The Civil War

Timothy Hwang 10-?-2001

Part I The Union and the Confederate

Chapter 1 Jim Union
I was shocked by the news that a few states had seceded. I was even more shocked when a few more went bye-bye. In all, 11 states seceded. That's about half of the USA! (At that time.) They were Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, S. Carolina, Virginia, Arkansas, N. Carolina, and Tennessee. They were known as the confederate states. At first we thought war would be exiting. The confederate states seceded because they wanted slaves, while we outlawed them. The confederates are the South or the rebels, and the Union is the North or the Yankees*. At first there were only arguments and small fights. Now, people want war.
*Remember the song “Yankee Doodle?”

Chapter 2 Allen Confederate
I'm excited about war. I'll get to kill people. Maybe not. I'm only 19, but there is a chance I will become a soldier for the confederate army. That idiot Abraham Lincoln has outlawed slavery. Doesn't he know that we need slavery to survive?? It was part of my dad's idea to secede. After the war, he blamed it on someone else. Then wanted to eliminate every single northerner that steps into the southern territory. That was one of the worst ideas in the history of bad ideas. Good thing his plan got crushed. Now he's thinking about attacking Fort Sumter. I thought, “We're doomed.”

Chapter 3 Dave Union
I’m so angry. The smelly southerners almost blew up Fort Sumter. I think that our best general, Robert E. Lee, would crush the Southerners. But since he was a Virginian and Virginia was a “rebel” state, Lee resigned from the Union side and joined the confederates. That was so stupid.
We felt war. I was angered by the idea of a Southern president. He seemed dumb. I hated him. His name was Jefferson Davis! What an idiotic name! Can you imagine a more stupid name? Well, maybe. Sue me. If you do, I'll put a bullet through your heart. I didn't tell you, I'm a soldier now…

Chapter 4 Kenny Confederate
I didn't want to fight. I don't like the smell of blood. You wouldn't want to be me. Why did my mom make ME the family doctor? Why not my brother Dave? Speaking of Dave, he ran from our confederate parents to live in the north. Lucky person. Anyway, he's in the Union and I'm in the Confederacy. I want to go to the Union, even though we have a new general, Robert E. Lee. He left the Union and joined the confederacy not because he wanted slavery, but because he felt loyal to his home state. That was dumb. I don't want to be a doctor either, because 1.It's disgusting and 2.Guts smell bad. If you want to be a doctor, here is my response: You …are… an…idiot.

Chapter 5 Toby Union
I was made cannon firer. I am underage but pretty smart and good at following directions. I'm 19, the part in your life that you're interested in things blowing up. Uh-oh! An enemy cannonball is coming our way!
"Everybody! Run!" I yelled. Then, time froze. I died instantly.

Part 2 The Misery of War

Chapter 6 Kenny Union
I snuck away from the boot camp and into the night. I heard that the Union had a new general, U. S. Grant. I was not sure I wanted to do this. The Union lost so many battles! I gulped. Oops. I gulped too loud. Someone grunted, rolled over, and woke up. I was dead. I ran.
“Hey! Stop!” Someone yelled.
“Make me!” The roar of a rifle made me fall down. I felt pain Ouch.

Chapter 7 Allen Confederate
We were in Fort Donelson. It was a good fort. We thought we were going to win when a drunken man (or he looked drunk) in a uniform with a hat with an army came marching up. I was wrong. We fought hard, but somehow, they kept on coming. When we saw that we were actually outnumbered, we sent a message to him asking what terms he wanted. U. S. Grant said, “I want no terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender will be accepted.” We fought for three days more, and then gave up.
“We give up.” The commander said, “We give up.”

Chapter 8 Dave Union
We were encouraged when U. S. Grant captured Fort Donelson, I was even more encouraged and surprised when my Confederate brother, Kenny, turned up. He had been wounded in the back, but since he was the world’s best doctor (according to me), he recovered. Our general, Tecumseh Sherman, made us march to sea. It was hell. However, I did not know what Sherman was planning.
We marched into Tennessee and captured Chattanooga, then went to Georgia and captured the outskirts of Atlanta. They burned much of the city and made all of the citizens leave. Later, Sherman said, “War is hell.” It was hell.

Chapter 9 Bill Confederate
I hated it when the Union tricked us and killed a whole ton of people. It was not fair. I hated it. My back is still somewhat bloody. It was only a skin cut when the cannon ball hit me, because I ducked. We are hiding inside a trench. It was wet and cold, and I am hungry. We wanted to surprise the Union troops. We did surprise them, but we underestimated their power and overestimated ours. Their troops were better equipped. We sent an urgent telegram to Jefferson Davis saying that Richmond had to be destroyed. They burned Richmond and took the next train to Danville, Virginia.

Part 3 The Confederate Falls

Chapter 10 Jim Union
I was elected cannon firer when the other cannon firer, Toby, was hit right in the head by an enemy cannon ball. I saw everything. It is too disgusting to describe. I have killed 25 men with one cannon shot once! It was when I shot a cannon ball into the enemy camp. There were satisfying screams and many people screaming. There was also blood. Blood! A lot of blood! We are winning the war. When we reached Richmond, it was on fire. We were greeted with cheering African Americans. However, we know the war must go on.

Chapter 11 Joe Union
Hi! I am the new guy. We are getting ready for the last battle. I have two big rifles on each shoulder. It kind of hurts, but it is effective. We are fighting in a small town called Appomattox. We fought long and killed lots of people. I killed a person called Allen and watched as he fell to the ground screaming. We gave a note to Lee saying, “The results of the last week must convince you of the hopelessness of further resistance.” Lee sent back a note asking what terms Grant would offer for the Confederate surrender. Grant asked only that Lee’s soldiers lay down their weapons and stop fighting until the weapons could be traded for the captured Union soldiers. Lee finally agrees. When he met with Grant, Grant gave his men food and permission to keep their horses and personal weapons. When they reached complete agreement on the surrender, Lee said to his soldiers “go home and be good citizens, and if you make a good citizen, I shall always be proud of you.”

Chapter 12 Aftermath
The northerners rejoiced at Lee’s surrender. But 5 days later, Lincoln and his wife were watching a play at Fords Theater. John Willies Booth was also there. He hated Lincoln, and strongly supported slavery and the confederates. He saw Lincoln, sneaked behind him, and shot him in the back of his head. He jumped down onto the stage and shouted, “Sic Semper Tyrannis” – Latin words for “Thus to all tyrants.” Booth ran from the theater and rode away on a fast horse. Lincoln was carried to a house, where he died the next morning. A week later, soldier trapped Booth in a barn in Northern Virginia, where he refused to give himself up. The barn was set on fire. Booth was shot as he ran from the burning barn.

Part 4 The Gettysburg Address

Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war…testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated…can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate…we cannot consecrate… we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us…that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion…that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain…that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom…and that government of the people…by the people…for the people… shall not perish from the earth.