The Civil War Parlor

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”The dead continue to live by way of the resurrection we give them in telling their stories” -Stories of Real Human Beings Make History Powerful~Photographs Make it Immediate.

A Blog Remembering the Men and Women of the American Civil War, North & South, people, faces, and a unique culture we will never see again. Photos and stories about the people that lived it, including African American Photographs, Pre-Civil War history & the period in cultural history that began just after the Civil War. The historical info, photos and documents on this blog reflect the attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs of different times. This blog does not endorse the views expressed in some posts, which may contain materials offensive to some readers. You cannot compare the beliefs, values, politics, ethical values of today to the people of the 1800's.

Every effort is taken to remember the men and women of the Union and Confederacy equally with dignity and respect. The men and women who's photos are posted on this blog have living relatives today, please respect the families and their memory~

The events of the war, and the men of the war, are fast fading from the public attention. Its history is growing to be an “Old, Old Story.” Public interest is weakening day by day. The memory of march, and camp, and battle-field, of the long and manly endurance, of the superb and uncomplaining courage, of the mass of sacrifice that redeemed the Nation, is fast dying out. Those who rejoice in the liberty and peace secured by the soldier’s suffering and privation, accept the benefits, but deny or forget the benefactor-1877 National Tribune

(IF I HAVE MADE AN ERROR ON A HISTORICAL FACT PLEASE CONTACT ME DIRECTLY SO I CAN CORRECT IT) if I posted something unknowingly that you own copyright to, I will remove it immediately.

“The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted."― D.H. Lawrence

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Before William Tecumseh Sherman became a great Union general, he was demoted for apparent insanity.

In October 1861, William Tecumseh Sherman, commander of Union forces in Kentucky, told U.S. Secretary of War Simon Cameron he needed 60,000 men to defend his territory and 200,000 to go on the offensive. Cameron called Sherman’s request “insane” and removed the general from command. In a letter to his brother, a devastated Sherman wrote, “I do think I Should have committed suicide were it not for my children. I do not think that I can again be trusted with command.” But in February 1862, Sherman was reassigned to Paducah, Kentucky, under Ulysses S. Grant, who saw not insanity but competence in the disgraced general. Later in the war, when a civilian badmouthed Grant, Sherman defended his friend, saying, “General Grant is a great general. He stood by me when I was crazy, and I stood by him when he was drunk; and now, sir, we stand by each other always.”

William Tecumseh Sherman and staff. Library of Congress description: “Gen. U. S. T. Sherman and staff”