Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era

The Civil War was not just a conflict of bloodshed. During this time, it pitted technology against raw courage, and showed the true measure of men under pressure. It showed the cruelness of the land of equality, and saw fighting of more bloodshed on the North American contenient then any other conflict.

It is the most contrevorsial war of history. Millions are pitted against each other on which side was right, and which side was wrong. Millions believe that the South had fought a rightous crusade against the evil North, while millions vow that it was the North that fought the holy crusade to rid slavery and make the land of the free a fact, and not just a name.

Battle Cry of Freedom goes up to the challenge of trying to bring a true history of the war. Not a tainted view of the war, which has bias, but fits side by side with The Civil War by Shelby Foote, who is probably the greatest historian of the war to live. The book brings the Civil War to balance by trying to show both sides in thier true light; which is to say that neither one was bad, or wrong, they just had opposing views.

Who is the author to this book? Proffesor James M. McPherson. Years of dedication to this war is vividly shown in this book he has written. Intresting to note is the fact that he had no intrest in history until the Civil Rights Movements, which caught him in the grip which can be aptly described as: Civil War Fever.

This book does not just stick to the normal facts. It brings much more, and for being single book on the war, the 900 pages shows us not just the normal view, but what is not so commonly known.

One intresting fact the book brings to light: More westerners died then easterners to diesase because of most of them never having been exposed to city dieases' which were prevaliant in camps. But, more easterners died in combat then westerners.

But, I do not advise this book to someone who knows nothing about the war. The book is long, and the print is small. I would suggest something a little less detailed for beginners.

My rating of this book: 10 out of 10.

Civil War Books

Our next subject will be Civil War books. I will be reviewing several books during the next few posts.

Empire's The Civil War

Empires' The Civil War was one of the first games brought out. It was really a valient attempt to potray the Civil War accuratly, but, it failed in many aspects. It is in the format of a large map, which you have to scroll over with your mouse. All your units are in units of a division or larger, that are represented as boxes.

One of the things it failed at was movement. Most of the time, you can't get your guys to move, or they will move a little bit, then stop, or go right back to where you started off. It is really frustrating when your enemy is walking all over the place, and you are just hoping you can get even a single unit of yours moving.

Second is how easily you can win the war. All you have to do is walk into the enemy capitol and you win. I did so, and I won within a turn.

Third is your navy. Technically, they won't do anything on thier own. You have to order them to do everything. You tell them to patrol a certain place, they won't return unless you order them to. If you are the South, your cotton runs pretty much end when they land. They won't return with the cotton until you order them to.

Fourth is your population. You cannot make large armies by recruiting. Your states provide little in way of actual population. As such, you have to combine your units you already have, and hopefully you will have a large enough army to win.

It has several things right though. Such as combat. It did a very good job at describing battles involving two opponents based upon the leaders ability to fight, based upon leadership and terrain. In most aspects, few of your northern officers can win unless they have large numbers because they fight softly. There are few officers in the North to compare with the South in this game.

My rateing of this game: 3 out of 10.

History Channel: The Civil War

The History Channel once again brings out a Civil War game. This game follows a first person shooter format, where you run around as a soilder from actual units and kill opponents with anything from knives to Revolver rifles. You can play two sides: Union or Confederate. For Union you play the following levels:

Fredericksburg (Iron Brigade)
Gettysburg (20th Maine)
Chattanoga (Unit unknown)
Selma (Wilson's Infantry)
Fort Fisher (United States Marines)
Petersburg

For Confederate:

Bull Run
Shiloh (Confederate Sabotgers)
Antietam (Mississippi Sharpshooters)
Chancellorsville (Stonewall Brigade)
Chickamauga (Texas Brigade)
Cold Harbor (Confederate Guerrilla)

The upside of the game:

1. Historical Battles
2. A wide variety of weapons (at certain points, you can even use a Gauntling Gun)
3. You don't follow just one persons' storyline, you go through several.

The downside of the game:

1. Do you know the real reason the North won? They were all clones! You are pretty much fighting clones, because the people who made it forgot that they can use more then three models for thier characters.

2. Ease. Even the hardest level is very easy to beat.

3. Play length. You can win the game in a day.

My score for HC: TCW: 6 out of 10.

Civil War Generals 2

Okay, I have never played the preddecessor, Robert E. Lee: Civil War General. But, I'm pretty sure that this is pretty much the same thing, only advanced.

