Gettysburg

[Kentucky Jack]

As a once history major in college and former civil war reenactor I am really enjoying this thread. I've been fortunate to visit just about every battlefield in America. During the 150th anniversary of Gettysburg I was able to ride my horse in period uniform over the entire battlefield. It definitely pulls at the feelings when you realize just what took place there. Unfortunately I have no immediate ancestors who fought there just some distant cousins. My ancestors mainly fought in the west in Tennessee, Mississippi and Georgia! Side note it is possible to be locked in Hollywood cemetery in Richmond VA. Luckily the local police was kind enough to come open the gate and let me out. Apparently it happens a lot hahaha so he said!

 

[BrentD]

This thread is about the battle of Gettysburg, and, by extension, the Civil War. It's not about the Revolution, hence the reason for centering my response to the Civil War. Certainly the case could be made for the Revolution, however, the Revolutionary War was our choice, and we certainly could have stayed in the British Empire and eventually gotten our independence without the bloodshed. The Civil War was an entirely different animal, and the death and destruction in the Civil War far outstripped that of the Revolution.

I guess it depends on what you think qualifies for greatness.

 

[Brad]

They were the greatest generation!

I don't buy it. The only real bloodshed we saw on American soil was at Pearl Harbor. Only 10% of those drafted or who enlisted saw actual combat. The sacrifices the American public made during WW2 pale compared to what the Civil war required. The WW2 generation stepped up, but it's not really comparable to the price payed in the Civil War.

 

[noharleyyet]

To every generation there was a challenge, but none was met in time and circumstance as the “Greatest Generation”

Lives were significantly different in the 20th century as each previous generation passed the torch to the next. Convenience and luxury were never before seen as it was in the post war era following a debilitating depression.

My father, born in 1910, lived much the same as any civil war family, with nothing but hard work to make a daily living to press forward to the next day. He grew up in a time, mixed with modern and frontier lives being lived at the same time in America.

He and millions of Americans met the challenge of a 10 year depression, then getting drafted at age 31 to fight in a war in places he never heard of for people he never knew.

Once the war was over he came back to Montana and forged ahead without assistance from all the agencies that exist today and made a life and raised a family with no consideration of governmental aid. He and all those people passed on an America that was never stronger or more unified.

It didn’t take long for people to selfishly ruin that greatness they carved out of a modern wilderness and freely gave it to subsequent generations with no expectation of compensation.

They were the greatest generation!

Greatness indeed Shrapnel...well said

 

[CPAjeff]

Gettysburg, one of the greatest places I have ever visited. Even our young children, due to the preparation of the trip there by their mother, felt the reverence and importance of that place.

 

[shrapnel]

I don't buy it. The only real bloodshed we saw on American soil was at Pearl Harbor. Only 10% of those drafted or who enlisted saw actual combat. The sacrifices the American public made during WW2 pale compared to what the Civil war required. The WW2 generation stepped up, but it's not really comparable to the price payed in the Civil War.

The depression lasted over twice and long as the Civil War. The problems caused by that alone affected all of America which had grown substantially since the Civil War. You can fight on your own soil for freedom or ideals, but traveling around the globe and dying for people you never met or heard of was no small sacrifice. The greatest generation gave us a free world as well as a much improved chance at life, with no expectation of a return on their investment…

 

[dgc1963]

Im luck to live only about 1/2 hour from Gettysburg
Tam an I go their once or twice a year never get tired of going and still feel reverence standing their what those men And boys went through during those 3 days cant fathom.
And the town folk that had several days of pouring rain after the battle with no way to deal with the carnage not just men but horses, cows in the hot July Pa weather

 

[Brad]

The depression lasted over twice and long as the Civil War. The problems caused by that alone affected all of America which had grown substantially since the Civil War. You can fight on your own soil for freedom or ideals, but traveling around the globe and dying for people you never met or heard of was no small sacrifice. The greatest generation gave us a free world as well as a much improved chance at life, with no expectation of a return on their investment…

The depression had nothing to do with WW2. WW2 cured it. We only "travelled around the globe dying for people we never met or heard of" because of Pearl Harbor. That's how we we "pushed" into a war we wanted noting to do with. Certainly the WW2 generation was a fine one, but the sacrifice of the Civil War generation eclipses it dramatically.

 

[elkduds]

We are blessed and cursed with a generationally short memory, particularly around war sacrifices and glories. The Korean 'conflict' was hellish. The Crusades, wars of conquest in Asia and Europe, Rome vs everyone, revolutions in China and Russia. . . the Greatest Generation is redefined throughout human history.

 

[shrapnel]

The depression had nothing to do with WW2. WW2 cured it. We only "travelled around the globe dying for people we never met or heard of" because of Pearl Harbor. That's how we we "pushed" into a war we wanted noting to do with. Certainly the WW2 generation was a fine one, but the sacrifice of the Civil War generation eclipses it dramatically.

Good Lord! Argue all you want, but there wasn’t a single WWII soldier or American citizen that didn’t suffer through the depression before the war.

By now you should be used to being wrong…

 

[Wild Bill]

Figured it would be impossible for there to be an argument in a thread about Gettysburg, yet here we are.

 

[VikingsGuy]

Every relative of the civil war soldiers deserves reparations.

I assume you would agree this would only be a relevant argument for the Union soldiers . . .

