The Civil War - a reflection

It is hard not to become immersed in the American Civil War which proved bloodier than any other conflict in American history.
The number of soldiers who died between 1861 and 1865, estimated at 620,000, is approximately equal to the total of American fatalities in the Revolution, the war of 1812, the Mexican War, the Spanish-American War, World War 1, World War 2 and the Korean War. The Civil War's rate of death in comparison with the size of the American population was approximately 2 percent. In the United States today that would result in 6 million dead.
Given the nature of the Civil War, there were also considerable civilian deaths; some say as many as 50,000.
The scale and duration of the conflict, the size of its battles and the number of its slain were unprecedented and unanticipated. Battlefields were covered with thousands of bodies after engagements. At least half the Civil War dead, North and South, were never identified.

These statistics, facts and figures just blow my mind!

Another aspect of the Civil War for me is the figure of President Abraham Lincoln. The Gettysburg Address is amazing. If you get the chance to re read it then I urge you to do so. I will quote an address by Lincoln in 1838 - 23 years before the Civil War:

"At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth ... could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years ... If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be as author and finisher..." 

There are a number of historical sites and museums in Gettysburg which tell of President Lincoln's travels to Gettysburg including the Lincoln Train Museum and the David Wills House, the home of a prominent Gettysburg attorney who oversaw the creation of the Soldiers' National Cemetery. Abraham Lincoln finished his Gettysburg Address here the night before the cemetery dedication.

Statue of Wills and Lincoln

We wandered around down town Gettysburg looking into museums and collections of historical artifacts in some of the shops.

The buildings in the town of Gettysburg which were standing at the time of the battle in July 1863 bear a plaque such as the one below.