The main thing in this game is your troops and artillery. Your officers can get wounded, but, your troops are the ones that really count. The more troops you have, the more likely you will succedd. The more artillery you have, the more likely you will succeed.

This game really has alot to do with your units. This game stresses unit moral. Your moral can be the deciding factor. If your moral gets too low, your troops will run, and you will have to spend points in sometimes vain attempts to get them rallied. Sometimes, your troops will not rally, and as soon as they reach your supply base, you've lost them.

Artillery is also a huge factor in this game. You can break enemy attacks by just firepower from your artillery. But, if the enemy comes too close, you can limber up and run for a better position.

Terrain has a impact. If you are side by side in the open, you can attack an opponent. If you are in a forest, however, you are most likely unable to, despite the fact that you are almost butting heads.

You can capture the flags on the map, and every flag you capture, more points you gain.

There are three ways to play. Single player, Hotseat mod (you play both sides, or you and one of you siblings) and Online. I perfere single, although hotseat is awesome to. I don't play online, although my brother does.

Overall, this amazing game is a 9 out of 10.

Take Command II: Second Manassas

The sun has risen, and your command looks over the fence they have been guarding all night long. There, not 100 yeards off, is 5,000 Yanks, ready to punch your weary men and rout them from the wall. But, you got one trick up your sleeve as the blue bellies huzzah towards you.

Bullets whiz towards the yanks, knocking down men every step. The blue boys are stubborn. They get right up to you then drop thier muskets, and fire a single volley.

It is too much. Your boys rout, and the Yanks are about to take over the all important position. They move forawrd, unopposed, then, suddenly, a volley from the nearby woods sends them reeling, then, the are in retreat as your fresh reserve regiment pounds towards them from the woods. The Yanks rout, and the rebel yell is once more heard victorious.

That is right. That is what Take Command II is all about. This game puts the War in Civil War.

What happens is each level you are placed in command of a select number of troops. You can command from a single regiment, clear on up to the entire Army.

And each command carries its' own problems. The smaller your commands is, the harder it is to hold. But, the more you have, the more hectic the battle can be, for you are continually having to shift your troops to where they are needed.

This game also allows you to either charge your opponent, or fire. But, this game is all about moral, quality, and fatigue. If any of these are low, you can bet your sweet bippy that your going to be restricted in what you can do, and how easily you will break.

There are two types of play. Battles and Open Play. Battles is split up into two groups, regular battles, and Custom Scenarios. Regular battle were made by the makers of the game, Adam Norb and his friend. Custom scenarios are levels that were made by fans of the game.

This game is editable, but there is no edit button in the menu. You have to download it, then, once you have, you can create your own Order of Battles which can be used during Open Play.

Out of 1-10: I rate this as a 10. This is probably the best game ever invented.

Civil War: The Game "Great Battles"

Well, this game is the first one I ever owned, so, it's the game I am most familiar with.

You start out with getting to choose which side you are, how much money you have, if you have borders or not, and year (if you play a historical setting). If you don't use a historical setting, you pretty much bypass the year.

Then, you come to the main map. There are four forts that you must control in order to win the game. You cannot win if you destroy every force on the field; you must own each fort. Each fort produces troops for the side that owns it. That is why you must have them all, or else, you will be forced to fight armies that come out of nowhere.

You cannot attack another force unless you have a general. Same goes for your opponent. When you do attack, they will give you a trivia question, then go into an actual battle with your armies. You have a limited amount of turns. The larger your army, the longer it will take to lose. The larger your enemies army, the harder it is to win. If you run out of turns, it is a draw.

Borders have a massive effect in your game. If you have borders, you have only two points of access into a state. If you have borders, you want to get to these passes before your enemy can block them. If you have no border (which you can't have in historical mode) you don't have to worry about access points, which means that you can go anywhere.

You buy generals, troops and artillary at forts. Troops are cheap, artillery is pricey, but generals are expensive. You can only buy three generals, and only once every 14 turns.

Sea power. The sea does not come into effect during this game. As a matter of fact, this is a purely land war game. The Sea has nothing to do with it, which helps you by not forcing you to worry about the sea also.

Another major thing is railroads. They cross several states and have two train stations. If you can capture both stations of a railroad, you can transport troops to where they are needed. However, if you only capture one, you cannot transport your troops by rail, but your enemy can't either.

