/dev/null Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 1 hour ago, JohnC said: Your claim that most people believe the stereotype that every white southerner is a racist by virtue of their birthplace is a preposterous notion. Where did you get that zany idea from? MSNBC and Twitter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 5 hours ago, Lurker said: Somewhat OT, but I had a similar experience at the Antietam battlefield. The Park Service guide who led our walk, interpreting what happened, was outstanding. He painted a vivid verbal picture of how the battle played out, all the little details that turned the tide, the amazing logistical feats and errors. It was almost mystical, thinking about what transpired. Walking those battlefields, as well as Gettysburg, is the best way I know to give pause to the current divisiveness the country is experiencing... Antietam can be kind of spooky. Just standing in the sunken road, thinking what happened, or near the Dunker Church... The Gettysburg battlefield has an almost comical feel to me, between being a national monument to Dan Sickle's immensely inaccurate sense of his own importance, and all the obelisks memorializing everything and nothing. "Here sat a Minnesota regiment, waiting in reserve for three days and not firing a shot." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
row_33 Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 10 minutes ago, DC Tom said: Antietam can be kind of spooky. Just standing in the sunken road, thinking what happened, or near the Dunker Church... The Gettysburg battlefield has an almost comical feel to me, between being a national monument to Dan Sickle's immensely inaccurate sense of his own importance, and all the obelisks memorializing everything and nothing. "Here sat a Minnesota regiment, waiting in reserve for three days and not firing a shot." How could you doubt Sickle's mental state??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/dev/null Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 8 minutes ago, DC Tom said: Antietam can be kind of spooky. Just standing in the sunken road, thinking what happened, or near the Dunker Church... The Gettysburg battlefield has an almost comical feel to me, between being a national monument to Dan Sickle's immensely inaccurate sense of his own importance, and all the obelisks memorializing everything and nothing. "Here sat a Minnesota regiment, waiting in reserve for three days and not firing a shot." That's the Civil War equivalent of "Here I Sit Broken Hearted" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 1 minute ago, row_33 said: How could you doubt Sickle's mental state??? You're right...he was immensely important to the battle, considering he almost lost it for the Union. I mean...on the second day, all he had to do was nothing. That's it. Just do nothing. How !@#$ing hard is that to do? How incompetent do you have to be to unsuccessfully not do a goddamn thing? You know who lost the battle for the Confederates? Whoever fired the shot that took Sickles' leg off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fadingpain Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 (edited) One of my favorite footnotes from Pickett's Charge... Towards the end of the charge, when small numbers of Confederates had actually made it to the angle or even a bit into the Northern lines, the Union soldiers formed pockets of sorts such that some confederate troops were facing three walls of gunfire from 3 sides. On top of this, some union gun crews in those walls of fire were using canister shot. Like a small keg of musket balls loaded into the cannon, effectively turning it into a giant shotgun. What's more, some gun crews were double and triple loading the barrels with 2 or 3 canisters for a single shot. One report claimed that when such a gun was fired at a horse, it was effectively cut in half with the ass end effectively being vaporized. That is part of what those Confederate soldiers were marching into. Sheer craziness. Edited July 4, 2018 by Fadingpain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
row_33 Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 18 minutes ago, DC Tom said: You're right...he was immensely important to the battle, considering he almost lost it for the Union. I mean...on the second day, all he had to do was nothing. That's it. Just do nothing. How !@#$ing hard is that to do? How incompetent do you have to be to unsuccessfully not do a goddamn thing? You know who lost the battle for the Confederates? Whoever fired the shot that took Sickles' leg off. married a woman half his age murdered her lover, son of Francis Scott Key claimed temporary insanity and it worked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnC Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 1 hour ago, DC Tom said: Antietam can be kind of spooky. Just standing in the sunken road, thinking what happened, or near the Dunker Church... The Gettysburg battlefield has an almost comical feel to me, between being a national monument to Dan Sickle's immensely inaccurate sense of his own importance, and all the obelisks memorializing everything and nothing. "Here sat a Minnesota regiment, waiting in reserve for three days and not firing a shot." I have visited Antietam on a number of occasions. The Cornfield carnage, the fighting at Burnside Bridge and the other locations you mentioned have a powerful effect when you think of the numbers being killed in such a short time span. The Park Service guides give a terrific presentation at the Visitor Center and also on the grounds. The Visitor Center offers an excellent short presentation of the Battle. I agree with you that Antietam (at least for me) has drawn a more powerful/emotional effect than Gettysburg. Maybe because the intense battle was fought in a much smaller space. 1 hour ago, row_33 said: married a woman half his age murdered her lover, son of Francis Scott Key claimed temporary insanity and it worked This was the first time that this line of defense (temporary insanity) was used. The irony in this episode is that Sickles had a wandering eye. http://www.murderbygaslight.com/2009/10/dan-sickless-temporary-insanity.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurker Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 5 hours ago, JohnC said: I http://www.murderbygaslight.com/2009/10/dan-sickless-temporary-insanity.htm "Dan Sickles, congressman from New York, was married to the most beautiful woman in Washington" Gulp... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnC Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 8 hours ago, Lurker said: "Dan Sickles, congressman from New York, was married to the most beautiful woman in Washington" Gulp... If you widen your horizons and expand your definition of beauty you will be amazed. Sometimes those women that you find to be unattractive and unappealing can turn out to be exotic and result in your loins being ablaze. Don't you find her manlynose to be sexy? I do! How can you not be turned on by her masculine feminism? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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