Revisiting the American Civil War

TRAVELOGS | Introduction
The war
between the
states
T
he United States was not yet 100 years
old in 1860 when it elected Abraham
Lincoln, a lawyer who opposed slavery, as president. South Carolina and several
other Southern, pro-slavery states reacted by
leaving the United States of America — “the
Union” — to form the Confederate States
of America. e Confederacy then demanded that Union troops leave its territory,
which included Fort Sumter in Charleston,
South Carolina. On April 12, 1861, 150
years ago this month, Confederate troops
fired on the fort, thus starting the Civil War.
From 1861 to 1865, the war between the
Union’s 23 states and the Confederacy’s
11 states claimed more than 620,000 lives.
e war divided a country whose Declaration of Independence from Britain in 1776
had established the right to “life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness.” omas Jefferson,
the Declaration’s main author, would have
wept to see his work coming undone.
ambulance service
[(ÄmbjElEns )s§:vEs]
claim lives [)kleIm (laIvz]
come undone [)kVm Vn(dVn]
commemorative event
[kE)memErEtIv I(vent]
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Rettungsdienst
Todesopfer fordern
auseinanderfallen
Gedenkfeier,
-veranstaltung
Freedom for all:
President
Abraham Lincoln
Commemorative events are starting
throughout America to mark the anniversary
of the start of the Civil War. e state of Maryland, where important battles were fought,
is an ideal place to learn about a conflict that
changed the country in so many ways.
Maryland is immediately south of the
Mason-Dixon Line, a border established in
the 1760s to settle a dispute among the
colonies. In time, the line came to represent
a cultural frontier between northern and
southern states. When the Civil War started,
Maryland was a slave-owning state. Many
Marylanders wanted to join the South, yet
the state stayed in the Union and fought
with the North.
Before my two-day trip around Maryland’s historic sites, I had never quite understood why so many Americans were so
passionate about the Civil War. e state’s
battlefields and busy little towns waited for
me to visit them and find out.
cozy [(koUzi]
Declaration of Independence
[)deklEreIS&n Ev )Indi(pendEns]
delighted with [di(laItEd]
fort [fO:rt]
frontier [frVn(tI&r]
Fotos: The White House; Library of Congress; Thinkstock (2)
Vor 150 Jahren begann der lange, blutige
Amerikanische Bürgerkrieg. Aus diesem
Anlass unternahm EVE LUCAS in Maryland
eine denkwürdige Zeitreise zu den Kriegsschauplätzen von damals.
gemütlich (→ p. 8)
Unabhängigkeitserklärung
entzückt von
Festung, Fort
Grenze
Day one
8 a.m.
Yesterday was a blur. I arrived at Dulles Airport, just outside Washington, DC, and
drove 45 minutes to the town of Frederick,
Maryland. Now, after a good night’s sleep,
I can begin to enjoy my surroundings. I am
delighted with Frederick’s lovely historic
streets and cozy cafés.
9:15 a.m.
I meet local history expert Jack Spinnler at
the corner of Church and Market Streets
outside Kemp Hall. He explains the importance of Frederick. A special session of
Maryland’s general assembly took place here
in April 1861. e delegates voted against
leaving the Union, but decided to hold another vote on the issue in September. Before
then, President Lincoln ordered the arrest of
so many pro-Confederacy delegates that it
was impossible to pass a vote. Maryland remained in the Union.
An early ambulance:
the dead and
injured are driven away
10 a.m.
From Kemp Hall, it’s a short walk to Frederick’s National Museum of Civil War
Medicine. ere I learn that only a third of
Civil War deaths occurred in battle. Most
soldiers died of disease and postoperative infections. Museum guide Bob explains that
in 1861, anybody who had studied some
medicine could call himself a doctor. By
1863, though, doctors were required to pass
exams, and regular ambulance services had
been established. e war brought progress
in medicine, but one statistic stays with me:
55 percent of a surgeon’s work in those days
consisted of amputations.
A Maryland man flies the state and American
flags; right, Fort Sumter, in South Carolina,
where the Civil War began on April 12, 1861
general assembly
[)dZen&rEl E(sembli]
mark [mA:rk]
pass a vote [)pÄs E (voUt]
passionate about: be ~
[(pÄS&nEt E)baUt]
Generalversammlung
hier: begehen (→ p. 8)
etw. verabschieden
voller Begeisterung sein für
pursuit of [p&r(su:t Ev]
settle [(set&l]
surgeon [(s§:dZEn]
weep [wi:p]
yesterday was a blur
[)jest&rdi wVz E (bl§:]
Streben nach
beilegen
Chirurg
weinen
der gestrige Tag ist einfach
an mir vorbeigerauscht
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