Nathan Bedford Forrest

[Res Ipsa]

"Wear the mask" ~ Jersey Girl to self

Lockdown forever### until COVID is eradicated and the economy is thoroughly destroyed! We must follow Australia's lead!!!

Uh, a mask is not a lockdown.

[MeDotOrg]

That would be Stonewall Jackson. During the Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) his troops held ground as if they were a "Stone Wall", and helped turn the tide for the Confederate Army. The thing I like best about Stonewall were the words he said on his deathbed:



His last words were beautiful.

Jackson was a warrior. He had conquered his fear and that was rooted in his faith. But I'd be remiss if I didn't note that many Yankee soldiers possessed that same valor. It takes a special man that can march into gunfire, be gutshot, and have limbs chopped off. Even more special were men like my many times great grandfather who after a muzzle loader ball left his left leg useless, managed to work a physical job and earn enough money to repurchase a family farm that is still in the Ajax family. Since we're talking about American history and it's consequences, I think it's fair to point out that the government didn't do that for him. There was no monthly disability check nor free medical care, no afffirmative action progam dictating one must hire Confederate war veterans. He did it with God's help alone. And I'd like to think he smiles at my success now knowing it's more a credit to his faith and tenacity than it is mine.

The Civil War has been called a precursor of World War I. The cavalry charge was being negated by long range weapons and defensive positions. One of those battles of terrain where the Confederacy held the high ground at a place just outside of Fredericksburg called Maryes Heights
.

The Union Army crossed a bridge (all the better to funnel your troops) and entered a killing field. Given the terrain, it was an ill-advised attack. The battle resulted in 12,653 Union casualties and 4,201 Confederate casualties. The Union Army withdrew back over the bridge and looted the town of Fredericksburg before their final retreat.

After Confederate Troops reoccupied the town, there was consternation at the wanton destruction, as Union Troops had taken their rage at their slaughter on the town itself. After viewing the aftermath, a member of Stonewall Jackson’s staff asked, “What can we do about this kind of barbaric behavior?”

Jackson replied, “Kill ’em. Kill ’em all.”

He died after Chancellorsville, so we will never know how or if he would have adjusted to life after the death of the Confederacy. His personal life had many peccadillos. While he was a plebe at West Point, first classman Ulysses S. Grant called him a “fanatic” whose “delusions took strange forms- hypochondria, fancies that evil spirits had taken possession of him.” He used to ride into battle with one arm raised "to keep the blood balanced". The reality could be that he suffered from infirmities that were difficult to diagnose at that time.

Like Nathan Bedford Forrest, he was a great general, one of Lee's greatest. Again, being a great general does not mean a great American. The complete measure of the men who fought for the Confederacy is how they conducted themselves after the war, like Joe Johnstone worked in the Grover Cleveland administration.

For every Southern boy fourteen years old, not once but whenever he wants it, there is the instant when it’s still not yet two o’clock on that July afternoon in 1863, the brigades are in position behind the rail fence, the guns are laid and ready in the woods and the furled flags are already loosened to break out and Pickett himself with his long oiled ringlets and his hat in one hand probably and his sword in the other looking up the hill waiting for Longstreet to give the word and it’s all in the balance, it hasn’t happened yet, it hasn’t even begun yet, it not only hasn’t begun yet but there is still time for it not to begin against that position and those circumstances which made more men than Garnett and Kemper and Armistead and Wilcox look grave yet it’s going to begin, we all know that, we have come too far with too much at stake and that moment doesn’t need even a fourteen-year-old boy to think This time. Maybe this time with all this much to lose than all this much to gain: Pennsylvania, Maryland, the world, the golden dome of Washington itself to crown with desperate and unbelievable victory the desperate gamble, the cast made two years ago.

It is human nature to see our victories as the best, and our defeats as the noblest. The South fought against long odds. Their soldiers were poorly equipped and suffered greater hardships in the field. The war was fought mostly on Southern soil, and many Southern homes did double duty as field hospitals. In 1866 Mississippi spent a somewhere between 20 and 50% of its budget on artificial limbs. (I've seen many different figures).

