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It will never be completely finished, the War Between the States. Whether it is North vs. South, East vs. West, Red vs. Blue, Small vs. Big, or Urban vs. Rural, there will always be factions that are at odds with each other. Fortunately, it is no longer about slavery. It is sometimes about political one-up-man-ship or cultural supremacy, other times resource control, and sometimes it’s all about football dominance. Thankfully we no longer try to settle our internal disputes with sabers, guns and bombs and bloodshed. Perhaps we did learn a lesson from the tragic slaughter of 618,000 Americans by Americans during our Civil War.
The diversity of opinions and issues that causes the rifts in our daily lives are also the very attributes that have made us strong and given us the resolve as Americans to unite in the face of adversity, to innovate and achieve, and, in the past, to take a position of leadership among nations.
Here in the 21st Century, most of us know about the Civil War, its causes, factions, and the ultimate end and result. Many might also be able to identify the warring period of 1861 to 1865. A few might know that the definitive end of the war was when General Lee surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on April 9, 1865. Within days after that, word had spread and other Confederate Generals had surrendered their troops to their Yankee counterparts, surrender papers were signed, and the war ended. But not the fighting…
There’s always somebody who doesn’t get the word. Oh, was I supposed to bring potato salad? Or, I drove 30 miles through a blinding ice storm. Why didn’t someone tell me the game had been postponed? The end of the Civil War was no different.
The last major land battle of the Civil War took place on May 12-13, 1865, on the banks of the Rio Grande River near Brownsville, Texas. So a full month after Lee surrendered, the Confederate forces were victorious in the last clash of the war. Neither side was aware that the war had officially been declared over. But, wait, there’s more…
The last Confederate naval force to surrender was the CSS Shenandoah on November 4, 1865, in Liverpool, England. That’s almost seven months after collapse of the Confederacy. What were those guys doing over there anyway? Must have had a deep craving for fish and chips and a fresh pint or three. Some people never get the word…
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June 19th, 1865: Slaves in Texas were read the Emancipation Proclamation and informed by their masters that they were free. “Juneteenth” has for some time now been an official state holiday; workers can choose to take off either that day or the state’s Confederate Heroes Day (January 19th–Lee’s birthday).
In Georgia, they still refer to ‘that’ as The War of Northern Aggression *s*
AFAIK, Shenandoah’s mission was to
“seek out and utterly destroy commerce in areas as yet undisturbed”. So that would be Liverpool
We DamnYankees(yes, I know it’s one word! lol) — here in Ohio anyway — don’t have holidays for that war. We sure don’t celebrate U.S. Grant’s birthday!
In Tennessee we do not have any such holiday or celebration. To do so seems a bit crass. But we are not deep South. Attitudes and traditions are different down there.
[...] doing research for the previous post, I discovered an interesting fact. The 34 star U.S. Flag shown here was the official flag at the [...]
Interesting about the battles.
If I’m not mistaken, wasn’t the famous battle of New Orleans (”In 1814 we took a little trip . . .) fought after the War of 1812 was concluded?
Interesting, gerry. According to Wikipedia, you are correct. The actual decisive battle took place in January, 1815, and results were:
“At the end of the day, the British had 2,037 casualties: 291 dead (including three senior generals), 1,262 wounded and 484 captured or missing. The Americans had 71 casualties: 13 dead, 39 wounded and 19 missing.”
This despite the Americans being heavily outmanned and outgunned against the powerful British naval fleet. The Wikipedia article has an intriguing description of the preparations for and the actual battle itself. I’ve never been much for history, but this stuff is interesting. It vividly shows what we once could do in bringing decisive victory against all odds.
What was the Shenandoah doing in Liverpool? Shouldn’t it have been fighting in the war?