A couple of interesting Civil War blogs

The Civil War 150th has naturally prompted a relook at some aspects of the war. Two blogs that I have found fascinating are Civil War Memory, which is devoted to the whole "black confederate" mythology and the new Grand Army Blog, which looks ta the postwar experiences of Union vetrans and especially the Grand Army of the Republic veterans organization.

One thing that strikes me about the latter blog, is how pervasive the effects of what we would now recognize as PTSD were among the veterans of that war. It's evident that the same problems of homelessness, unemployment and chronic medial problems that we see in veterans from modern conflicts such as Iraq and Afghanistan were pretty commonplace after the Civil War -- although with much less public sympathy, medical understanding or official help. Just one more thing that armchair strategists and beltway pundits who blithely advocate bombs and bullets as solutions should consider. As this post entitled Haunted by Gettysburg illustrates, often the casualties are not tallied until many years after the battle.