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384 Major Battles… 625,000 Dead… More than any other historical period in our nation’s history, the American Civil War defined who we were and what we would become. It was a time when the bonds that united us together- bonds that had been forged in a war for Independence and two other major wars- were severed completely, and the growing hostilities between the Northern and Southern states erupted into four long and bloody years of civil war. A Cause Lost… It was a time when the South sought to preserve their “peculiar institution,” an institution that was the backbone of the South’s plantation system; an institution that helped to grow and distribute cotton, the plant that made the South the wealthiest region of the United States. To most Southerners, slavery was the last defense against the growing power of the North’s industrial might, and Southern legends such as Robert E. Lee, “Stonewall” Jackson, and J.E.B. Stuart fought to preserve the prestige of Dixie. A Union Preserved… It was a time when great leaders such as Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses U. Grant, and Generals Sherman and McClellan sought to preserve a faltering Union that was rushing into civil war. The boys in blue valiantly fought to preserve the Union, and their ultimate victory helped to insure the future prosperity of the nation. We Will Remember… Even though the war came to an end more than 130 years ago, hundreds and thousands of Americans- both young and old- are still fascinated by the causes and effects of the war, and spend countless hours studying the conflict. Even to this day, some battles are still being waged: an attempt by Southern heritage groups to preserve their Confederate heritage has met with fierce resistance from many political groups arguing that the Confederacy should forever be forgotten. But it is right that we remember. More Americans died in the Civil War than in the Revolutionary War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War…combined. Such sacrifice should never be forgotten. Those Sacred Fields… But those five long years are over. This country’s deep and seemingly mortal wounds have been healed through time. And those valiant men and women who helped forge this nation less than 150 years ago are long gone. Today, only their dreams and memories live. And their dieing grounds. As every year goes by, hundreds of acres of these most sacred fields are being swallowed up in the name of progress and technology. While many hundreds of these battlefields have been graciously preserved by caring citizens and government agencies, still greater numbers of our nation’s Civil War battlefields are fading into historical oblivion. The Power of the Vision… And so the goals of this site are many: to catalog the many existing battlefields found throughout the country, to bring together other Civil War buffs interested in discussing our sacred fields, to break the boundaries of North and South and black and white and unite for the common goal of preserving our nation’s greatest battlefields, and to allow those who cannot travel to the battlefields to still experience some of the magic found at these sites. And as you explore this site, I hope you remember to honor these deathless fields, and allow the power of the vision to pass into your soul… |