Memorial Day Thoughts - 2012

Across the Fence #392

Next Monday is Memorial Day when we remember all those who have served and died in military service. This year is also the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War that began in 1861 and ended in 1865. The loss of lives during that war was staggering. On this Memorial Day, I think we need to look back and remember the human destruction during that war.

I realize the majority of Americans will go through the three-day holiday weekend oblivious to the real meaning of Memorial Day. There will be plenty of picnics, brats, beer, and relaxing. Some people will use the weekend to remember family members and plant flowers on their graves. All those activities are part of the weekend. We’ll plant flowers and I plan to have a couple of brats too. I’ll also celebrate and be thankful that I’m not one of those who will be remembered in Memorial Day ceremonies.

I’d like you to join me on a trip back to the Civil War in the 1860s. I know it’s a long time ago and is ancient history to most people. But then, even the Vietnam War is ancient history to most people under thirty years of age.

First a few statistics about the Civil War: There were 1,030,000 casualties, 3% of the U.S. population. 620,000 soldiers died, some historians think that number is as high as 850,000. 8% of all white males, ages 13-43 died in the war. 56,000 died in prison camps—that’s almost as many people as were killed in the Vietnam War. ­60,000 people who survived the war, lost limbs.

Those are staggering numbers when you consider that each of those people was someone’s son, husband, brother, relative, or friend. So many lost lives, so much lost potential. The use of outdated Napoleonic tactics caused so many casualties. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. Units advanced shoulder to shoulder across open areas and were mowed down like wheat in a field by the heavy firepower from the deadly weapons that had been developed, including the gatling gun, the forerunner of the machine gun.

Picture yourself as Ole, a Civil War Union soldier. You’ve only been in this country for a few months after arriving from Norway. You were quickly recruited to sign up with the Union Army with the promise of your own piece of land after the war. You and several of your friends joined Col. Heg’s 15^th Wisconsin Volunteer Regiment, known as the Ole Regiment since almost all its soldiers were immigrants from Norway. You’ve survived several battles and now you find yourself headed for another fight. You’ve been marching for hours in the cold of late December to reach your objective. Up ahead you see the enemy forces lined up shoulder to shoulder on the crest of a small hill. It looks like thousands of them are ready to welcome you. They form up in lines and begin advancing toward you. You’re ordered to form skirmish lines and you line up shoulder to shoulder across an open stretch of ground that offers no protection. You’re in the first line, completely exposed to your front. Others line up in rows behind you. The order is given to fix bayonets. The forward command is given and you begin moving forward in a line.

What kind of thoughts would go through your mind? I can’t imagine the fear they must have felt? None of us know what we might have thought unless we were there and experienced it firsthand. Would we have had the courage to keep moving forward as the cannons began to thunder and belch smoke, and cannon balls began whizzing through the air, cutting down men and leaving huge gaps in the ranks? As you narrow the distance between you and the Confederate line, the order to halt and fire is given. The front line drops to one knee and fires, while the second line fires standing up. Confederate soldiers drop like ducks in a shooting gallery. You quickly reload your musket.

Now it’s the Confederate’s turn to open fire. A thunderous roar of musket fire fills the air and people drop all around you. The air is filled with bullets, explosions, and screams. There’s no place to hide. The order to charge is given and all those not dead or wounded stumble forward into a deadly hail of bullets. As you close with the Confederate soldiers you engage them in hand-to-hand combat, bayonets, and rifle butts. There is total chaos on both sides as men, who in another time and place, would be barbequing brats, drinking a beer, and relaxing together. Instead they now try to kill each other. Such is the brutality and senselessness of war.

We will never know if Ole survived that battle. He still hadn’t learned to speak English, but he was fighting for the preservation of the new country that would be his home. I doubt that Ole and his friends, or most combatants in other wars since that time, understood what they were really getting into when they volunteered or were drafted. Does anyone?

As we get ready to enjoy the Memorial Day weekend, let us pause for just a moment and remember all those who have given their time, and many their lives, in defense of our or other people’s freedom. It’s the least we can do for all they gave.

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