MDDM Ch. 51

[Otto]

From: jbor:
491.1 "South Mountain" A significant battlefield of the American Civil War:
http://www.cmhl.org/smbf.html

"There is more involved than just tactical and strategic influences on a
military campaign. The Battle of South Mountain was fought by people:
husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, Americans all. As Gen. D. H. Hill would
remember years later, "The last time I ever saw Generals McClellan and Reno
was in 1848...in the City of Mexico. Generals Meade and Scammon had been
instructors while I was at West Point. Colonel Magilton, commanding a
brigade in Meade's Division, had been a lieutenant in my company in the
Mexican War. Gen. John Gibbon (whose brigade pressed up the pike on the 14th
of September at the battle of South Mountain) and his brother Lardull had
been best men at my wedding. They were from North Carolina, but one brother
took the Northern side, while the other took the Southern."

The Antietam-battle plays a major role in Gaddis' "A Frolic of His Own"
(which is my favourite of Gaddis' novels), pointing out to the absurdity of
that crazy Civil War that made brothers shooting at each other.

Otto

ps  nice Native Indian saying down on that page which,
     taken seriously, would make all war obsolete:

        "We don't inherit the land from our ancestors...we borrow it from
          our children."