I drive heavy equipment 10 hours a day but once upon a time I was a history major and lived for this sort of stuff. Thank you so much for making this video, it makes my life more liveable. Seriously

My g-g grandfather and 3 brothers all enlisted out of Marion County, Mississippi. Two in Mississippi 7th infantry, 1 in the "Jeff Davis" Sharpshooters & i forget the 4th brother's unit. One brother died of wounds and is buried at Holly Springs following Battle of Corinth in 1862. Their father died 2 days after learning of his son's death. That left 3 daughters between 11 & 20 and a 13 year old brother to protect them. The remaining brothers' units fell back toward Vicksburg in hopes of breaking Grant's seige. Following the fall of Vicksburg their various units chased after Federal forces across MS, AL, TN as Federals moved toward Chattanooga. One brother was wounded but kept his leg and was sent home. Following battle of Chattanooga the 2 remaining brothers proceeded to Lookout Mtn. Upon arrival a decision had been made to begin "consolidating" Confederate units into new regiments/brigades. After reviewing the 7th MS, INF a decision was made to send the paltry few survivors (over 80% casualties by this point, iirc) to Mobil, Alabama to act as a coastal guard in anticipation of an expected federal landing. It was a "mercy move", to spare complete unit annihilation. The Federals feinted several landing around Mobil Bay which kept them running around. After the surrender of CSA forces in April 1865 the 2 remaining brothers walked home from Mobil. They returned to a nightmare. The brother wounded in TN had developed gangrene and lost entire leg and was completely invalid. The little brother and sisters had been predated upon by both renegade Southerners, Louisana "state troops" (Unionists), and various "multi ethnic criminal gangs" flowing out of New Orleans and up the Mississippi & Pearl Rivers on looting expeditions. Southwest Mississippi was lawless and relentlessly preyed upon. Neither "regular" military forces of USA or CSA raised a hand against the civilians, but "state militias", bushwhackers and others stole, burned & murdered with near impunity. My family STILL thinks New Orleans is a sh*thole full of sh*t people. N.O. can't be hit by a big enough hurricane or sink into the mud fast enough as far they are concerned. N.O. & their yankee scum earned eternal damnation.

GGG grandfather was killed at Iuka Mississippi. Post war, family moved to Texas, where we remain to this day. RIP James Andrew Frederick, CSA.

My g-grandfather was hit in the neck at the right shoulder by a minnie ball ranging downward at the Bloody Angle of Spottsylvania. The ball was removed and they gave him a mule and told him to go home to Louisiana to recuperate. Lee surrendered before he could return to the ranks.

Thank you,never considered what is was like just after the surrender.My GG Grandpa lost his leg at the Wilderness and walked on one leg and crutches to Americus Ga.

My 3rd great grandfather limped home from Gettysburg to Smithfield VA. with a mini ball in his leg.

Never really thought about the days leading up to and following Lee’s surrender-I bet it was chaotic and scary for everyone in the south.

This is one of the most insightful videos I've ever heard. All you normally hear is the disbanding of the armies and trying to get home. This shows the whole spectrum of what was faced as the war ended.

When I was eight years old I spent several months in hospital and in the ward was a copy of Henry Steele Commager's The Blue and the Gray which I read through from cover to cover. Yes it was in the children's ward library cupboard!! Many American's on both sides were very literate.

The reason that the troops under Basil Duke had money was that while briefly in charge of the Confederate treasury, Duke paid his troopers off in silver coin ... If I recall each man received a sum of approximately $28.00 ... The treasury was then turned over to the charge of a Confederate naval officer, and after that the treasury consisting of gold, silver, and copper coins disappeared into the ether of time ... Great video.

This has returned my interest in the CW, since I've last read many campaign books, & Bruce Catton & Shelby Foote, back in the '80's. I will buy the recommended books. If they are close in detail to this narrative, they will be excellent. Great factual storytelling here.

A terrible time to be followed by even more terrible times. If only they knew what surrender would mean for them and their descendants.

My g-grandfather was exchanged back into Confederate service in March 1865 after nealy two years as a POW. The last service record we have for him was in a Richmond hospital. Not sure how he got back home to Arkansas.

