History Discussion

[MauEvig]

I noticed we talk a lot about The American Civil War here on the channel, especially since a lot of ghost stories revolve around the civil war and that era. I've also been studying for the English praxis. My study delves into different eras of literary time periods such as the colonial, revolutionary, romanticism, realism which encompasses part of the civil war and transcendentalism, going into the modern and post modern or contemporary eras. I also managed to find a copy of the American literature anthology online, because as it would have it I got rid of a lot of my college books not thinking I'd need them again. What a foolish decision in hindsight, but it's not like I knew I was going to need them. I was looking at some of the maps and thought how impressive Virginia was back in those days as it appears to have spanned a good portion of the West. I'm aware West Virginia used to be part of Virginia, but this territory is insane to look at from a modern day perspective.
So then I thought, what fun it might be to simply have a light hearted discussion about history! Living in Virginia has cultivated a love of history, and studying these classic authors are a fight way to give insight into how they lived and thought back in those days.
My boyfriend and I have also visited the Jamestown Settlement back in 2018 and had a grand ol' time. I was especially impressed with the native American dwellings and how warm they were inside. I never would have imagined they would seem so cozy! It was also good fun seeing the little village replicas of the log houses and how simple life was back then.
But it was also difficult for sure, so many died of disease and starvation was brought upon by droughts and famines. The Native Americans knew how to survive here, but we were completely new to this land and didn't have a good idea of what it took to work the land and survive. Hundreds of years later, here we are having cultivated it with modern farming techniques and corn plantations going on for miles. It's really fascinating to me how far things have come. But at a great price, for certain. Wars, conflicts of all kinds, and disease made these things challenging. I can only imagine how much more difficult it will be, despite having more advanced technology, to colonize other worlds like the moon and Mars. Unless there's really friendly aliens there, we aren't going to get the same kind of help. We're on our own figuring out how to get plants to survive there so we can grow food and building enclosures to protect us from the elements.
And yet it's fun to look into the simpler lives and how people lived back then. I especially enjoy things like armor and canons from those areas.
Of course, many hauntings have historical significance as well so I think that can be relevant to a history discussion as well. Authors such as Edgar Allen Poe and Emily Dickenson both came from the romantic era and often wrote about themes of death. Yet the tone of Poe versus Dickenson is vastly different. Poe's works seem to invoke feelings of dread, sorrow and fear and dare the imagination to explore darker places. Dickenson by contract, welcomes death in her poem "I could not stop for death" as a friend and something to be accepted as part of life.
So there you have it, what are your thoughts about history? Is there a time period you enjoy more than others?
And this doesn't have to be limited to American history either. I find Ancient history of the Egyptians and Sumerians quite fascinating as well. Sometimes it's fun to even go beyond and explore history in the East and gain a different perspective that contrasts with our Western points of view. It's a lot of fun! And there's so much lore, I can't help but compare and contrast it. (Just look at how dragons are viewed in the East versus the West, and how vastly different they are portrayed!)

And now a quote that I think rings true today...

“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it!”
—Winston Churchill or perhaps it was George Santayana who first said this quote. I'm not entirely sure, but I definitely think history is important either way!

[Murfreesboro]

When I was at my family reunion up in NE Kentucky in late June, I bought a book called The Frontiersmen by Allan Eckert. It was recommended by one of my distant cousins who lives up there. He said our family figured into it, although so far I've found only one reference. But it's very educational, all about the settling of what was then called the Northwest Territory (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin) as well as Kentucky south of the Ohio River. I'm only about 100 pp into the 600 p book, but I know Tecumseh is going to be a major character. It covers the 1750s into the early 19th century. I'm learning a lot, but it's a slow read for me, because it is dense with information.

Daniel Boone figures into the story, but much of the book so far has been devoted to a man named Simon Kenton, who in his way was every bit as impressive as Boone, but who has been overshadowed by him in the popular mind. The book starts out with the birth of Kenton in 1755, and then the birth of Tecumseh a few years later. I'm now getting into the American Revolution on the frontier.

One prominent name I've run across so far is George Rogers Clark, whom I vaguely recalled from American History decades ago. I'd never before made the connection that he was the (much) older brother of William Clark, of Lewis and Clark fame.

I've always loved historical fiction and narrative histories, which is what The Frontiersmen is. One unforgettable one I read almost 30 years ago is Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose. That's about Lewis and Clark.

Back in June, when I was visiting my son in Chicago, I read David McCullough's book The Wright Brothers. A much different time period, but a truly fascinating read. The moment when those two guys (high school education, no college) realized that everything the "experts" said about aerodynamics was wrong, and they were going to have to start from scratch, was breathtaking. Because they just did it. Talk about perseverance and American ingenuity! My son, who read the book first, said they are his heroes. I think they should be everyone's heroes.

[Murfreesboro]

Just revisiting this thread. I like history in general, though I think my favorite period of American history may be the Revolutionary period. I'm STILL reading The Frontiersmen (long book, and I read it for a few minutes every night before bed). I have about 30 pp to go. It's so sad reading about the Amerindians, led by Tecumseh. There were atrocities committed on both sides, but it's true that the Americans kept violating treaties they'd made. The Indians were just outnumbered. It's an age-old story, I guess. The original Celtic inhabitants of England were overwhelmed, first by the Romans, and then, more completely, by the Anglo-Saxons. Next were the Vikings, who conquered about half the country. Then the Normans moved in, though they didn't replace the language the way the Anglo-Saxons did with the Celts.

Back in 2020, when my sons and I followed the Lewis and Clark Trail out to the coast of Oregon, we deviated to see the big parks in Wyoming (Grand Teton, Yellowstone). While in Wyoming we spent one night in a hotel on an Indian reservation, Wind River (Arapahoe/Sheshone). I'd never imagined I'd do anything like that. Ever since then, I've been more aware of and interested in the people who preceded us here.