Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Understanding The Civil War More Clearly

I will probably live to regret posting the following but here goes anyway.


There has been a lot posted on the Civil War on the Campfire lately. Some good, some bad, and a bunch that is really stupid and absurd.

In terms of a historical event there have been more barrels of ink and reams of paper spent on the War Between the States than almost any other single thing in American History.

Since I am an Historian by professional training I have thought I might post some on how you can develop a better understanding of the events surrounding the Civil War if you are interested in doing some work and digging on your own.

Be forewarned there is an absolute Himalayan mountain range amount of material to sift through. A few quick internet searches are not going to get you anything but mostly perplexed and disgusted. Forget finding a single cause for the war because there is NO single overriding cause. Nor will you find a consensus list of causes. The Civil War is simply too complex an event for that.

The first step I would suggest is to see how the Civil War fits into the continuum of history. To do this you are going to have to begin with a clear understanding of the events prior to the outbreak of hostilities.

To this end I would suggest using 1861 as a starting date and go back at least 50 years. Once there begin with a well done textbook on American History. I would recommend the following volume:

http://www.amazon.com/America-Narrative-George-Browm-Tindall/dp/0393974421

It is one of the best ever compiled. Read it and take notes.

More later.

Standing by for the "more later", but yeah, you likely will...

If war were to break out this weekend in the US, 150 years from now anyone looking for answers would need to look back about 50 years from now as well. So, good call. I bet you nailed it.

what do you think of shelby foote's 3 volume set?

Real research is never a bad thing.

Foote's work is not bad but its a bit too commercially aimed to be a formal History.

Thanks for the post and the reference.

A part of my family tree authored the the Wilmot Proviso that was put forth in the House in 1846.

5th Edition specifically?

Supposed to get here July 6th, thanks.

I recently picked up William R Trotters "Bushwackers" , "Silk Flags And Cold Steel" , "Ironclads And Columbiads". All of these are about the civil war in North Carolina.

I started with and have almost finished Bushwackers , the civil war in the NC mountains. It certainly shows a different perspective , that of the non slave holding common man.

Are you familiar with Trotter's work hbb ? , if so , what do you think of it ?


Mike

there have been like 9 editions of the Tindall & Shi any one is great for Civil War stuff.

The first editions ended with the Clinton presidency and all the later ones are just updated thru Obama.

I have read some of Trotter's work and its pretty good.

The stuff that takes in the common man's perspective is usually very informative.

Do you have any notes, journals, or diaries from their work? If so, your are in high cotton with primary sources.

all of this means nothing when they take it out of the history books and say it never happened. i say we hurry up and do the same thing with obama.

No, it is up to US to insure that history is not lost, that the truth remains out there, and that WE educate our children, grandchildren, and any others we can.

The gov't has its agenda; we must have our own.

Some more stuff.

After you work through the Tindall and Shi history book up to 1861 its time to move on to different sources. Oh, you should probably have at a minimum of 100 pages of typewritten or 200- 250 pages of hand written reading notes if you're doing the historian thing.


Now, that you have laid the foundation (you might want to think of being an Historian as partially the process of layering up a cake or a brick wall) its time to start building upon it.


First, attack as much primary source material as you can lay hand on. Remember that these sources will likely be localized or regionalized.

I would recommend starting with the newspapers dating back to at least 1835 if possible. Many towns did not have a paper in those days so concentrate in general terms on the bigger cities.

I would try to get at least two from North, South, and West.

Say the Boston and/or NYC papers. Baltimore and Richmond. Atlanta and New Orleans. St.Louis and Kansas City, etc.

The majority of these papers are available on microfilm and can be accessed via the Inter-library Loan system at public libraries, or community college and university libraries. For the most part librarians at the collegiate libraries are really happy to help and help you learn to use a microfilm reader.

Hitting the newspapers will let you see what and how people were thinking about things. Look especially for articles and editorials and letters to the editor dealing with slavery, sectionalism, and new states entering the union. Look at the advertisements for things such as land sales, cotton markets, slave auction, etc. to inform you on the thinking of people.

By the end of the newspapers you should have another 250-400 pages of notes and or copies of newspaper articles.

This is exactly what must be done. The better we all understand the hows and whys of history and pass that understanding along the more we can limit the grip of the goobermint.

HBB, I know that you teach at the university level. Given the current slant toward everything being PC and the academic slide to everything left and progressive, can you even teach history as it really happened today?

Or are you obligated to teach a whitewashed version that never happened so as to never offend anyone?

Before a state budget cut eliminated my position and put me out of a job, I taught real History. No whitewash and NO PC BS.

I made a BUNCH of people mad because I wouldn't get on the Liberal Train but academic freedom reigned.