Question for Civil War experts

[taterguy]

Why did Stonewall's cavalry tear up the tracks of Virgil Caine's Danville Train?

Didn't they realize that this railroad served the Confederacy?

Is that why Stonewall ended up getting shot by his own troops?

Your input would be greatly appreciated.

[bluestateguy]

1. That is not why he was shot by his own troops

I'll leave someone else to take the question abut the train tracks. But he was scouting for a planned night attack (which did not happen) after the Battle of Chancellorsville. The rebel picketts did not recognize him and shot him accidentally.

[taterguy]

2. If you don't know about the train tracks then how do you know the answer to the 2d question?

Couldn't the pickets thing just be a cover story?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. There's this thing called "Occam's Razor."

It was invented in 1879, shortly before the Civil War.

[taterguy]

10. I use Gillette razors

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. That's what "they" want you to think.

[taterguy]

12. Who is this "they" that you speak of?

[KharmaTrain]

13. 1879 Shortly Before The Civil War???

Damn my history books have it between 1860 and 1865...either that or I need new bifocals.

[KharmaTrain]

14. Oops

Nevermind...nothing to see here...move along


(Hey that means you!!!)

[DavidDvorkin]

20. Actually in the Middle Ages by William of Ockham.

[SpiralHawk]

3. The night they drove old Dixie down

Stonewall failed to produce his birf certificate (long form), and was advocating that muslin peeps be allowed to build a community center, and also that special tax breaks for fat-cat Republicons be eliminated so they would once again - at long damn last -- pay their fair share.

Naturally, the TeaPuBliBaggers of yesteryear could not abide these realities -- too damn American for them. So they plugged the old Stonewallster.

At least that's the way they tell the story at Moe's.

[Lithos]

4. FYI

The Danville Train railroad was tore up during the siege of St. Petersburg by a Union general, General Stoneman. The real lyric is "General Stoneman,
not Stonewall... As a matter of history, Stonewall was long dead by that time.

see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_They_Drove_Old_Dixie_Down

[razorman]

5. "Stoneman's cavalry came and tore up the tracks again."

[damntexdem]

7. And they were fit to be tied.

;-)

[taterguy]

6. How dare you insinuate that Joan Baez doesn't know the real lyrics to a song . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RkDwKb9hcw

[Lithos]

8. She admitted she learned the song phonetically

So, yeah, she sort of changed things around...

Now, I've not seen the video you posted, so if you are being facetious then I apologize...

[mmonk]

15. Yep.

Was going to post that but I figured someone would already have done it.

[david13]

16. That's funny. I never realized Joanie got the lyrics wrong. But the truth

is, I never liked that song. I always thought that it was designed to evoke sympathy for the "poor old south" and the "noble(?) cause" and all that crap. My opinion, and why I turned the song off any time I heard it was: The south deserved to be drove down. Hard.
Primarily, the question, once you are part of the United States, can you then opt out, and get out was answered on the battlefield. No. And the secondary, or further question of the Civil War, if you have slaves and want to continue to own slaves, can you do so, was also answered on the battlefield. No. (And by Presidential Proclamation)
And it always aggravated me to think that a liberal/democrat/progressive or whatever, like Joanie purported to be seemed to be a hypocrite in expressing all this sad smaltzy sorrow about the poor south. They had it coming.
At the time of the Civil War, many felt that the south should be deprived of their lands, punished, the leaders taken out and shot. So the bottom line was, they got off easy.
And I think all this old southern "our heritage" crap should not be encouraged by a song like that.
dc

[taterguy]

17. Virgil Caine did not make policy

He was a simple man caught up in some shit.

Hungry, just barely alive.

And what good does it do to make his life even more miserable?

[david13]

18. Dude? What do you think the Danville train carried? Baby milk?

Munitions. Ammo. Bullets. Shells. Blow those suckers to hell, where they belong.
PS He made his own life miserable. Not us Yankees.
dc

[taterguy]

23. The only thing tearing up those tracks accomplished was creating years of bitterness and strife

The South lost its capacity to wage war long before that cavalry raid.

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down isn't about glorifying the South. Hell, it was written by a Canadian.

It's about a bully that keeps pushing, long after his adversary is helpless.

[NoGOPZone]

19. Joan had a lot of trouble with that line

On her recorded version which reached the top ten, she sings 'so much cavalry'. I guess when someone born on Staten Island sings a song about the American South written by a Canadian, something gets lost in the translation.

[david13]

21. It's not unusual for even the writer of a song to have different parts

that fit into different verses or stanzas. Also, when they are writing the song, sometimes, before they get the final line down, they will use something that fits, sound wise, but not word wise. If you hear those early versions, as they sing in practice, and in writing the song together, it can be
quite comical.
Then later on, when they have the final version down, they put in the final lyrics.
Or, there is a tape of Elvis changing the words to one of his songs, written by someone else, very comical. Are You Lonesome Tonight. Does your hair still look afright. He laughs as he sings.
dc

[david13]

22. Ugh. I went and looked at the tape. Not so comical. Sad and

pathetic. Elvis was stoned out of his mind.
dc