fandomhigh | Civil War Re-Enactment; Monday, Period Three [ 06/15 ].

You know, if you really thought about it and had to program them all into the Danger Shop, a lot of these open battlefields looked awfully similar. "Today," he greeted the class, "we're going to be talking about something bright and cheerful, and that's the Battle of Antietam, or Sharpsburg, which took place September 27, 1862 right here in this fine state of Maryland. First battle on Northern soil and the..." Come on, Jasper, you can say it, "...bloodiest single-day battle of American history, 23,000 casualties."

"Union McClellan launched an attack on Confederate Lee's defense by Antietam Creek, while Union Hooker sent in his own for Lee's left flank. And, eventually, Union Burnside came around to get the right. With incredible timing, Confederate Hill's division from Harper's Ferry arrived on the scene to divide Burnside's faction with a surprise counter-attack. Lee threw in his entire force, while McClellen only worked with a portion of his own, and by the end of the day, the armies were at a standstill. Skirmishes still continued through the 18th while Lee tried to pull his army back south of the river. This lead to an inconclusive victory on either side, but it is considered a general victory for the North. McClellan failed to destroy Lee's army, having kind of done a piss-poor job of things, but he had succeeded in putting a halt to Lee's invasion of Maryland."

"The retreat was enough of a victory that it's said to have given President Lincoln enough confidence to release his Emancipation Proclamation, which I'm now handing out to you, which not only set up the framework for the emancipation of slaves, crippling the majority of the Southern economic system, but also discouraged British and French governments from recognizing the Confederacy and changed the goals of the war to not just be about reuniting the country, but also about the issue of slavery."

"Look it over, share any thoughts if you've got them, and then grab your weapons and get to the field. One of you Confederates hold off a moment and then come in to represent Hill's reinforcements."

Or something. Man, this class was ridiculous...

"And, for the love of God, don't actually hurt yourself. We really," really, "don't need to re-enact the bloodiest part."

[[ OCD is ~~on the way~~ still probably making you Civil War nerd cry! Class Roster and Syllabus ]]

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Joan was similiarly confused by the whole thing, though she was also taking notes.

She did, however, lean over to Penelope and whisper, "Hi."

Edited 2009-06-15 14:17 (UTC)

"Hi," Penelope whispered, leaning too. "Do you get this, Joan?"

"Not so much," Joan admitted. "I mean, the facts, yeah. But I can't even begin to understand why people would think that killing like that would solve anything."

"Me either. Sounds particularly senseless in my opinion," she said. "And I can't seem to figure in the bright and cheerful."

Joan nodded. "I think maybe he was being sarcastic?"

At least she hoped.

Penelope stole a quick glance up at Professor Hale. "I suppose if one is going to be sarcastic over something, the loss of lives and tremendous bloodshed would be it?" She shuddered. "I cannot imagine the gore."

"Me either," Joan said, wrinkling her nose.

"Aside from this, how was your weekend?" she asked, deciding to catch up with her while they were talking.

"Pretty quiet," Joan said. "I hung out on the deck Friday night and made s'mores, but mostly just stayed in my room the rest of the weekend. You?"

"Same with me, except I didn't venture much from my room," she said. "Hurley stopped by last night and we visited."

"Oh, yeah?" Joan asked. "How's that all going? Last time we talked was..." when they kissed ... "during the whole crazy hormone thing."

Grinning a bit, she nodded. "It's going just fine. We're good friends. Close friends. He's great."

"That's good, I'm glad," Joan said. "How come you aren't interested in dating him again?"

"Um," she hesitated, thinking of a reasonable way to say why she cannot. "I think we've both just agreed to be friends. My home situation won't allow for my dating." It sounded ridiculous, even to her own ears.

Joan raised an eyebrow at that. "Is your mom still trying to force you to marry that guy at home?"

This was the last conversation she wanted to have here. "Joan," she pleaded, "let's not talk about this here, okay? Please?" And she did not at all steal a glance over at Hurley ~~if he was there~~. Except she kind of did.

"Okay, sure," Joan said. "But if you want to talk at all, you know where I am."

"Thank you," she replied, relieved. "And I know. Maybe I will stop by later or tomorrow..." She should explain to Joan what was going to happen, shouldn't she?

Joan nodded. "I'll be around."

"Are you seeing anyone, Joan?" she asked, curious.

"No, I was sort of dating Marco, but he's gone for the summer and," she shrugged. "I dunno."

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