Memorial Day...Part One
May 27th 2008 15:11
Photo courtesy of www.iwojima.com
War movies have a special place for me...And I'll only reference a few. This is more for me, and my personal gratitude towards our Nation and the people who made the ultimate sacrifice for our personal freedom. Many thanks to all who have served in the past, present, and future.
There's not much in Revolutionary War themes other than "The Patriot" or the occasional MOW...Even then, the only quality productions I can remember came from the History Channel. It's too bad because The Revolutionary War is filled with heroic stories and characters.
Vastly outnumbered and many times outmaneuvered...We still managed a victory in very difficult situations. And yet they fought on so I could have the choice to be a writer, and you a reader at this precise moment...
The actual crossing wasn't as romantic as this, but you gotta let a chap have his vision. Skimming over the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Battle of Tripoli...The Monroe Doctrine is written, and more importantly; enforced...
(Prior to these engagements and several others not covered by this article).
This leads us to the most distressing time frame in our young history.
(Lincoln parted his hair left to right, not as depicted here, or on the five dollar bill...)
Upon Lincoln's election, the secessionists' movement was accelerated until finally, one month after inauguration...Lincoln was faced with raising a standing army. No easy task, to be sure. The first battle at Bull Run was viewed by Washingtonian's as if it were a play of sorts, and returned dismayed by the loss and carnage.
It would take many years for Lincoln to find a suitable "fighting General"...There's many quotes of Lincoln expressing his disdain for inaction on the part of the Army of the Potomac. Some of them quite funny in elevated speech that was so prevalent during that time.
Then a 41 year-old reputed "failed businessman and binge drinker" Ulysses Grant was placed directly under the Secretary of War. Grant, Sherman, and Lincoln would form a triangle of allegiance that ultimately ended the war and saved our country from becoming two separate entities.
Lincoln saw the future of "one" industrialized nation that would become the superpower we are today. Emancipation issues were broiling during the Jefferson Administration about 60 years prior, which ultimately led to the conflict we're discussing now, and the Emanicipation Proclamation which was written in the Summer months of 1862 before it was even introduced to the world the following January.
The repercussions would take more than a hundred years for acceptance. I thank him for that, political move or not (which some have argued). The point had to be irrevocably made.
"Amercian Heritage" - Presidential Series 'Washington", "James Monroe", "Thomas Jefferson"
"Lincoln-the Prairie Years and the War Years" - Carl Sandburg
"Brother against Brother Time-Life Books History of the Civil War"
"The Warrior Generals Combat Leadership in the Civil War" - Thomas B. Buell
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