Last but not least, territory. Every piece of territory that you capture places money in your bank. Every turn, you are given money for every territory you have. The more you have, the more money you have. The less you have, the less you get.

My Score: Out of 1-10, I give it an 8. This game has it's drawbacks, such as, you are only limited to three generals, and you cannot name armies and such. But, it is a worthwhile game. It is very easy to play and does not need a genuis to use. I certainly enjoy playing it.

Civil War Games

For the next few posts, I'm going to ver away from Civil War History, and into games created on this war and my thoughts about each game.

Fall of Fort Donolsen: Grant Wins His Spurs

During early 1862, General Ulysses S. Grant came up with a plan to drive Albert Sydney Johnston and his Army of Tennesse out of his army's namesake state. It required an attack on Forts Henry and Donolsen. Grant packed up 27,000 men and marched them south, striking for Fort Henry first. The Union River Fleet got there first, and leveled the fort to the ground. Grant never even got his army on the scene. But, since Grant was the mastermind behind the operation, he got the fame and glory. Grant, seeing the way open, struck next towards Donolsen. Once again, the fleet got there first. But, they weren't able to elevate their guns enough to strike the fort. So, Grant got up to the fort, and settled down for a siege. The Confederates commanding the fort decided to cut thier way out. So, they struck for a small gap, and burst open a gaping hole to freedom. Then, suddenly, they fell back, thus effecetivly closing the gap. Why did they do so? I don't know. Don't ask me. Floyd and Buckner (two of the three generals at the fort) bailed out, fleeing the responsibility of surrendering, and left thier comrade to do the honors. This is cowardly. Nothing more can be said. Nothing in thier defense. But, they weren't the only ones to leave. Bedford Forrest followed after them with about a thousand cavalry.

Don't Count Your Eggs Before They Hatch, Or Else You Get Scrambbled Eggs

The Army of Tennesse is the Confederate version of the Army of the Potomac. Its' men deserved better then to be led by men who were too slow and to timid to give victories. By then end of the first day of the Battle of Stones River, Bragg, thier commander, proclaimed a mighty victory to Richmond. He was sure that God had handed them a mighty victory. Boasts do not win battles. And his opponent knew it. General Rosecrans, Braggs' opponent, knew that he was not whipped. He soldified his battered line, and stregthened it. When Bragg came at him again on New Years Eve, it was no whipped opponent or cleaning up operation. Rosecrans was clearly willing to stay and fight. Bragg did meet with some success. But, in the end, he was outfought. He fell back to Chattannoga. As a famous historian once said, "The Battle can be described as a staring match, and Bragg blinked first.

The Miserable Creatant Gets Thrashed by the Gentleman

If there is one man who I despise in the Civil War, it is John Pope. He was not a man to be placed in the top spot of command: controlling an army. Pope got his position for the lamest excuse ever; for capturing a single island. Not a good enough excuse in my book. Pope had little military vision as he went into Second Bull Run. He would end up suffering 16,000 losses for his inability to plan. He refused to leave an adequeat force to defend his left flank, and went so far as to pull a division from that duty to help in his attack. Lee, on the other hand, knew what he was doing. Alot of his strategy was based on the fact that Pope was arrogant, and wouldn't bother with anything else once he saw his target. Pope was like a horse with blinders on. Well, for all my dislike, Pope was one of the first man in the Union Army who knew that it was aggression, not timidness, that would win the day. But, in the end, he suffered a humiliating setback.

Hornet's Nest: Enough Glory to Go Around

Well, so anyways, we all know how Prentiss saved the day at Shiloh. That he boldly took his stand at the Sunken Road and how troops rallied around him. And how he was the Hero of Shiloh.

Blarney.

I'm not saying that Prentiss wasn't a hero or anything. But, what about William Wallace? His division was already filed in place in the Peach Orchard and Hornet's Nest before Prentiss' retreating command took up position. Prentiss formed up by Wallace when he saw how formidable a position Wallace had. As a matter of fact, Wallace had more troops in the battle then Prentiss.

Notice how 2,000 men were captured out of Prentiss' Division? Prentiss only had 3,000 men fighting in the sunken lane. Most of them weren't even his own. He had only 500 out of 5,100 men that didn't rout to the Tennesse.

But, it was Prentiss that got the 'hold at all cost' order from Grant. And, Wallace was mortally wounded during the battle, adding himself to the 24,000 dead and wounded of Shiloh. There was no way Wallace could have set the records straight. Not only that, Grant makes mention of only Prentiss, although, had he known the truth, Grant (true to his personality) would have been more fair.

