". This disc was the most interesting, in my opinion. It had reenactments of the battle, and it showed the battle tactics that the officers of the armies took. It mainly focused on the flaws of the plans on both sides, starting with Lee and then to Grant, but after that it went to the lower ranking officers. In Bloody Lane at Antietam, it talked immensely about the entire battle for a while and the went right into Blood Lane. 

If you take a look at the blog post, Antietam, you can see pictures of Bloody Lane that we actually walked in. Bloody Lane was a wagon route that the local farmers used to bring there crops into town, and over a long time, the road sank into the ground 5 feet in some places. 

The Hornets Nest at Shiloh, I am not as familiar with it as I am Antietam, but looking from the reenactments, I can really tell why they called it the Hornets Nest. In the movie, they really made it seem like every 2 seconds, someone, or either side was killed. 

In conclusion, I really believe that this movie, Civil War Combat; America's Bloodiest Battles was a true and accurate description of what really happened over 150 years ago on some of these battles. We are not looking forward to the 150th anniversary of the BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG this July 1, 2 and 3rd.     

Summer Time!!

Hello Everyone,
       Well, it's summer time, I'm on vacation, and who does not like love to read a great Civil War book on the beach. I'm sorry that I did not put any posts up in the last couple of months. I have been so busy with the Historical Society website I am designing, and articles for the Civil War Trust or the civilwar.org. 
       
       The school year is coming up, and I will be talking more and more about the Civil War. In the future I hope to set up a Facebook page, and a Podcast. Or maybe even a video talk ever week.

Article for The Civil War Trust

I had the great pleasure to visit Antietam National Battlefield with a group of History professors and buffs in April 2012. We were there for “Connecticut Day” at Antietam National Battlefield. I have been to two National Battlefields, Gettysburg and Antietam, and let me say, Antietam and Gettysburg are two very different places. Yes, granted, they are both as important as each other, but there is one very important thing you cannot over look. It’s how commercialized Gettysburg is compared to Antietam. Gettysburg is the battle that everyone knows, but I believe that Antietam is looked over when studied in school, and in history text books.

As a result of the Battle of Antietam, Abraham Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. I believe that President Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation because of two reasons. The results of the Battle of Antietam and Abraham Lincoln simply being fed up of how long the war was taking.

With Antietam’s 150^th anniversary coming up in September, it’s not going to a huge celebration and hoop dido like Gettysburg next summer, but it will still be an amazing event. Antietam National Battlefield is an amazing place to visit. I highly recommend, if you even have the opportunity, to explore what Antietam has to offer.

Antietam Nation Battlefield is the most well preserved battlefield in the country, and it’s the same exact story with the town of Sheperdsburg, surrounding the battlefield. It looks almost exactly the same way it did 150 years ago, when the battle took place. The town has been said to be “Frozen in Time”. That’s how much of the town is preserved.

With the 150^th anniversary coming up, we will all be keeping the Civil War and the Battle of Antietam in our thoughts.     

More Quotations

I was going through the book that I received from my towns public library, "The Oxford Dictionary of Civil War Quotations" and I found one quotation from Stephen Douglas. Stephen Douglas was a Us Senator from Illinois. Here is a little background information on Douglas from www.nndb.com.

In Congress, though one of the youngest members, he at once sprang into prominence by his clever defense of Jackson during the consideration by the House of a bill remitting the fine imposed on Jackson for contempt of court in New Orleans. He was soon recognized as one of the ablest and most energetic of the Democratic leaders. An enthusiastic believer in the destiny of his country and more especially of the West, and a thoroughgoing expansionist, he heartily favored in Congress the measures which resulted in the annexation of Texas and in the Mexican War -- in the discussion of the annexation of Texas he suggested as early as 1845 that the states to be admitted should come in slave or free, as their people should vote when they applied to Congress for admission, thus foreshadowing his doctrine of "Popular Sovereignty."


The quotation that I really liked was this:

        1. "Every man must be for the United States or against it. There can be no neutrals in this war; only patriots-or traitors".
                        ~Speech in Chicago, May 1, 1861


I believe that this is 100 percent true. I think that Douglas was trying to say something to the border states, but not directly say something, because if any border state decided to move to one side or another, it would terrible for any side.

More soldiers means more guns. More guns mean more balls flying at one time. More balls flying  at one time means more people will be killed or wounded at one time. 

If Your Looking for Great Books...

Hello Everyone.
     Today, I received an email from a small publishing company named Savas Beatie. They are an independent publishing company specializing in general and military history titles. A number of our award-winning titles have been selected for the Military and History book clubs. 


     I have checked out their website and what books they offer, and they have a huge selection not just about the Civil War, but every part of History.


      One book that the Representative offered was, The Maps of Antietam: An Atlas of the Antietam (Sharpsburg) Campaign, including the Battle of South Mountain, September 2 - 20, 1862 by Brad Gottfried.


Here is some information about the book:


This magisterial work breaks down the entire campaign (and all related operational maneuvers) into 21 map sets or "action-sections" enriched with 124 original full-page color maps. These spectacular cartographic creations bore down to the regimental and battery level. The Maps of Antietam includes the march into Maryland, the Harper's Ferryoperation, the Battle of South Mountain (Fox's Gap, Turner's Gap, and Crampton's Gap), operations in PleasantValley, the Confederate withdrawal to Sharpsburg, the Battle of Antietam, the retreat across the Potomac River, and the sharp fighting at Shepherdstown. Click here for more information: http://tinyurl.com/7lew92l and here to watch the book trailer: http://tinyurl.com/bpj2fgu.


   Check out there website:  www.savasbeatie.com


Savas Beatie LLC
P.O. Box 4527

El Dorado Hills, CA 95762

www.savasbeatie.com

Voice: 916.941.6896 (9-5, Pacific Standard Time)

Fax: 916.941.6895