147 years ago today!

April 9th. 1865; Lee surrendered to Grant in Virginia. Although the fighting went on in other places for several more weeks. A lot of farmers went back to farming as well with far more than 50% of the US population having lived, & worked on farms when the war began on April 12th of 1861.

Death toll for that war, the greatest ever for the US.

Thank you for the reminder.
Sad day.
It is interesting to read Grant's account of that day. He respected Lee a lot and hated doing what he had to do. At first, though Lee was older and had graduated from West Point some years before Grant, they sat around like old friends and talked about officers and people they mutually knew and Grant said he kind of lost track of why they were there. But then Lee reminded him they were there for a reason and had better get on with the business at hand.
Grant caught a lot of heat for allowing the Southern men to keep their horses and the officers their side arms. But Lincoln supported him so that was that.
For Grant the end of the war was a pretty big let down. He'd been mostly a failure in life till the war came and didn't know what he was going to do to support his family after it was over.

85 years ago today,my Grandad signed the papers and bought this farm.

Canada made itself known to the rest of the world during the battle of Vimy Ridge.

(quoted from post at 02:32:12 04/09/12) April 9th. 1865; Lee surrendered to Grant in Virginia. Although the fighting went on in other places for several more weeks. A lot of farmers went back to farming as well with far more than 50% of the US population having lived, & worked on farms when the war began on April 12th of 1861.

Click to expand...

Isn't that where Lee said "you win some, you lose some" or words to that effect.......just teasing :twisted:

Rick

Some of those fellows never made it back to the farm. These men died at Antietam, September 17, 1862. Antietam was the deadliest single day battle of the Civil War with 22,717 killed. Six other battles killed more, but they were multi-day battles.
Many men were buried near where they fell in battle near Sharpsburg, MD. The burials went on for months.
Many Confederates were carried out off the field and back over the Potomac River to Shepardstown to be buried in Virginia soil. Then, Shepardstown was part of Virginia, now it's in West Virginia. Pictures taken in Shepardstown, WV, fall of 2011, except the last photo of the Sunken Road taken at the battlefield near Sharpsburg, MD.
Charlie

Just another waste of Humanity, tearing all those Families asunder.

This past weekend (6th and 7th) was also the 150th anniversary of the first really big battle of the war--Shiloh. This battle was an eye-opener: it let everyone know that this war was going to be nastier than previously expected, and that it would not be over anytime soon. Grant considered it to be the hardest-fought battle of the war.

My paternal great-grandfather was there as a participant, a member of a Louisiana regiment under Breckinridge. He was also at Chickamauga (wounded there so he missed Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge) but was back in time for Resaca, New Hope, Atlanta, Franklin and Nashville before being captured.

I'm a good southern boy, but I allow myself to be an admirer of Lincoln, Grant and Sherman. In fact, I'm now reading Grant's memoir. In regard to Ultradog's reference to the perception that Grant was a "failure", I will agree that in civilian life Grant did not succeed, but if you read about his life you'll see that the guy just could not catch a break; everything he touched turned to doo-doo, through no real fault of his own. He was very hard-working, organized and focused. He was also personally courageous, and he had an unshakeable, unstoppable determination to accomplish his goals without getting caught up in the BS and drama surrounding him. These were the traits that made him a good soldier (he had a splendid record in the Mexican War) and a good general.

My GG Grandfather was a captain in the confederate army out of Missouri. My maternal grandfather had 3 uncles that were at Shiloh. They all fought for the south and none of them owned slaves. This was a terrible waste of lives that falls squarely on Lincoln and his supporter's shoulders.
I was always taught in school how great Lincoln was but the history books are written by the victors and not necessarily and accurate account of what really happened.

The south lost... get over it. I will however admit that if I were alive at the time I would have joined up with the confederates. I don't agree with slavery but I do feel strongly about state's rights.

There are a lot of similarities between the time before the civil war and now. Lincoln divided the north from the south with an inflammatory issue. Now we are being divided by class the same way. It has nothing to do with not getting over the civil war. It has everything to do with thinking for oneself and not being manipulated by the government and media.

There are a lot of similarities between the time before the civil war and now. Lincoln divided the north from the south with an inflammatory issue. Now we are being divided by class the same way. It has nothing to do with not getting over the civil war. It has everything to do with thinking for oneself and not being manipulated by the government and media.

sorry for the double post