A number of friends have asked me why the American Civil War? I think what they want to know is what interest should the American Civil War hold for a New Zealander, it had nothing to do with our country or our history.
I have tried to explain that it is an interesting time in the history of the world not just America. So I thought that I would try and explain my interest in the American Civil War in this blog by listing the top 10 things that I think are important and interesting about this period.
1. The reasons for the war
Most people think the American Civil War started in 1861 because of Slavery and for most people at the time it did but the causes of more complex that one issue. As the war went on it became more about slavery especially when Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862.
Many of the soldiers at the time took up arms for different reasons. A great deal of southerners feel that the issue of "States' Rights" was why they were fighting. Put simply the state had the right to succeed from the United States of America and no longer abided by its laws. On the other hand many of the Northern side were fighting to hold the Union together and pointed to the Constitution.
There were many economic issues as well. Many of the northern states were modern and industrialised relying on paid labour while the Southern states were agricultural and relied on the slave work force.
There were also some tariff's that were affecting the Northern factory owners and workers that had been put in place over the years by the Democrats and mainly Southern votes.
Shelly Foote tells a story that sums up why most soldiers were fighting in the war:
"Early in the conflict a squad of Union soldiers closed in on a ragged Johnny Reb. Figuring that he did not own slaves, nor had much interest in the constitutional question of secession, they asked him: "What are you fighting for, anyhow?" The Confederate replied: "I'm fighting because you're down here.""2. It’s a time of history’s most famous hero’s and people
Some you may know from history Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Stonewall Jackson and John Brown.
Some lesser known but equally as important figures are
· Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain 
· Nathan Bedford Forrest
· Philip Henry Sheridan
· William Tecumseh Sherman
· James Longstreet
· Mary Ann Bickerdyke
· Booker T. Washington
· Walt Whitman
During my trip I will very likely mentioning most of these people and their impact on this time in history.
3. Both sides spoke English
.......and were mostly literate. There are hundreds of thousands if not millions of written artifacts about the American Civil War from both sides. It is rare in a conflict of this size that you get easy access to both sides of the story.
4. David and Goliath
The North was much larger than the South. The North had about 22 Million and the South 9 million but about 3.5 million of the South's Population were Slaves, the North had about 400,000 slaves at the beginning of the War mainly in the border states.
Also important was that the Northern states firearms production was 97% while the Southern was a mere 3%.
5. Technology
The American Civil War is known as the first modern war as there were many new technical advances before and during the war. Chief among these were,
· New weapons including
o Rifles
o Repeating Rifles
o The Minié ball
o New artillery
· Ironclads and Submarines
· Balloons
· The Railroad
· The Telegraph
· Photography
· and a number of medical advances
At the beginning of the war the generals tried to fight the war using outdated Napoleonic doctrine but as the war progressed tactics changed to fit the technology. As an example navy's were outdated over night by the introduction of armoured ships called Ironclads.
6. Brother vs Brother
Families were split over the War and you did have brother fighting brother. The war split families and friends. The most vicious fights are the ones between brothers and this was the case in the American Civil War.
At the beginning of the war Robert E Lee was asked to lead the Northern Army but would not accept as he would not fight against his own State, Virginia.
7. The Slavery issue
This was the underlying issue of the war. The practice of importing slaves from Africa was a major industry from about 1520 until 1867. The estimate that most historians agree upon is that about 12 Million slaves were taken from Africa and about 600,000 (5%) went to America. Interesting most African 
slaves went to South America mainly purchased by the Portuguese (40%), the British (25%), the Spanish (18%) and the French (14%).
slaves went to South America mainly purchased by the Portuguese (40%), the British (25%), the Spanish (18%) and the French (14%).
Though slavery had been going on for 340 years by the time of the ACW most western countries had outlawed slavery. But the Southern States still wanted to hold on to its rights to own other humans.
In the 1860 census 393,975 people owned 3,950,546 Slaves, almost 10 slaves per owner but distribution of slave holders per slaves was very unequal; 0.1% of slave owners owned about 30% of the Slaves.
In 1860 a slave could be worth as much as $1600.00. That's almost US$40,000 in today's money. The bottom line for the big slave owners in the south was the vast amounts of money that they owned was in slaves.
8. The Battles
Gettysburg, Antietam, 1st and 2nd Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Harpers Ferry and Chancellorsville are the main battle sites that I am hoping to visit. All of these battles as with most of the battles in the ACW are interesting for many reasons. Mistakes that were made, brilliant leadership, really bad leadership, individual heroics, situational problems to overcome as well as luck.
For a war-gamer these battles hold a lot of interest in recreating them plus playing these battles out using different tactics and under different "what if" scenarios.
9. Photography
Photography had been around since 1826, the first colour photo was shown in 1861. For the ACW Photography was much more portable, you could take your camera in to the field to take photos and have them developed and out to the public very quickly. This both gave us a fantastic historical record and brought the reality of war home to the public.
about preserving its history and telling the story of the war as part of its growing up as a country. There is a vast about of information on the inter-webs and many great books, documentaries and films on civil war include some classics including "Gone with the Wind".
Also many of the sites I will be visiting have been very well preserved and are notable tourist attractions.
