Deflection

This phrase was spoken by General William Tecumseh Sherman at the battle of Vicksburg, and this phrase speaks volumes on the human character. It is this type of phrase that people have a hart time understanding. Why would rational troops go blindly against a fortification knowing that they were going to died? During the Gettysburg address, they brought in as well know orator to speak for over an hour trying to make sense of the slaughter of humans, but the people got board with his eloquent words that fell hollow. Then President Abraham Lincoln got up, with his weak voice, simply spoke 272 word the silenced the audience. He was close the an understanding of the slaughter of human flesh.

The Confederates had plenty of time to build a fortress around Vicksburg, and they did. With the Mississippi River, it is easy to understand them installing canons to rain canon balls down on the boats in the river. Also, as the Confederates knew, the Union Troops would be coming in from the east, and the Confederates were well intrenched to hold the Union Troops from advancing. And, sure enough, the troops came in from both directions.

For some reason, the Union troops came in thinking that they could just march through the Confederate’s fortresses. As the Union troops were marching into the fortifications, they were slaughter. This brought on William Sherman’s comments about murdering his troops. This goes back to the basic premise of this essay: why would perfectly rational troops march into a slaughter? The answer is so complicated that it seems like someone every now and then will type an essay about the phenomenon.

As for the North, the answer to the phenomenon may be easy to answer basic questions, but there is more to the phenomenon. No person should be owned. The North thought that owning people was evil and it had to be stopped. As for what most people are more familiar with WW II, Hitler was evil. However, regarding the human psyche, there are more reasons that the North fought against the South.

As for my reasons for joining the military, I realized that there was something big that needed to be protected for this country. Maybe the bast way to describe it, after studying the US history, to protect the unalienable right that are in our US Constitution. The found fathers had set up a government by the people and for the people. As the years progressed, this country become rich with history based blood of the citizens. This makes for a mighty invisible force that needs to be protected for the generations to come. It is this invisible force is what is worth fighting for our citizens.

This type of invisible force is probably was felt by the North’s troops as they invaded the South. The owning of people had to stop, since they had read about the mistreatment of the enslaved in the cotton plantations. They felt that all people were created equally, as stated in the Deceleration of Independence. As far as the Constitution was concern, it states with part of the preamble stating, “we the people.” It is true that many of the Founding Fathers owned the enslaved, but, like George Washington, freed his slaves after Martha has died. During the time of the Founding Fathers, many of them in the east owned the enslaved, but they were primary house slaves and they were treated well. At the time of the Civil War in the North, the house servants were paid and no longer owned. The issue was that that cotton has become a huge commodity that increased the need for the enslaved. The standing for a major issue of protection then rights in the US Constitution becomes a major issue for a person to join the military. Although this is the reason that most of the men became solders for the North, the camaraderie becomes the bigger issue.

To explain the issues for camaraderie, it is probably best to look at the South, since practically all of the troops did not come from plantations or have anything to do with the aristocratic lifestyle. A company would be from recruiting a city or county depending on the size of the population, and the companies would consist of family members, relatives, and friends. They all know each other very well. What do the troops do? They make buddies. That still holds today. As with any group, there is computation. The company has all of the feelings of a group. In the site of battle, it becomes a group mentality. When the Colonel yells charge, the group marches into battle without any feelings for themselves. If a buddy is killed next to them, they are going to take revenge by killing one on the other side. The strong prevails. This is when General William Sherman yells, “this is murder; bring those troops back,” during a march against a fortress. The force mentality is only concern with wining and not how many men are killed in there company.

In this environment, the solder does not care about a dead bodies from the other side. As seen in the battle at Shiloh, with the front line going back and forth stomping the bodies into the ground. They were no longer recognizable. But, as reviewing Civil War Cemeteries, there is always lots of head shone marked as unknown. The families that raised the solder has know idea on where their family member is buried. It is a sad way to end a promising life.

Men fight as a close group, and it is a personal loss when one of them go down. Many times it has been shown with the WWII solders that a platoon would not buddy up with the new recruits stating that it is too hard to loose another buddy, although this does put the recruit into a situation of being killed as a green solder. It is the camaraderie that keeps solders fighting.

What is a life? What does a life mean? These are tough questions. It seems like our day to day life does reflect a perspective on life, and some of it has to do with our family culture. For the most part, we feel that we, our family, and friends are going to live forever. With people now easily living in to their nineties, it seems like that statement is true, but it is not. After a person has been around for ninety years, they become part of our everyday life. When it comes to death, it is shocking, since people should be able to live forever. Then the funerals are special events and they should be. After seeing all of the physical and mental activity related to a person, it is hard to only see the head stone. But, what about those that are buried in unmarked graves stones? They never had a chance to live forever. As for those that were stomped in the mud until they were unrecognizable, what does their life mean? We all have the same opportunity in live. These are points to ponder.

There is no answer to William Sherman’s statement, since it is too complex for people to answer. Why were these troops going in for the slaughter? When General US Grant got to Vicksburg and got an understanding of what was going on in the area. He laid out a plan to siege that city, since the Union had the city surrounded, including the Mississippi River. With this plan in effect, then why was there any troops killed? All they had to do was to wait until the city ran out of supplies, and they did after 46 days. Maybe hind sight is 20:20. The reason that men going in to a slaughter is because human feelings are involved, and the reason that we cannot answer that a life means is also because human feelings are involved making all statements on terribly difficult to answer. However, we can find comfort in the time that we put in caring about others.

Roger