The Civil Wargasm

The reading of Confederates in the Attic this week started with a visit with Shelby Foote in his home in Tennessee.  Foote is a well respected expert on the Civil War, who appeared and became famous in Ken Burn's documentary, The Civil War.  He speaks of the war much as Southerners must have in the 1860's.  He uses similies and metaphors, "If you look at American history as the life span of a man, the Civil War represents the great trauma of our adolescence."  As Horwitz puts it every answer Foote gave was, "a perfect sound bite."  Foote is a true Southerner; he is drawn to the land, the people, the culture, and that it's not the North.  Shelby Foote's favorite aspect of the Civil War was the Battle of Shiloh.  Shiloh was a major battle in the War's western theater and marked the begging of Ulysses S. Grant's rise to fame; this not being why Foote was so enamored with the battle.  Foote's great-grandfather fought in the battle and Shelby had visited the site over 20 times; when asked what drew him to the battle he replied, "If you've drawn or written about a particular historical incident in a particular place, the placebelongs to you in a sense.  I feel that way about Shiloh....I swear I can see and hear soldiers coming through the trees."  Shelby Foote has a very romantic view of the Civil War and his passion is evident in his musings with Horwitz.

Civil War enthusiast Shelby Foote.  Courtesy of Tumblr.

In Horwitz's visit to Shiloh, he encounters an anomaly.  Wolfgang Hochbruck, an ex-German military man wearing a blue Federal uniform.  If that's not weird enough, he was doing the exact thing Horwitz was and guessed his name.  Both were researching to write books on the memory of the Civil War and Wolfgang had emailed Tony months before to compare notes, but Tony never received the message.  Wolfgang was a professor of history who taught the Civil War in Germany.  The two a lot in common, so Horwitz joined Wolfgang on his tour of Shiloh.  The two chatted and hiked for awhile and had dinner that night.  As they parted Wolfgang told Tony, "I'm glad you didn't before [answer the email], it was much better that we met on the field of battle."  What a crazy coincidence.

Horwitz's trip into Mississippi was filled with drinking and racists.  Vicksburg was filled with casinos and had lost touch with some of it's past.  One thing is worth talking about and that's the Minie Ball Pregnancy story.  During the Civil War recruits were taught to aim low to improve their hit ratio.  The guns and bullets weren't terribly accurate.  Even with the invention of the rifled barrel and Minie Ball.  A smooth barrel is like throwing a knuckle ball in baseball, while a rifled barrel puts spin on the bullet like throwing a fast ball.  Unfortunately, curveballs, sliders, etc also require spin so you still didn't quite know where the bullet was going to go still.  Anyway, aiming low led to a lot of soldiers being wouned in the lower abdomen and groin.  Legend has it that one soldier was shot straight through the groin and the bullet hit a woman in the groin standing in the distance.  9 months later she had a baby.  The couple found each other after the war, married and had two more children conventionally.

Minie Ball Pregnancy exhibit in Vicksburg.  Courtesy of Greetings from Mississippi.

The highlight of our reading this week was the really long chapter on the Civil Wargasm with Robert Lee Hodge.  This sounds like it would be one helluva trip to take over the summer.  Not with Rob though, I want a change of clothes, a shower, and not to be crammed in a car in the Southern heat with a man wearing a thick wool uniform.  If anyone who enjoys shorts, showers, and beds wants to join in just let me know.  Rob and Tony took Tony's car and started driving the South for a weeks time, following the path of the war; starting at Manassass (Bull Run) and ending at Appomattox with Lee's surrender to Grant.  I'm not going to go into much detail about the Wargasm experiences because i don't have the time, they went to so many places and Rob had so many opinions.  Although I did think hiking in to Bloody Lane at Burnside's Bridge was pretty cool.  My favorite part of the Wargasm didn't occur in that week of driving though.  It occurred five days later when Rob called to get Tony to reenact Pickett's Charge of Cemetery Hill at Gettysburg.  I think this would have been so fun and exhilarating to do, not just because it's historical importance but also because of the crowd that formed to cheer them on while they stormed the hill.  It was probably just an adrenaline rush but Horwitz finally has his "period rush" (the high reenactors feel when traveling back in time) making Pickett's Charge.  I'd definitely have to "farb out" (Rob's phrase for not being fully authentic) but I think an experience like this would be a once in a lifetime and unique experience.

Artist rendition of Pickett's Charge.  Courtesy of Britannica.

"A University is just a bunch of buildings gathered around a library" - Shelby Foote