The Third of July - 1863

The high water mark of the Confederacy came on July 3rd 1863 (though in effect it was doomed from the beginning - a confederacy of states had been tried before but found wanting, giving rise to the federal system of government in America).

On July 3rd, Grant was on the verge of splitting the Confederacy in two by gaining control of the Mississippi river from New Orleans north through St. Louis. He had laid siege to Vicksburg Mississippi and the Confederates were forced to surrender as Union gunboats forced their way past rebel defenses. It was only a question of time given the iron will of Grant.

That day also, Pickett's men charged towards 'the angle' on Cemetery Ridge only to be repulsed in bitter hand to hand fighting. Pickett moaned the loss of his division, but in the grand scheme of things, the battle on the western frontier was the mortal blow to the confederacy, not the loss at Gettysburg.

Later, in 1864, Sherman's infamous march to the sea split the confederacy again. It was a devastating campaign that exploited the weaknesses of the CSA's system of government as much as anything else.

But it was through that bloody period that the last vestiges of sovereign statehood, that could place one state's interest above the whole, was laid to rest. And remarkably - and finally, on this continent - slavery was put to rest.

The last civil war veterans were still alive in the late 1930s and the blog 'About Last Night' put up these two YouTube clips of the Civil War vets.

The first clip is at 'the angle' on Cemetery Ridge - the recreation of the rebel yell is interesting - imagine 2,000 young men advancing on your position making that noise!



This clip is a montage of footage from the 1938 reunion of Gettysburg veterans - these were all young men (many but pre-teen drummers, color guards, etc.) at the time of the battle given that it is the 75th anniversary:



My only known tie to a civil war veteran was my grandfather's acquaintance with Texas John Slaughter of Douglas, Arizona. I suspect that my grandfather and possibly my father, as a boy, knew a number of civil war veterans.

To veterans all, we salute you and thank you for the freedom you have purchased for us. We are eternally grateful