Civil War Battlefield Guide

The Civil War Battlefield Guide (2nd ed.). Conservation Fund, The; Kennedy, Frances H. (ed., principal contributor); & Noonan, Patrick F. (Foreward). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company (1998).

Amazon.com: The Civil War Battlefield Guide (2nd ed.)​

The sesquicentennial [150 years] of the U.S. Civil War begins with the Battle of Fort Sumter, South Carolina, April 12-14, 1861 [2011] and ends with the Battle of Palmito Ranch, Texas, May 12-13,1865 [2015]. Now is the time to start learning and planning upcoming visits to one or more of the 384 principal battlefield sites.

Why? Because the U.S. Civil War was--and still is--a defining period in the history of the United States. And I, for one, will not allow the temporal special interests of the current times to rob me of this important historic opportunity.

Thus, I have begun to build a Civil War library. The first volume is The Civil War Battlefield Guide. And what a foundation for Civil War study this guide will be for our household.

For starters, let's review a few war statistics.

Dead and wounded in the Civil War, 1861-1865

.......................Dead...............Wounded...............Total
Federal..............364,511...........281,881................646,392
Confederate.......260,000...........194,000................454,000
Total.................624,511...........475,881.............1,100,392​

American deaths in service in 11 wars

Revolutionary War, 1775-1783..........................4,435
War of 1812, 1812-1815..................................2,260
Mexican War, 1846-1848................................13,283
Civil War, 1861-1865....................................624,511
Spanish-American War, 1898.............................2,446
World War I, 1917-1918................................110,516
World War II, 1941-1945...............................404,399
Korean War, 1950-1953..................................33,916
Vietnam War, 1964-1973................................58,184
Gulf War (Desert Storm), 1990-1991.....................294***
Iraq War, 2003-May 28, 2010............................4,404***
***These statistics supplied by Wikipedia.​

What I like about The Civil War Battlefield Guide

• Chronological Table of Contents listing battlefields, locations, dates, guide page numbers.
  
• Battlefield articles providing summaries of battlefield causes, leaders, and places; maps (for most battlefields); casualty counts; and battlefield parks or monuments.
  
• Appendix 1: 384 Principal Battlefields listed in alphabetical order by state and then by county or city; maps showing states and counties where the 384 principal battlefields took place.
  
• Appendix 3: Lost and Fragmented Civil War Battlefields due to lack of preservation.
  
• Appendix 4: War Statistics.
  
• Appendix 5: Glossary.
  
• About the Authors section providing brief biographical paragraphs about individuals who contributed the Guide's 384 battlefield articles.
  
• Index.
  
• Size and flexible paperback format give this guide a format usable at home, in the car, and on the battlefield.

How I plan to use The Civil War Battlefield Guide

• Locate battlefields within my state.
  
• Locate battlefields within driving distance.
  
• Locate battlefields where ancestors fought (and died!).
  
• Plan upcoming trips to specific battlefields.
  
• Learn about the Civil War by reading battlefield articles in chronological order.
  
• Learn how certain leaders distinguished themselves (or not) on the battlefield.
  
• Keep alive the memory of the sacrifice and loss (men, homesteads, and places) from a military tragedy that should have been avoided by diplomatic and economic measures.

I hope you find this thread helpful.

...Bob

 

Actually, most of the replies to my original post are off topic.

My intent was to share information about a Civil War battleground guide (book) and explain why I like the book and how I plan on using the book to visit battlegrounds near my home where my ancestors saw battle and died.

I quoted the civil war statistics to show how many soldiers died in the Civil War (in comparison to other wars) as a way of illustrating how critical this war was to our country.

I hope all of you will take an interest in the history of the Civil War during the upcoming sesquicentennial (2011-2015).

The comments about abortion--which is no doubt tragic and I am opposed to abortion--are off topic, as would be any guess at the number of souls not making it to heaven. And please, do not turn this thread into a discussion of how many souls are in heaven or when they reach heaven. I also consider the comments about the tragic and horrible Jewish holocaust to be off topic.

If you are interested in Civil War battlegrounds, Civil War re-enactments, or the history of the Civil War, then please post comments.

I hope I have not offended anyone by the above comments.

...Bob

 

CarPro...

Thank you for your comment.

Fifty years ago, during the Civil War Centennial, I visited Shiloh National Military Park and hiked a guided trail as a Boy Scout. One image still in my mind are the cannonball-lined burial pits for those killed at the Battle of Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862.

Link to the Shiloh National Military Park

From The Civil War Battlefield Guide, p. 48-52

................................Combat Strength..........Casualities
Federal Troops..................65,085....................13,047
Confederate Troops............44,699....................10,699

Shiloh National Military Park, on Route 22 in Shiloh, includes 5,973 acres of the historic battlefield; four of these acres are privately owned.

The tragic carnage of 23,746 men killed, wounded, and missing was a grim warning to the United States and the Confederacy that they faced a long and desperate war.
​

...Bob

 

Interesting. Would you care to tell us more?

...Bob