The American Civil War

[otiscleotus]

Originally Posted by DTravel

During one of my road trips a few years ago I visited Gettysburg National Battlefield. If people are interested I may be able to dig up the photos I took there.

A came across this site quite a few years ago, I was surprosed to see it's still up when I just checked. The guy got a new toy - a digital camera that could take 360 degree panoramic pictures - and went and visited several battlefields with it:

http://www.jatruck.com/stonewall/

[DTravel]

123 photos from my visit to the Gettysburg National Battlefield in August of 2005

Part 1 of 2

[DTravel]

Part 2 of 2

[DTravel]

36 photos from my visit to Ft. Sumter in August of 2005

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by DTravel

36 photos from my visit to Ft. Sumter in August of 2005

Are there any surviving remains of the Confederate batteries from which Fort Sumpter was shelled, DTravel?

[JohnBarton]

The irony is that the Confederate bombardment didn't kill anybody. However, when the Union garrison surrendered and fired a salute as the Stars and Stripes was lowered, one of the guns exploded, killing one of the artillerymen.

[DTravel]

Originally Posted by scoundrel

Are there any surviving remains of the Confederate batteries from which Fort Sumpter was shelled, DTravel?

I don't know. I doubt it though, the area around Charleston Harbor was heavily wooded and swampy. Conditions that tend to break down and "absorb" unmaintained buildings, let alone abandoned artillery positions.

[otiscleotus]

Originally Posted by DTravel

I don't know. I doubt it though, the area around Charleston Harbor was heavily wooded and swampy. Conditions that tend to break down and "absorb" unmaintained buildings, let alone abandoned artillery positions.

Off the top of my head I can't remember if the confederates occupied and armed Fort Moultrie in time to take part in the shelling of Sumter but it still exists and is part of the national park system.

Shortly after the war Charleston was further damaged by an earthquake; from the wiki:

On August 31, 1886, Charleston was nearly destroyed by an earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale. It was felt as far away as Boston to the north, Chicago and Milwaukee to the northwest, as far west as New Orleans, as far south as Cuba, and as far east as Bermuda. It damaged 2,000 buildings in Charleston and caused $6 million worth of damage ($133 million(2006 USD)), while in the whole city the buildings were only valued at approximately $24 million($531 million(2006 USD).

And the game map for Murfreesboro and the leaders portraits for that battle and Chickamauga:

[crazybikerme]

I walked this in 2009 carrying my Southern Cross flag.

Moving experience. Brave men, Pickett's Charge!

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by Hilts

I walked this in 2009 carrying my Southern Cross flag.

Moving experience. Brave men, Pickett's Charge!

A thousand fell where Kemper led;
A thousand died where Garnett bled:
In blinding flame and strangling smoke
The remnant through the batteries broke
And crossed the works with Armistead.

“Once more in Glory’s van with me!”
Virginia cried to Tennessee;
“We two together, come what may,
Shall stand upon these works to-day!”
(The reddest day in history.)

Brave Tennessee! In reckless way
Virginia heard her comrade say:
“Close round this rent and riddled rag!”
What time she set her battle-flag
Amid the guns of Doubleday.

But who shall break the guards that wait
Before the awful face of Fate?
The tattered standards of the South
Were shriveled at the cannon’s mouth,
And all her hopes were desolate.

In vain the Tennesseean set
His breast against the bayonet!
In vain Virginia charged and raged,
A tigress in her wrath uncaged,
Till all the hill was red and wet!

Above the bayonets, mixed and crossed,
Men saw a gray, gigantic ghost
Receding through the battle-could,
And heard across the tempest loud
The death-cry of a nation lost!

from The High Tide at Gettysburg by William Henry Thompson.

The furthest point reached by Armistead and his force, the last remnants of Pickett's infantry line, is sometimes called "the high water mark of the Confederacy." The charge was a disastrous mistake, worse in some ways than the Charge of the Light Brigade, because it's adverse consequences were very far reaching. It marked the last attempt at a strategic offensive by the South; once General Lee tacitly conceded that he did not have the means to advance on the North, he was admitting the inevitability of ultimate defeat. Everything which happened after that was brave but pitiful and futile, because the South really should have sued for peace. But the mass of the population needed to be convinced that their cause was lost before they would agree to try again and be part of the United States of America. Defeat is so terrible to face that men really will choose to die resisting it, even though they know in their hearts how futile this choice is.

Fold up the banners! Smelt the guns!
Love rules. Her gentler purpose runs.
A mighty mother turns in tears
The pages of her battle years,
Lamenting all her fallen sons!