Nathan Algren (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shiroi_tiger) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2017-01-16 07:27 am
shiroi_tiger) wrote in fandomhigh2017-01-16 07:27 am
Entry tags:
Hands On History of the American Civil War, Monday, Period 2
The class was once again in the danger shop and there wasn't even any complaining from Goodnight. Though that may have been due to the whole post-weekend hangover terrible… terribleness. They were in what could be dubbed 'the countryside' with a number of well dressed (for the 19th century) people surrounding them with carriages and blankets set out to have a lovely day of picnicking.
For what it was worth, Nathan wasn't faring much better. While the weekend had been welcome in its own way, the conclusion of it had left something to be desired. And had involved whisky. A lot of whisky.
"Some of you have probably had more interesting weekends than others," Nathan noted, with all the dignity, grace, and eloquence of a man who wanted to shoot a Winchester through the sun so that it would stop shining in his goddamn eyes, even though he couldn't have been bothered to program the danger shop into a night scenario to avoid that. "So we'll try to keep this lecture short."
And not because they, themselves, were not feeling up to the task today. Really.
Blissfully short, yes.
"Today we will discuss the first battle of Manassas," Goodnight said, keeping his hat down so the fake sun stayed out of his eyes and he didn't do something unfortunate like pass out. "More importantly, how the people of the nearby cities reacted to the battle."
By picnicking. WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL, PEOPLE?
"See," Nathan said, "the people who lived nearby had never really seen war. They'd heard stories of it, of course. Maybe they were raised by people who had experience with it, parents or grandparents who had fought in the Revolution, or the War of 1812. But they'd never seen it themselves. And they didn't have television or the internet to make the reality of war that much more accessible to them than it might have been otherwise. All they knew was that something was going to happen down there on that battlefield, and it was going to be big."
Well. They hadn't been wrong.
"It was believed to be a glorious time," Goody said with the least kind smile he had. "Blind to the fact that war is, as your General Sherman put it, 'Cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it."
He may hold precious few grievances against the Union, but he still had to make a face at bringing up Sherman. It was just a kneejerk thing, okay?
"The day began with Union forces under Brig. Gen. McDowell were obliged by the public opinion of the north to launch an assault on the new Confederate capitol of Richmond, Virginia. Despite the lack of training for the volunteer army. They made camp just outside of Manassas Junction and, well…"
There was a commotion down the hill from the class. The loud booming of artillery, the crack of rifles, the dull roar of men and horses.
"It would be difficult to list everything that went badly down there in the time we have available," Nathan said, and actually not just because his head was killing him and the sound of artillery certainly wasn't helping that, now. "But for a quick summary, we've got a battlefield full of untrained men. People who hadn't been tested on the battlefield. We've got two flags - the stars and stripes and the stars and bars - that look unfortunately similar in the confusion of battle. We have a wealth of different uniforms, as the volunteer units all made their own. Frontal attacks, infantry failing to protect exposed artillery, no intelligence - military intelligence - to speak of... And of the 35,000 men that McDowell went in with, he was only able to commit 18,000 to the battle. Likewise, the Confederate forces were only able to commit about 18,000 out of their own force of 32,000. That was what spectators were treated to when they came to see the battle of Manassas. Bull Run, as we called it on the Union side."
Basically, everything had gone to hell. Unseasoned, vicious, bloody hell.
That would be why neither of the teachers were even bothering to glance down the hill toward the battle.
"Once the battle ended and the dead counted, it was decided a victory for the budding Confederacy. But not exactly an easy one to swallow," Goody said. "It would be a long, hard fight between both sides before this war was through."
For what it was worth, Nathan wasn't faring much better. While the weekend had been welcome in its own way, the conclusion of it had left something to be desired. And had involved whisky. A lot of whisky.
"Some of you have probably had more interesting weekends than others," Nathan noted, with all the dignity, grace, and eloquence of a man who wanted to shoot a Winchester through the sun so that it would stop shining in his goddamn eyes, even though he couldn't have been bothered to program the danger shop into a night scenario to avoid that. "So we'll try to keep this lecture short."
And not because they, themselves, were not feeling up to the task today. Really.
Blissfully short, yes.
"Today we will discuss the first battle of Manassas," Goodnight said, keeping his hat down so the fake sun stayed out of his eyes and he didn't do something unfortunate like pass out. "More importantly, how the people of the nearby cities reacted to the battle."
By picnicking. WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL, PEOPLE?
"See," Nathan said, "the people who lived nearby had never really seen war. They'd heard stories of it, of course. Maybe they were raised by people who had experience with it, parents or grandparents who had fought in the Revolution, or the War of 1812. But they'd never seen it themselves. And they didn't have television or the internet to make the reality of war that much more accessible to them than it might have been otherwise. All they knew was that something was going to happen down there on that battlefield, and it was going to be big."
Well. They hadn't been wrong.
"It was believed to be a glorious time," Goody said with the least kind smile he had. "Blind to the fact that war is, as your General Sherman put it, 'Cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it."
He may hold precious few grievances against the Union, but he still had to make a face at bringing up Sherman. It was just a kneejerk thing, okay?
"The day began with Union forces under Brig. Gen. McDowell were obliged by the public opinion of the north to launch an assault on the new Confederate capitol of Richmond, Virginia. Despite the lack of training for the volunteer army. They made camp just outside of Manassas Junction and, well…"
There was a commotion down the hill from the class. The loud booming of artillery, the crack of rifles, the dull roar of men and horses.
"It would be difficult to list everything that went badly down there in the time we have available," Nathan said, and actually not just because his head was killing him and the sound of artillery certainly wasn't helping that, now. "But for a quick summary, we've got a battlefield full of untrained men. People who hadn't been tested on the battlefield. We've got two flags - the stars and stripes and the stars and bars - that look unfortunately similar in the confusion of battle. We have a wealth of different uniforms, as the volunteer units all made their own. Frontal attacks, infantry failing to protect exposed artillery, no intelligence - military intelligence - to speak of... And of the 35,000 men that McDowell went in with, he was only able to commit 18,000 to the battle. Likewise, the Confederate forces were only able to commit about 18,000 out of their own force of 32,000. That was what spectators were treated to when they came to see the battle of Manassas. Bull Run, as we called it on the Union side."
Basically, everything had gone to hell. Unseasoned, vicious, bloody hell.
That would be why neither of the teachers were even bothering to glance down the hill toward the battle.
"Once the battle ended and the dead counted, it was decided a victory for the budding Confederacy. But not exactly an easy one to swallow," Goody said. "It would be a long, hard fight between both sides before this war was through."
Re: Picnic
Re: Picnic