Today In History - A Beginning To The End of Bloodshed on American Soil

On April 9, a war weary commanding general of American forces said the following:

"It would be useless and therefore cruel to provoke the further effusion of blood, and I have arranged to meet with General Grant with a view to surrender."

The yar was 1865, the American general was Robert E. Lee and he would soon surrender to another war weary American general - Ulysses S. Grant. They would meet that morning in Appomattox Court House, Virginia. No not inside a court house, but within the home of Wilmer McLean. Appomattox Court House was the name of the village where that home was located. The "effusion of blood" to which Lee sought to put an end was that of the American soldiers who had fought valiantly against one another during the Civil War, the bloodiest war of our Nation's history. It is estimated by some that there were up to 700,000 human deaths during that war although the more readily accepted number is approximately 620,000. That is more war dead than our nation suffered in all the wars from the Revolution up through and including Vietnam.

My sentiments about the Civil War, its causes, its battles, its end, its aftermath are many but there is one thought about it all, the last line of a book, the story of a southern woman who lived though it, that I believe I share:

"But for us - for Dan and me we could almost as easily give up each other as those terrible, beloved days. They are the very fiber of us." (1)

Those days she mentioned were the days of the Civil War. Yes, in truth, the Civil War has become, in part, the very fiber of our nation, as today we stand one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. In that same book, just above the last lines, the lady's granddaughter was quoted as saying:

"How thankful I am that 'Old Glory' floats alike over North and South, now!"

So too am I. So, today I have taken a few moments to bow my head to pay homage to they who gave their all in the war between the North and the South; we owe them a lot for the shaping of our nation. And, as was the young lass quoted above, I am thankful I did not have to live through it myself and am hopeful it will never come to such again.

All the best,
Glenn B

1. A Virginia Girl in the Civil War, 1861-1865: Being a Record of the Actual Experiences of the Wife of a Confederate Officer: Ed. by Myrta Lockett Avary. Page 384. Electronic Edition, http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/avary/avary.html