Or better yet, let’s not spin this thread into real politik 2024.

 

[VikingsGuy]

I astounds me how technology has immensely improved ordinance but casualties have declined so much. Medical advances account for some of that, but not all, I think.

Better tactics - marching shoulder to shoulder across a field is rarely a go to tactic these days.

 

[VikingsGuy]

To every generation there was a challenge, but none was met in time and circumstance as the “Greatest Generation”

Lives were significantly different in the 20th century as each previous generation passed the torch to the next. Convenience and luxury were never before seen as it was in the post war era following a debilitating depression.

My father, born in 1910, lived much the same as any civil war family, with nothing but hard work to make a daily living to press forward to the next day. He grew up in a time, mixed with modern and frontier lives being lived at the same time in America.

He and millions of Americans met the challenge of a 10 year depression, then getting drafted at age 31 to fight in a war in places he never heard of for people he never knew.

Once the war was over he came back to Montana and forged ahead without assistance from all the agencies that exist today and made a life and raised a family with no consideration of governmental aid. He and all those people passed on an America that was never stronger or more unified.

It didn’t take long for people to selfishly ruin that greatness they carved out of a modern wilderness and freely gave it to subsequent generations with no expectation of compensation.

They were the greatest generation!

I will honor the scope of this thread (civil war) and not give specifics rebuttals that could derail - but lots of not so great in that generation too. As @BrentD suggested, labels like this are more about how the pronouncer feels about themselves in so anointing than about how the labeled actually felt about themselves or how history has come to see them in full light.

More importantly than picking “winning generations”, is respect for all who have given so much. My sincerest appreciation goes out to every man and woman who has worn the uniform of the United States armed forces since the Continental Army through to today (clearly excluding the traitors who fought for the CSA instead) and to all their families who gave so much. I enjoy a life of comfort on their shoulders.

 

[VikingsGuy]

The depression had nothing to do with WW2. WW2 cured it. We only "travelled around the globe dying for people we never met or heard of" because of Pearl Harbor. That's how we we "pushed" into a war we wanted noting to do with. Certainly the WW2 generation was a fine one, but the sacrifice of the Civil War generation eclipses it dramatically.

Let us not generalize about entire generations. Only a small percentage of Americans have ever actually placed their lives on the line for this country. And that special group spans the centuries. Only a small percent fought with George Washington (and many favored a British victory), a small minority fought in the civil war and half of those did so as traitors, an even smaller portion of the nation fought in the various wars of the 20th century. Every man/woman that has actually been a casualty of war - they have given us much. But just like today, most folks just stand on the sidelines and hope for the best. Are there some great men/women of the Depression/WW era - yes. But that is true of every generation.

 

[TheGrayRider]

My great grandfather (9 generations back), Major James Poe, USA. He fought in the Revolution with the South Carolina Militia under General Francis Marion “the Swamp Fox.”

I have seen copies of his Continental Army pay records. Troops were paid in British pounds then. He is buried near Tuscaloosa, Alabama after the family got kicked out of the Carolinas for selling illegal tobacco. Interesting history and research.

Happy hunting to all, TheGrayRider a/k/a Tom.

 

[Elky Welky]

 

[Brad]

I’ve always found the idea that the WW2 Generation was “The Greatest Generation” to be a bit insulting - the Northern Civil War Generation earned that title far more in every conceivable way.

Let us not generalize about entire generations. Only a small percentage of Americans have ever actually placed their lives on the line for this country. And that special group spans the centuries. Only a small percent fought with George Washington (and many favored a British victory), a small minority fought in the civil war and half of those did so as traitors, an even smaller portion of the nation fought in the various wars of the 20th century. Every man/woman that has actually been a casualty of war - they have given us much. But just like today, most folks just stand on the sidelines and hope for the best. Are there some great men/women of the Depression/WW era - yes. But that is true of every generation.

It's impossible to have conversation without generalization. The label "greatest generation" has always bothered me, as I said earlier. It was a manipulative moniker designed to sell books. I can agree no generation deserves the title, but if one did, I still maintain it was the generation of Northern soldiers and countrymen in the Civil War. The Civil War was fought to preserve a union that a previous generation had payed a serious price for in blood and treasure, AND to correct the terrible, original sin of America - the enslavement of human beings for personal, financial gain. The Civil War achieved both these things, and without that generation of Northerners, it's entirely possible "two separate America's" would never have fought in WW2.

 

[Sheltowee]

Edit: The Battle of Waterloo started around 11:30 a.m. and French were routed by 8:00 p.m., just when it was becoming dark. 39,000 casualties in eight hours, not including 14,000 horses. Most of the battlefield was knee deep in mud from previous day's heavy rains. The majority of troops had marched sixty miles during the previous two days with no rest and very little to eat or drink. The battlefield front was 4km (2 miles) long but most of the combat took place within 950 meters.

Britain's greatest victory... won by the Prussians [ducks and covers].

 

[Brad]

Good Lord! Argue all you want, but there wasn’t a single WWII soldier or American citizen that didn’t suffer through the depression before the war.

By now you should be used to being wrong…

You're probably unaware of the post Civil War depression America suffered through after four bloody years that took more lives of Americans than WW2, all of which took place on our own soil. WW2 GI's came home to a booming economy. Not the same post Civil War.

Again, I don't buy the idea of a "greatest generation."