Conference smurf::civil_war

    
    I once read that the Union referred to the battle by a local geographic
    item whereas the CSA usually went with the closest town, ie Antietam,
    the river, vs Sharpsburg, the town.  Not a hard and fast rule though.
    Anyone ever hear of Gettysburg known as anything other then Gettysburg?
    
    Scott

re .-1

>War Between the States/Civil War ?

Throughout the South, it's just called "the war."

If you mean anything else, you have to qualify it...


				- bruce

    re << Note 19.3 by DOMINY::TAYLOR>>
                                 

>re .-1

>>War Between the States/Civil War ?

>Throughout the South, it's just called "the war."
    
    I don't know about that. In Richmond, it is referred to as the Civil
    War. I have also heard it called The Great Struggle, the War Against
    Seccesion, The Noble Experiment and the War Between the States.
    
    I imagine there are still pockets in the South that refer to it simply
    as "The War" but I would guess these areas are few and far between.
    
    Rich
    

    The Union names prevail, as a general rule, because history is writen
    by the winners.
    
    Foote alternates.  A Southerner, he refers consistently to Antietam,
    yet he also refers consistently to First and Second Manassas (after
    identifying them both with Bull Run).  Shiloh is Shiloh.
    
    -d

    
    How true, the winner writes the history books.
    	I've also heard it referred to:
    			"The War of Northern Agression"
    
    					The Alabama Slammer

    
    As it was stated in an earlier note, the very names of Civil War
    battles, familar to students of the conflict, are baffling to
    newcomers. The root of the problem was geography; invading Union
    armies lived by maps, while Confederates were at home with the
    terrain and, in addition, usually chose the field of battle. As
    a result, Federals often named battles for nearby streams, while
    Confederates used the names of towns. For example:
    
    		Federal:		Confederate:
    		Bull Run  		Manassas
    		Antienam (Creek)	Sharpsburg
    		Stone's River		Murfreesboro
    		Fair Oaks		Seven Pines
    		Elkhorn Tavern		Pea Ridge
    
    Union armies were also named for streams.
    	The Army of the Potomac
    	The Army of the James
    	The Army of the Tennessee
    
    Confederate counterparts were
    	The Army of Northern Virginia
    	The Army of Tennessee
    	The Trans-Mississippi Army
    
    					The Alabama Slammer
    
    
    

    
    	In note 3.19, Irish Brigadier Ziff mentioned a stunning defeat
    over Union forces in Texas by an Irishman in Confederate service. I
    thought I would post it here, rather than in the Rathole. Moderator,
    please move if not appropriate here.
    					Slamma'
    
    	One of the war's most striking victories was won by an Irishman in
    Confederate service, Captain Richard W. Dowling, nineteen, of the Davis
    Guards. With 43 men armed with rifles and six small cannon he defended
    Sabine Pass, Texas, in September, 1863, driving off a Federal fleet
    which tried to land about 15,000 men.
    	Dowling sank one gunboat, disabled and captured two others, and
    turned away the rest of the fleet. He took 400 prisoners - all without
    the loss of a man.
    	This was the only command of record in the war to get its whole
    muster roll into official reports. All men got silver medals from
    Jefferson Davis, the only such given by the Confederacy.
    
    					The Alabama Slammer

    re:  Battles with two names
    
    I read somewhere that most historians (as opposed to official
    government  publications) had settled on the convention of using 
    the name chosen by the victor.  There are some examples of this,
    but it is not general.
    
    Other battles with two names: (* indicates victor; # indicates most
    commonly known name.)
    
    Confederate					Union
    _______________________________________________________________
    
    Oak Hills *					Wilson's Creek #
    Pigeon's Ranch				Glorieta Pass *#
    Murfreesboro *#				Stone's River
    Leesburg *					Ball's Bluff #
    Pittsburg Landing				Shiloh *#
    
    re:  the name of the conflict
    
    I generally call the conflict the War Between the States out of
    respect for the Southern fighting men I portray.  However, I think
    this is also a technically more correct name that "civil war." 
    A civil war is a conflict between two or more factions in a single
    nation for control of the government.  Such was most emphatically
    NOT the case in our war.  If the conflict between North and South
    was a true "civil war," then the conquest of the Plains Indians
    was, too.
    
    I've found, though, that this issue arouses such passion it is seldom 
    worth the trouble of discussing it.  Folks can get downright hostile 
    about it!
    
    My personal favorite name is "The War of Northern Agression," followed
    closely by "The Second American Revolution."  (If you count Shay's
    Rebellion, it is at least the third, and if you go back to Bacon's
    Rebellion it is at least the fourth.)
    
    About once a year there is a major storm of letters to the editors
    of the magazine "Civil War Times, Illustrated" on the subject of
    the what to call the conflict.  Like I said, it gets HOT sometimes.
    The editor answered one letter with a really amusing observation.
     He said his own personal favorite name for the war was, "The Late
    Unpleasantness Between North and South."  However, he could not
    see himself editing a magazine called, "The Late Unpleasantness
    Between North and South Times, Illustrated."
    
    Wess
    

    RE .9:
    
    One of the reasons the name of the conflict gets people so worked up is
    implicit in what Wes said - what you _call_ the war depends on what you
    think it _was_.
    
    If you see the war as a struggle over control of the government _in_
    the area that formed the Confederacy, then you meet Wes' test for a
    civil war; and that was largely the view that initially animated much
    of the North.  "Combinations too powerful to be supressed..." and so
    on.
    
    If, however, you see the war as one group of (sovereign) states
    disputing a question with another group, or as a conflict between two
    nations, then you won't see it as a civil war - and will get upset with
    people who _call_ it one! :^)
    
    I haven't thought too much about it before (not really caring what
    noise someone makes to refer to a thing as long as I know what they
    mean), but I guess I'd say that since the parties who fought started
    _out_ under a common government and _ended_ under a common government,
    it must have been a civil war... :^)   Besides, ACW is shorter than
    TLUBTNATS.
    
    MikeR

Yeah, but TLUBTNATS is so much more euphonious, dontcha think?

:-)

-d