So, in the end, Prentiss got glory, by stealing it from Wallace.

The Sacrifice at Antietam

By the time the sun set on September 12, 1862, over 26,000 men were dead or wounded. It was the bloodiest day of the Civil War, but, the battle's losses could have actual meant something. 26,000 men died and thier sacrifice was nothing. Why? McClellan. Bruce Catton describes a situation where McClellan learned that his troops had broken the enemy flank, and all that was needed was 5,000 men to win victory. McClellan, exhilerating with joy, ordered 5,000 men to move forward. Then, suddenly, he countermanded his orders and, the one time he was about to win a decisive victory, he choked. Why? No one can truely explain what happened, except, perhaps, McClellan was reverting to his former, pesstimistic self. Where was this break that was so crucial? The left flank of Lee's Army, commanded by Jackson. He was wrecked by the massive attacks of the I Corps, under Joe Hooker. Many people say that Hooker had more men. This is false. The average size of the six Union Corps that day would have been only 11,000 men. Hooker had no more then that many men. Now, let us devide the 40,000 present before AP Hills arrival. Jackson would have had over 20,000 men at his disposal. Not only that, but thousands of men were shifted to help Jackson. Which means, Hooker was facing anywhere between 2-1 or 3-1 disadvantage. And, unlike Longstreet, who had to string his men out on two fronts, Jackson had all his forces consentrated in one general vacinity. The XII Corps was knocked out before it could do much harm to the Rebs when Mansfield took a bullet to the stomach. So, it can't be used as a factor on the field. So, in essence, the Yanks fought better. Outnumbered, they drove back a much larger force, they won the fight for Miller's Cornfield. Jackson was saved by several factors. 1: Hooker got wounded in the foot. 2: Hood threw his fresh men into the meatgrinder against a wornout foe. 3: The XI Corps was knocked out too early. 4: McClellan refused to feed in his reserves.

The Bonnie Blue Flag: NC Fights at the Mule Shoe

Ok, scratch what I said on my last post. Obvisously, I didn't post alot. But, here I go.

The time was 4:35 in the morning. It had rained all the night before, and a fog laid low upon the lands. Silently, nearly 20,000 Union troops poured towards the bulge in the Confederate line. A few sentries saw them, and fired a few rounds at the attacking mass, up jumped thier comrades, and swung their guns around. Almost all the guns failed to fire. The Union mass was up, and into the works, stabbing and clubbing.

The fighting for the Mule Shoe had begun, and the whole Confederate Army was in trouble. All thier artillary and 3,000 men in the Mule Shoe had been captured. The Union attack flaunted on its own success, looting as they went, but, they would soon renew the attack.

Lee at once plunged everyman he had to stop the hole. Among those sent to stop the yanks, was the 4th and 14th North Carolina. They helped push back the yanks until they were almost completely out of the bulge. But, another atack came at them.

Suddenly, nearly 800 voices rose. They were singing, The Bonnie Blue Flag as they poured volley after volley into the yanks. Although most would be shot down, this little band became famous for the use of thier voices, rousing and ralling the men as the sang the CSA Anthem.

Before the battle ended that day, 10,000 men would be killed, wounded or captured, most of them Confederates. By the end of the battle, 27,000 would become casualties.

Blame at Chancellorsville

Seeing as I didn't blog a while, I will make up by posting a few times today. The Battle of Chancellorsville has always held my facination. With losses of nearly 31,000, it was almost the bloodiest battle ever fought. We all recognize the rout of the XI Corps as one of the worst disasters to befall the hardluck Army of the Potomac. But, was it all that much of a suprise? No. 1. Hooker knew that Jackson was marching, and believed two things; he was either retreating, or about to fall upon his right. 2. He ordered Howard to entrench and face some regiments to the left. 3. Howard did not. He went so far as to lie to his commanding officer by telling him that they did. 4. General Devins, one of Howard's officers, knew that Jackson was about to fall on his flank, but did not report it to Howard. 5. Howard ordered his reserve Corps to help Sickles capture Jacksons' rearguard. 6. Nearly a mile gap was created by Sickles and Howard between the III and XI Corps. 7. Pickets were posted by the two regiments that were facing west, and they had enough time to alert the rest of the Corps. 8. Devins could have stopped the retreat from becoming a rout. He had several brigades that could have wheeled to face the enemy and be able to have enough time to rally the other units. Devins would not allow it. 9. Howard was not even present with his Corps until the rout was well underway. So much for Jackson being such a good general. The reason why he was so good was because he faced such a bad general. Then, Jackson lost the war for the South by riding out at night, and not telling his picket regiments that he was going to do so. They had no idea that Jackson was out riding.

