Today, July 3rd, is the anniversary of the Union victory at Gettysburg in 1863. While I'm basking in our victory against the rebels (both then and now), I thought I'd share with all of you my favorite film depiction of not just Gettysburg but of the entire Civil War. It's from a History Channel special from several years ago, and with great respect to the 1990s movie of the same title, I think it embraces realities of the war that the movie chose to sanitize. Yes, it's also dramatized, but to me it's effectively the Saving Private Ryan of the Civil War, in that it tells the stories of those on all sides of the battle while getting down and dirty in the trenches. If you're only going to watch one part of it, watch this one.
Go on, try to tell me you don't have your hair standing on the back of your neck. Tell me that seeing the Iron Brigade completely own the rebels doesn't make you wish you could jump in and help them. Tell me that as you watch it you're not both in awe of the courage and commitment of the soldiers while also repelled that so many would fight for something so terrible. Finally, tell me that you never realized that we could have lost it all, if not at Gettysburg than somewhere else. Sometimes it's incredibly difficult to comprehend. But if you can get close, then you can see that the Civil War was unlike any other war in American history before or since.
So happy Victory Day, on July 3rd and July 4th!
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