When you make that kind of sacrifice, you want to see it as noble. What I see as noble as the idea that you will give your life for something greater than yourself. Whether or not that noble sacrifice is in the service of something worthwhile is another debate.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Jackson was a warrior. He had conquered his fear and that was rooted in his faith. But I'd be remiss if I didn't note that many Yankee soldiers possessed that same valor. It takes a special man that can march into gunfire, be gutshot, and have limbs chopped off. Even more special were men like my many times great grandfather who after a muzzle loader ball left his left leg useless, managed to work a physical job and earn enough money to repurchase a family farm that is still in the Ajax family. Since we're talking about American history and it's consequences, I think it's fair to point out that the government didn't do that for him. There was no monthly disability check nor free medical care, no afffirmative action progam dictating one must hire Confederate war veterans. He did it with God's help alone. And I'd like to think he smiles at my success now knowing it's more a credit to his faith and tenacity than it is mine.

One of those battles of terrain where the Confederacy held the high ground at a place just outside of Fredericksburg called Maryes Heights
.

The irony of Xanax waxing poetic about his good ol’ great-great-great grandpappy is that the former President would call the soldier a loser, because he doesn’t like losers, and, secondly, Trump feigned an injury to avoid military service while managing two keep both legs in tact making and losing boatloads of money - not a little lifted out of Xanax’s very pockets paying for luxury accommodations.

The farm thing is cool, though.

- Doc

[Jersey Girl]

"Wear the mask" ~ Jersey Girl to self

Lockdown forever### until COVID is eradicated and the economy is thoroughly destroyed! We must follow Australia's lead!!!

You're a doctor. Allegedly.

[Atlanticmike]

One of those battles of terrain where the Confederacy held the high ground at a place just outside of Fredericksburg called Maryes Heights
.

The irony of Xanax waxing poetic about his good ol’ great-great-great grandpappy is that the former President would call the soldier a loser, because he doesn’t like losers, and, secondly, Trump feigned an injury to avoid military service while managing two keep both legs in tact making and losing boatloads of money - not a little lifted out of Xanax’s very pockets paying for luxury accommodations.

The farm thing is cool, though.

- Doc

Here you are again, picking on Ajax, calling him names and not giving two craps how it makes the board look. Have you ever asked yourself why you're so angry inside? My offer still stands!! Do you want me to send you the directions to the island at Smith mountain lake??

[Chap]

The irony of Xanax waxing poetic about his good ol’ great-great-great grandpappy is that the former President would call the soldier a loser, because he doesn’t like losers, and, secondly, Trump feigned an injury to avoid military service while managing two keep both legs in tact making and losing boatloads of money - not a little lifted out of Xanax’s very pockets paying for luxury accommodations.

The farm thing is cool, though.

- Doc

Here you are again, picking on Ajax, calling him names and not giving two craps how it makes the board look. Have you ever asked yourself why you're so angry inside? My offer still stands!! Do you want me to send you the directions to the island at Smith mountain lake??

Sorry - I have read DrC's post carefully, and I cannot see any name-calling in it, apart from the teasing modification of his moniker, which is hardly abusive, and is something practiced by many other posters. Have you never done that yourself?

In DrC's post, he simply points to the fact that Ajax's favorite President is well known to:

(a) Not admire 'losers' who get killed in battle.
(b) Have avoided the draft by an implausible medical excuse.

And that makes the board 'look bad' how, exactly?

[Atlanticmike]

Here you are again, picking on Ajax, calling him names and not giving two craps how it makes the board look. Have you ever asked yourself why you're so angry inside? My offer still stands!! Do you want me to send you the directions to the island at Smith mountain lake??

Sorry - I have read DrC's post carefully, and I cannot see any name-calling in it, apart from the teasing modification of his moniker, which is hardly abusive, and is something practiced by many other posters. Have you never done that yourself?

In DrC's post, he simply points to the fact that Ajax's favorite President is well known to:

(a) Not admire 'losers' who get killed in battle.
(b) Have avoided the draft by an implausible medical excuse.

And that makes the board 'look bad' how, exactly?

Cool! So I'll start calling Doc Cam, Prozac and I'll start calling K Graham, Lithium, because when I read their post it's obvious they're severely depressed. You ok with that? It's only fair, correct?

[Physics Guy]

I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse.

Grant’s memoirs are justly famous for their lucidity.