I’ve often been asked by the people who know me why I love the study of the Civil War so much. My brother and sister are both into other time periods and subjects in history, so while the Civil War bores them, they at least understand my passion for the subject. My parents and my sister have even accompanied me on several battlefield visits. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard comments like “that stuff is boring” or “why don’t you like normal things” or especially “what else can be written about it, it’s over and done with”. I just smile and shake my head, knowing that there are still a lot of battles lacking even one book-length study, and many units without a regimental history. This entry should hopefully detail my own personal immersion into the study of the Civil War.
I attribute my love of military history to an individual and a library. The individual in question is my uncle Stan, who introduced me to the Time-Life Books Civil War series in early grade school. I borrowed these books from him one at a time until I had read them all. They formed the basis for my current 500+ book Civil War library, which seems to be growing weekly thanks to eBay. Stan also has a large collection of other books on the war. I tend to like tactical histories of battles and also campaign studies, while Stan has more of an interest in personal reminiscences, but I found enough books of his that I liked to whet my appetite. The library in question was Albers Elementary School library. I live in a small town of around 1,000 people, so the Grade School library is not large. However, it was to my great delight that I discovered quite a few Civil War books among the collection. In particular, Rifles For Watie , the American Heritage History of the Battle of Gettysburg, and a book on First Bull Run were instrumental in furthering my study of the war and cementing my interest. In addition, my love of military history in general was strengthened with the Landmark series of books on American History. I remember books in that series on the Barbary Pirates, Francis Marion, and the French & Indian War with particular fondness.
By the fifth grade, I was starting my own collection. My initial purchase was Bruce Catton’s one-volume history of the Civil War and Irene Hunt’s Across Five Aprils, followed shortly by Shelby Foote’s The Civil War: A Narrative and Stephen Sears’ Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam. It was when I started bringing the Shelby Foote books to sixth grade that people started asking the questions in the first paragraph above. At first, my teachers didn’t believe I could understand what I was reading, but after questioning me on what I’d read, they had no doubt. My parents always encouraged my siblings and I to read anything and everything we could get our hands on, and I’ve never stopped thanking them for it.
From these small beginnings with paperback editions I moved on to join the History Book Club and the Military Book Club, and I started buying hardback books when I could afford them. This was around eighth grade (1993). Since then, I’ve graduated to online purchases. I’ve always preferred hardback books when the price is reasonable. I also refuse to buy books which lack footnotes or endnotes and a bibliography of some kind. If an author writes a book, he/she should want people to know where the information they used came from. If an author doesn’t have notes, the book was usually poorly researched. Today, as I stated earlier, I own over 500 books on the war (with more than I can count waiting to be read!). My www.brettschulte.net web site contains my book and DVD collections, as well as fan sites for the wargames of HPS Simulations and Mad Minute Games. I’ve also attempted some amateur OOB research from time to time, and those efforts are chronicled on the web site too.
I point all of this out because I want as many people to experience this wonderful (and at the same time tragic) period in American history as possible. I’m 28 (soon to be 29), and I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy this wonderful period for almost my entire life. If you know any children, by all means show them some beginner’s books like the Time-Life series or Combined Publishing’s Great Campaigns series and pass this interesting hobby on. The children of today are the authors and buffs of tomorrow, and a lot of great history still needs to be discussed and a lot of great books still need to be written.
I eagerly look forward to working with Jim, Rob, and the rest of the co-contributors to this blog. I have no doubt that my knowledge of the war will only become more well-rounded as a result.
Note: An earlier version of this post originally appeared on my now defunct American Civil War Gaming & Reading Blog.
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