Great stuff. These accounts are often soul baring accounts of the ways the horrors of war often impact both soldiers and civilians. And it does not matter whether the accounts are two hundred years, or two thousand, the stories are consistent, detailing the same difficulties no matter the date. The only variable is civil wars. They have unique circumstances and consequences that last for centuries. Ask me how I know.

This is a war I’m very glad I missed.😕

that people go to war is not the most amazing thing…the most amazing thing is that they go to war without thought of the consequences of war.

I enjoyed his description of his time with the amazonian sisters.

Thanks

I just visited the final surrender site in Durham NC with Sherman and Johnston, then went to Johnston and Wade Hampton army was camped out in hillsborough NC , I did videos of both places, and my channel is full of Civil War relics. My favorite is the Irish jasper greens button from savannah georgia check it out if you like history and cool relics

READ UVA professor Dr. Caroline Janney's book, ENDS OF WAR. It's an excellent account of this time period and has NUMEROUS stories similar to this in her book. It is sooo well researched and written.

The South Carolina politicians promised a quick and painless victory in 1861 . This account describes the actual outcome of the grand adventure .

I bet those freed slaves really hated seeing the Confederates suffering.

This soldier has a fluid position on slavery and whether he and the confederate states were part of the US or not.

Back when people could actually write.

I'm impressed with the intellect of this man, his command of the english language. He was far more eloquent in his prose and ability to communicate himself in contrast to the average modern person. He speaks of his fellow Virginian soldiers with poetic beauty in the support of their cause. In contrast, refers to the Federals as yankee hirelings. All in the eye of beholder Mr. Dooley.

More valuable lessons of history.

excellent

The purpose of Total War doctrine that Sherman introduced by burning Atlanta and then marching to the sea was the destruction of an enemy's ability to conduct war. Destroying factories, ripping up railroads, destroying farms and supplies. Its supposed to end a war quickly. But it turns out that doing that just takes away the means of conducting war, not the desire for war. These men, though their army and government had lost, had not lost their desire to fight. Total war, especially when it concludes quickly, always leaves partisans behind that still want to fight. In the case of the American Civil War, the partisans were the KKK. I'm not agreeing with them or their ideas by saying that. To really end a war, you have to make sure that minds are changed about it on a large enough scale. The allies did that with Germany after World War II by occupying the country so that its school system could be changed. Ultimately, the Union won the Civil War only in the sense that the public buying and selling of slaves stopped. Much else ultimately remained because of the KKK.

Have anyone read the travelogue of the British Coldstream guard officers(Colonel Freemantle I think it was) trough the civil war south,gettysburg and crossing the lines to the north then exiting via New york? Its quite a read and its free on the internet.

Interesting parallels to todays politics.

No where does the narrator show any willingness to consider that the Confederacy maybe in the wrong.

I'm truly grateful for the sacrifices made by these southern heros fighting for their families and homeland from the Lincolnites invasion and aggressive disregard of the state rights of the South. I'm especially thankful for my gg grandfather, who made the ultimate sacrifice for his family and state, Alabama, in 1862. "Lay Down Your Arms. Close Ranks. Rest in Eternal Peace."

I think the Confederacy lost the war once the Richmond government lost the ability to provide basic security to its citizens.

I wonder what happened once he got home? Will there be a part 2 to this story?

Would have been better for everyone if they didn't fight so hard to defend slavery.

weird, some people prefer remembering pain and misery as a badge of honour.

Is this a true story

Meanwhile us British were fighting the Crimean War with our French allies, holding the line in North America, and building the CSS Alabama for the CSA. #OurHistory

2025. Here we go again.

"a change of masters is not always good..." This is where I get off. How about NO masters? Screw this.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

🇺🇲 The countless masses of People who have no prejudices towards others of any race are in the far largest % and growing. This is a wonderful reality. Some continue to hold the learned fears of insecurities and prejudices. (It is thought thinking and living through the "Human Lower Mind aka Ego Mind". Have Compassion for them. The "Higher Mind aka Mature Mind' is where all our Positive Thought Energies and Wisdom reside. 💛

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Their suffering came because they fought for the evil sin of SLAVERY 😢