American Civil War For Dummies. Keith D. Dickson

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Introduction

      It is interesting that for over 150 years, in times of controversy, public discourse has always turned to the Civil War. Everyone, it seems, is compelled to return to the war to highlight some aspect of an argument. This should not be surprising because the Civil War created the modern United States and defined the people who called themselves Americans. The war was a fundamental watershed in our history — marked by a staggering cost of 620,000 Union and Confederate casualties and 50,000 civilian deaths — defining both who we are as a nation and who we are as Americans. It is therefore natural that we continue to return to the war as a starting point for any discussion today about what America is and what America means.

      The Civil War is still very much with us for a number of reasons. America’s Civil War has epic dimensions, equal to Homer’s Iliad or Virgil’s Aeneid. Like any great epic, it has all the elements of tragedy and pathos; it has immortal heroes who control the destinies of nations. There are great battles on land and sea that stir deep emotions. The experiences of Army of the Potomac, the Army of Northern Virginia, the Army of the Cumberland, and the Army of the Tennessee marching across a vast landscape, each composed of free and self-reliant Americans joined together to strive in a common cause, surpasses Xenophon’s account of the Greek army in Anabasis.

This was a war that consumed the vital energies of an entire continent. We are still very much aware of the human dimension of the war: The passions, the sorrows, the hopes, joys, and despair are ingrained in the American collective memory and are still relived as we venture back in time. The political dimension drove every aspect of the war and served as the ultimate arbiter of victory or defeat. It was highly complex, forcing political leaders to make exceptionally difficult decisions and to take extraordinary risks. Like all political enterprises, it had its knaves and fools as well as its more noble proponents. The military dimension included supplying the armies, providing the manpower to fill the ranks, and identifying a strategy that would ensure victory. The economic dimension involved retooling existing industries to support war production, inventing new methods, and applying innovative solutions. The diplomatic dimension was a critical battleground in itself as both the Union and the Confederacy sought to engage the European powers, with the Confederacy seeking recognition and military intervention that would assure independence, while the Union sought to deter and dissuade the temptations of any European power to intervene.

      Many books have been written about each of these dimensions, but it is the whole story that continues to attract us and continues to fascinate us. Once you enter into the subject, you are suddenly surrounded with all of its various aspects, all of its emotional power, and all of its often opaque meaning. Trying to sort the story out — to make it meaningful and worthwhile in answering important questions in our own time — is the purpose of this book. By telling the story as completely and succinctly as possible, while keeping everything in perspective, will help you, the reader, to gain a fuller understanding of this critical event in our history and attain a more complete perspective on the larger meaning of past events that continue to shape our destinies as Americans.

About This Book

      The average person with more than a passing interest in the war has no place to go to gain a broad, general understanding of this crucial period in our history.

      This book is intended to meet the needs of the average reader who wants to be informed without being overwhelmed with details. This book is directed toward several types of readers:

The past appears remote and inaccessible to most people. The main message of this book is that history is most emphatically neither remote nor inaccessible! Politics, passions, and conflict (both armed and ideological) have always marked U.S. history. You will find similarities to the current day in the events of the past. In this way, history in the proper context can connect you to the past.

      History doesn’t have to be boring or intimidating. Everyone who hates history books will say that they are nothing more than dry lists of names and places and dates and jargon. That’s true enough, in most cases, if you only look that far. Although this is a different kind of history book, it does follow certain conventions found in most history books. This one, like most, is arranged chronologically. Like most history books, too, it tells a story, which has a beginning, a middle, and an end. What is different about this book is that you can start wherever you like. You don’t need to slog through the whole thing from beginning to end to understand what is going on. It is organized so that you, the reader, have maximum flexibility to pick and choose what you want to know. You can jump in at any point and still keep up with the story or select a topic to read in a chapter that interests you. Wherever necessary, terms will be defined for you, or referenced elsewhere for a detailed explanation. Obviously, names, dates, and places are here too, but they are located where you can refer to them if you need to or find them easily if you want.

What Not to Read

      Throughout the book you will find text in shaded boxes. These are the nice-to-know, gee whiz!, how about that? bits of information that many Civil War enthusiasts know. These offerings will help make you knowledgeable in conversation and mark you as someone who is not a complete novice.

Foolish Assumptions

      What is assumed about this book is that it is easy to read and will hold your interest enough to generate some thinking on your own.

Icons Used in this Book

      You will find five icons scattered throughout the chapters. These little pictures next to the text get your attention and point you to useful information:

Beyond the Book

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