Gettysburg...When Men were Men!

Gettysburg…When Men were Men!

 

By Dr. Phil Taverna

 

This is another great book about Gettysburg. If you loved the Gingrich book, this is very similar. But there are some major differences. Newt spent a great deal of time writing about the artillery.  You could almost feel the vibrations and noise as the artillery fired and the enemy tried to take command of the guns. It was sheer lunacy and barbaric by many accounts.

 

Ralph Peter’s book Cain at Gettysburg moves the focus more to the infantry trying to take over the artillery. He creates a few characters that we follow in the book. Some from the north others from the south. There is not much reference to Cain at all in the book, but it appears to be related to the infamous Cain and Abel. Brothers in arms against brothers in arms or blood against blood.

 

The action scenes seem to spend more time describing limbs flying and bodies convulsing as the bullets finish their journey of finding some sanctity of death. And there were some heroics by leaders that could have moved to the rear with the injuries they endured…Instead led the troops in some cases to victory.

 

One such man was a fellow Pole. Colonel Krzyzanowski who after some severe injuries lived a long life. There was also some local color added by using the actual German language in some of the dialogue. If you like reading actual German dialogue than more power to you.

 

And the book showed General Meade as a timid engineer who was put in command a few days before the Gettysburg battle. And by all accounts he won the war. But he would rather be building lighthouses. General Lee even though this was a fiction book was shown to be an idiot in constant horn locking with General Longstreet.

 

In most of these battles it appears that the army who had the high ground and did the defending numbers being comparable was going to win. Even though the field was littered with thousands of bodies and parts, can we really say which brother was the winner. It seems that the last army to leave the field of battle a live was the winner.

 

The reason for war from each side is interesting. It is like discussing the benefits of ObamaCare. In the end it really doesn’t make any sense if it doesn’t help anyone.

 

Lee claims the war was not about slavery but about civility. ” About the challenge to a civilization of beauty and refinement posed by a brute mechanical force.”  This is an interesting thought. In the end did the South who may have been or felt they were more refined did not want to give into the world without that refinement. It appears that the bottom line was the South wanted to live the way they wanted and the North had leaders that thought the South would not fight very hard for that right. But 600,000 plus deaths later they deserved to fly the colors of their choosing. The real crime is that American brothers were dying on both sides of the battle.

 

General Hood had a slightly different take. “The war was about freedom to say this is mine and it ain’t yours, so keep your dirty hands off it.” It is about states rights. Hood had no kind words for the Yankee bankers. Couldn’t understand why congress sees more good in a factory than a cotton field. So it was all about freedom. It is crazy. When the Union was formed there was slavery. And the politicians our founders never brought up the slavery issue because the union would not have been formed if they had. Some 50 years later they wanted to change the rules. I always wonder why they just didn’t let the South succeed.

 

I guess it was a different world back then. Back then a man’s word meant something. And he was held to his commitment. Today there are so many do overs, no one can tell what is right or wrong. And the people that run the sanitarium believe that if they make one more rule or one more law the world will be a better place to live. They will find their Camelot.

 

Fools they are! If a man or woman’s word carries no weight, there is no law or rule that will bring justice to their community. Especially in a community of takers, if I take a hamburger today, you better know I will try to take more on Friday.

 

These  battles seem to come down to a comedy of errors. The strategy for the battle starts out well planned. But the leaders/politicians do not seem capable of following the game plan. The side with the biggest screw-ups usually loses and has the most casualties.  The sad part is that the Civil War had many such battles with a cost of many lives and limbs.

 

This is a great book. and Peters brings the book down to a very personal level.  He uses a fair amount of military terms so have your dictionary ready.

 

But to look back at the folly of this war, it didn’t make much sense. Not only did the so called slaves have any rights, but in the end the dead lost all their god given rights.

And it makes me wonder about Obama and his liberal army of followers. One lie after another but Obama can’t seem to get anything right for 5 years. Everything seems to be a cover up. His economy is a disaster. ObamaCare is a joke and will get funnier as the comedians really shift into gear.

 

I hope and pray that like the civil war where you had blind brother fighting blind brother, it made no sense. But once the North entered the battle, the South had to defend her honor. The problem is that grown men and women today don’t know when to stop.

 

The liberals have brought shame and dishonor to this country. We can’t even balance a budget, while a liberal president wants and demands to spend more. Maybe someday the honor of a person’s word will return. But a guy like Obama has not lived up to any of his promises. And he is not smart enough to listen to reason. It took 600,000 plus deaths to find reason after the civil war.

 

In World War II millions had to die and reason was not found until 2 nuclear weapons found their marks.

 

I think it is time for America to return to the sane and reasonable mode. We must understand that we can’t take care of all the problems in the world. We have more than enough prosperity to make most people in America happy and satisfied. It is time for America to find reason and cast the liberals out of our bureaucracies and our political offices.  It is time to find peace.  Liberals seem to get no satisfaction. Already they are arming for the next war of propaganda! Stop spending is not in their vocabulary!

 

There was no reason in this country before the civil war, why should there be reason now!

 

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