There is a channel on YouTube called “Life in the 1800s” that brings to life the proverbial days of yore. This video, from a voice recording made by Julius Franklin Howell, gives a view of the Confederate side of the Civil War, in which he fought as a young man. As today is Thanksgiving in the US, I think about our history, real and fabricated. What we think today is not necessarily what was thought when history was being made. This was a fascinating video, an oral history, of someone who was there.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 
Amazing to have this.
p.s Happy Thanksgiving!
I thought so, too, Fraggy. The recording was done when the gentleman was 101 years old! What he saw – time traveling would be fascinating. And, thanks for the Thanksgiving Day wishes!
Interesting to hear such an old voice. We just finished reading a book called The strange Career of Jim Crow. Interesting and appalling at the same time! See youse Sunday! Love, J
Wonderful find -N! He was just 16 and didn’t know anything about slavery. How many lives were lost for……….
Of course what he said about why they fought is true. The overwhelming majority of Confederate soldiers fought for their home states, not about the issue of slavery, and the vast majority of them were not slaveholders. On the Union side, my great-grandfather fought for the preservation of the Union, not for the abolition of slavery, although that was the (good) outcome. The underlying cause of the economic and political differences between the slave states and free states was indeed the institution of slavery, but for most of those who fought, it was not the presenting issue. It’s hard for us to remember that people lived in their time and not in ours.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Judy, C. Vann Woodward’s book is a classic, from when historians actually did history.
Judy -I thought this was a fascinating video – like you, the old voice, and the old way of speaking. Obviously and educated, cultured man. You might enjoy listening to some of the other videos from this channel as they do have fascinating accents!
I agree, Anne – the video was amazing. Such a difference in what young men could do. I thought it was good that his father didn’t want him to go – and that he (the boy) was so lucky not to have been at some of the big battles. I liked the part about losing his horse in the cavalry and then being on foot – the army I recall fighting with horses was the Polish army against the Nazi tanks in 1939. Time does change – even speech patterns.
😊