While we celebrate this Glorious Fourth, let us not forget the sacrifices made on this day 147 years ago, when Col. Chamberlain and the 20th Maine saved the flank of the Union Army at Gettysburg.
As the extreme left of the Union line posted on Little Round Top, they were told that they could not retreat, could not fall back, but had to stand their ground and fight. If they didn’t, the entire Union line would be flanked, and defeat in Pennsylvania could have meant a southern victory in the Civil War.
So they fought, fought until they ran of ammunition- and when they ran out of ammunition, they fixed bayonets and charged in one the most under-appreciated but bravest and possibly most insane actions in US history.
And when they charged, and sent the Alabamans running, they charged out of Pennsylvania and into the hallowed realm of myth and legend. Without their actions, it’s likely that the South would have won the Civil War, and America would not exist.
Slainte’ to Chamberlain and those brave Maine men. We haven’t forgotten about the blood you spilled on Little Round Top.
Southern succession would make the US not exist?
[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:
Southern succession would make the US not exist?[/quote]
Quite obviously I mean not as it exists now. Thanks for the contribution.
[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:
Southern succession would make the US not exist?[/quote]
Quite obviously I mean not as it exists now. Thanks for the contribution.[/quote]
You could say that about pretty much any event in history. And there were no “good guys” in the civil war.
fucking, really…?
Are we supposed to believe you have some sort of emotional connection to something that happened more than 200 years before you were born?
Talk about disingenuous bullshit.
LOL
Why don’t you thank your ancestors from 2000 years ago who were lucky enough to live to the age of procreation?
God bless those brave souls so that we may all be here today.
You know what’s so histerical about bullshit threads like these?
That if the other team would have won some other phony, like FI26, would be saying the exact same thing but about the other team…
Crazy to think about, huh?
The part I hate so much about the “patriotic” notions most have about the civil war is the idea that “preservation of the union”, an imaginary collective, is somehow worth a million lives.
Why would the people of new jersey care whether they were in a collective government with the people of Tennessee so much?
[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
fucking, really…?
Are we supposed to believe you have some sort of emotional connection to something that happened more than 200 years before you were born?
Talk about disingenuous bullshit.
LOL
Why don’t you thank your ancestors from 2000 years ago who were lucky enough to live to the age of procreation?
God bless those brave souls so that we may all be here today.[/quote]
It is not disengenous at all. I have studied the Civil War, and Gettysburg, very extensively, and feel that what these guys did was positively overlooked in the annals of American history, and Gettysburg, because of it’s close proximity to the Fourth of July, gets lost even further to the average person.
I’ve never claimed some emotional connection, either, just saying- it is a valiant act in history that defined the course of the next 150 years.
What’s the matter lifty? Getting slaughtered in your 133 “I love anarchy” threads getting under your skin?
[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:
The part I hate so much about the “patriotic” notions most have about the civil war is the idea that “preservation of the union”, an imaginary collective, is somehow worth a million lives.
Why would the people of new jersey care whether they were in a collective government with the people of Tennessee so much?[/quote]
Well, can’t say I didn’t expect this line of bullshit from a pathetic neo-confederate like yourself, but whatever.
[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:
The part I hate so much about the “patriotic” notions most have about the civil war is the idea that “preservation of the union”, an imaginary collective, is somehow worth a million lives.
Why would the people of new jersey care whether they were in a collective government with the people of Tennessee so much?[/quote]
Well, can’t say I didn’t expect this line of bullshit from a pathetic neo-confederate like yourself, but whatever. [/quote]
Actually, thanks to these northerners you’re praising, it wasn’t Americans killing confederates and confederate killing Americans, but only Americans killing Americans. You are still celebrating the death and defeat of Americans either way.
I’f you’d read my postings on the topic you’d know I’m not a neo-confederate. I do hate the way the south is demonized and the north is glorified by most in the time period though. The categorization is simply not true. There was plenty of bad and good to go around on both sides.
THERE ARE NO VICTORIES IN A CIVIL WAR.
Sorry to tell you this but the fact that you can root for this team versus the other one is merely an accident of history.
But I guess we can pull out our flags and idols and get all teary-eyed about it – if it is an excuse to get drunk I’m all for it.
As a historian myself, I can apprreciate your comment in the spirit it was offerred. I doubt that their sacrifice or the importance of what they accomplished is overlooked by any serious student of the battle or the war. It truly proved to be the deciding military defeat of the war, superceded only by the loss of Jackson in Chancelorville in the weeks just before the battle.
Had Jackson survived and been at Gettysburg, the outcome of that battle would have been entirely different.
[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:
THERE ARE NO VICTORIES IN A CIVIL WAR.[/quote]
I’m adding this to my collection of great quotes . . . thanks!
[quote]pushharder wrote:
[quote]IrishSteel wrote:
As a historian myself, I can apprreciate your comment in the spirit it was offerred…[/quote]
The rest of us that have been here longer than you understand exactly the spirit in which it was offered.[/quote]
For the record, I mean no disrespect to the Yankee soldiers who fought bravely and died in that battle. Hell, they even fought like southerners on that day ;0)
I have a serious problem with certain other people’s sentiments and characterizations.
[quote]pushharder wrote:
Do NOT think for a minute that F.I.'s thread is about honoring the men from Maine. He is far more interested in stirring up an uncivil discussion about “good guys” and “bad guys” from the 1860s. His disingenuousness is crystal clear; he’s fooling no one who has been here very long.
In other words…he’s a wiener.[/quote]
Please you old fuck, I don’t care about the good guys vs. bad guys thing. I’m neither bothering to argue it nor caring about those that do.
I posted what I posted for the most obvious reason- it often gets overlooked in American history. I care very little what anyone else thinks my intentions were.