Johnny Reb II Amstrad CPC

b64b6dfc6948ae8b079c1ddbeab80546fb66c7d5 2400x3120

en

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MC Lothlorien Ltd.

1

>There are very few people in any society that actually want a war, >especially a Civil War. Certainly the Northern and Southern States of >the USA didn't want to go to war. >They found themselves in a conflict on Sunday July 21st 1861 that >neither really wanted but from which neither could escape. Although >the first shots had been ordered by the Confederate States in April, >it wasn't until the skirmish at Bull Run on that Sunday morning that >either side was fully committed to war. On paper you would have >expected the Union forces to have held the upper hand. They certainly >had more regular soldiers but they were heavily committed to the Indian >front and this meant that both sides had to depend upon militia-men and >in some cases short term volunteers neither of which had any real >training and both lacking in discipline. >The occupations of the combatants was as varied as the uniforms that >they wore - it was not unusual for Confederate soldiers to wear blue >uniforms which had the predictable effect of throwing the Union forces >into disarray. The New York Heavy Artillery had over 60 different >occupations represented within its ranks. Over 70 of the men were >farmers or labourers but there were also two musicians, two seamen,  >five painters, four bakers and believe it or not 12 soldiers. >The Confederate force was not quite so varied but had farmers, >labourers, students, carpenters and of course the "gentlemen". >It was this background of "out door", "cultured" life that gave >the south its initial advantage. When volunteers left for the >lines from the Southern states they often took their own horses and >used their peacetime riding skills to very good effect Although >examples are few and far between there certainly were cases where >the Civil War split families and "set brother against brother" - >Billy Yank versus Johnny Reb. it is difficult to imagine the human >effect of such a situation but there is the absolute certainty that >mothers in both the North and South were crying themselves to sleep >for the four years that the war lasted. > -- <cite>Cassette cover</cite>