At 4:30 AM on April 12, 1861, Confederate batteries opened fire upon Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, off the coast of South Carolina. This would be the beginning of the four-year-long Civil War.

The 150th anniversary of that event--almost bloodless, in and of itself; yet the precursor to unimaginable bloodletting--is just a few hours away.

For the past several days, I have been watching (on DVR) Ken Burns' multi-part series on the Civil War, that originally aired on PBS over 20 years ago.

The late Shelby Foote--one of the foremost Civil War historians of our time; probably only Bruce Catton, who passed away in 1978, could rival him--is interviewed periodically throughout it. Foote's observations are both amusing and enlightening.

Does anyone else here enjoy Civil War history?

The Civil War By Ken Burns was fantastic. I've seen the mini-series and I also have it on audio tape.

Oh heck yeah!

I lived in Charleston for a while and visited Fort Sumter it was awesome. But please from now on use the correct title. It was the war of northern aggression, there was nothing civil about it.

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A gun in the hands of a free man frightens and angers the autocrat, not because he fears the power of the gun, but, rather, the spirit of the man who holds it.

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I own the series and watch it every now and then. Bought it when it came out but dummy me bought it in VHS. I'm a history nut in general and Civil War history in particular.

This was in yesterday's Detroit News and I thought it was quite interesting.....

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Courtesy of Swissman

A gun in the hands of a free man frightens and angers the autocrat, not because he fears the power of the gun, but, rather, the spirit of the man who holds it.

ANONYMOUS

Actually, many woman on both sides fought in disguise. I have a book on that somewhere around here. Semi-interesting read. I'll give you the name of the book when I find it.

The article stated around 400 were known to have served

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Courtesy of Swissman

A gun in the hands of a free man frightens and angers the autocrat, not because he fears the power of the gun, but, rather, the spirit of the man who holds it.

ANONYMOUS

At least you didn't buy it in Beta.

(By the time of the show's original airing, however--around 1989 or 1990, I think--the VCR format war was already over, and VHS had won.)

I enjoy the mini-series despite Ken Burns. He's just a really humble man...

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"The ultimate decision about what is accepted as right and wrong will be made not by individual human wisdom but by the disappearance of the groups that have adhered to the "wrong" beliefs."
-- F.A. Hayek

All the Ken Burns stuff is excellent. The Civil war one is the most compelling, but the baseball and jazz ones are also fascinating.

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