In essence, Jackson lost the War for the South by getting himself killed, thus allowing such blunders at Gettysburg that allowed a northern victory.

Glory at Chickamuaga

Chickamauga is one of the bloodiest places of the Civil War. Nearly 34,000 died in the bloodiest battle in the Western Theater. And none lost more then the 19th US Infantry. For the two-day battle, the 1,600 Regulars fought on the extreme left of the Union line. They fought with such vigor and discipline that every attack thrown at them ended in disaster. Then, suddenly, the right rolled up like dominoes when Rosecrans made the blunder of creating a gap in his line to cover up a fake gap. They were ordered to hold back the advancing hordes along with Thomas. If they failed, the Union army would be destroyed. Obediantly they fought for several hours. Finally, word came that it was safe to fall back. So, orders were passed to get out as fast as possible. And all troops left; except for the 19th US. Somehow, they recieved no orders to fall back, and so ended up fighting the advancing hordes by themselves. They fought vailantly, by themselves, but, the fire cut down most of the troops as they fought, for fire came from all directions. WIthin twenty minutes, there was no choice left but to surrender, for there weren't anyway that they could escape. The whole regiment had been lost due to a simple overlook.

The Battle of Gettysburg

I find the Battle of Gettysburg to be one of the most violent turning points of history. So much rode upon this battle; independance, or the Union.

It seems intresting that the South came from the north to battle, and the North came from the south. That's what you call ironic.

Anyways, no man felt more upon thier shoulders the probably George Gordon Meade. He was still knew to the command, and had no way to get his command structure organized before Lee came north. Lincoln had his hopes for victory placed completely upon Meade, along with the rest of the North. Every decision he made, would either make or break him, and the Union would go with him if he lost. What a position to find yourself in when you are just made commander of a 90,000-man army.

Lee had alot to do too. The whole hopes of the Confederacy was on him. If he failed to win this battle, then the whole of the hopes of the Confederacy would be shattered. He could not leave the North without proving he had tried his best. And, for Lee, that would turn up to be the bloodiest decision he would have to make.

The battle cost 51,000 casualties, more then half of either armies men. The South downplayed thier losses from 28,000 to only 23,000, but, we know the real truth.

Most losers try to make things not look as bad as they are when they lose.

How I got into the Civil War

I have tried to think of something to write about first, and I thought about this experiance.

I guess I was about 8 when I first got into the Civil War. I had loved to read our encyclopedia (don't ask why, the explanation would take another post), and I had seen pictures of the Civil War. But, for some reason, I had always thought it was between Britian and America, for the Confederate flags somewhat resembled British ones.

Then, I guess it was second grade. I was into the Revolutionary War, and George Washington. I loved the story of John Paul Jones and his defiant line, "I have not yet begun to fight." Then, one day, as I was looking for a good war book, I came across one of the books from the America's Wars series, at least, I think it was called that. I had just read their Revolutionary War book, and when I looked again, I saw one on the Civil War. I picked it up, and my first page I opened to was several soldiers in a cornfield, cheering. I read the caption, and it talked about Northern troops beating back larger Southern forces.

I immediatly was intrested, and checked out the book. We were spending that week up at my Grandparents log cabin up in the Rockies, and I took the book along with me. Each day, we would take the four hour round trip from our school and back, (I'm sure it was an 8 hour round trip for my parents, since they would drop us off, go back to the cabin, and pick us back up). Anyways, during that time, I came to learn about slavery, Gettysburg, the North and the South, and, of course, Lincoln. After reading, and rereading that book, I found a fierce love for it, and my longest standing opinions of the war were founded during that time.

So, I have to thank my stars that I went to school, I guess. Or else, I might never have gotten into the civil war.

Posting

I'm going to try to post either every day, or every other day. Well just see how things work out. I've got a busy life as everybody else does and trying to post is really second in importance as other things. But, I'll post only once every day I do post. I can promise that.

New Blogger....

Hey all.

I'm a new blogger. So, please stay with me on what I say. I don't blog much, even on myspace. So, I'll do my best.