American History Lessons - American Civil War, Learn and Live or Die

In the spirit of President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, "The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here." The 1864 Raid on Brooksville was one of those minor Civil War battles which impacted the course, conduct, and end of the American Civil War.

The 2008 reenactment of the American Civil War battle, Raid on Brooksville, was held January 19th and 20th. In 2008, the Reenactment of the Brooksville Raid [video] was a commemoration of Union and Confederate soldiers locked in a nation-shaping struggle. Too, the Reenactment of the Brooksville Raid was a celebration of, and in Southern Tradition.

Yet, what really happened at Brooksville in 1864? Why was the Raid on Brooksville important to the United States of America and the Confederate States of America? What was the significance of the Brooksville Raid on the American Civil War?

American Civil War Battles
The Brooksville Raid - 1864
Seek-and-Destroy Strike into the Breadbasket of the Confederacy

The Union raid on Brooksville was no Gettysburg. Yet, it was noteworthy because it demonstrated the Union's belated realization of the critical role Florida was serving in the Confederate war effort. Arguably, had this role been diminished or quashed earlier in the conflict, the American Civil War would have ended sooner.

With 1,400 miles of coastline, Florida was critical to the Confederate war effort. Imports from other counties came ashore in Florida. Exports to other states of the Confederate States of America shipped from Florida.

Given the war-critical nature of the role which Florida played in the maintenance and provisioning of all Confederate forces across the entire South, the level of military resources directed toward protecting or attacking Florida - by both sides - was strategically minimal.

Without meat, cotton, and salt, the Confederate war effort would have stalled and withered. With meat, cotton, and salt, the ability of the Confederacy to thwart the Union's drive to overrun the South and restore the Nation to its essential whole was maintained.

Yet, it was not until after Independence Day, 1864 that the Breadbasket of the Confederacy , the soft underbelly of the South, was attacked by a relative handful of reluctant Union soldiers pitted against a skeletal collection of local Confederates.

American Civil War Battles
The Brooksville Raid Reenactment - 2008
A Celebration of Southern Tradition and Lifestyle

In 2008, the Reenactment of the Brooksville Raid, as a celebration of Southern tradition and lifestyle, far exceeded the scope and scale of the actual Raid on Brooksville in 1864. Through festival, pageantry, and ceremony, the Raid was elevated well beyond fact to near legend and myth. So it is, many times, with the Fog of War.

The true Fog of the American Civil War nurtured the creation and celebration of The Brooksville Raid as a grand social event and theater in the field. The true Fog of the Civil War masked the critical nature of Florida's role in that deadliest of American wars. The true Fog of War obscures the names of those killed at Brooksville when compared with the thousands slain at Gettysburg and other, major battles of the American Civil War.

Perhaps, because of the horror of war, this is good. Perhaps, through this socialization, this coming together of the Peoples of the North and the South, the common uniting spirit of the American people is allowed, is empowered to mend, to build, and to dream - together, still.

The American Civil War gives us many lessons from Civil War battles - not the least of which was the Raid on Brooksville. Let us hope and pray, then, we the People, have learned valuable, lasting lessons from that American Civil War. For, as Santayana observed: "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

May there never be another Gettysburg, wherein we hear CNN broadcasting the President of the United States of America say: "Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether [our] nation...can long endure....

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All Rights Reserved. Copyright Michael K. Miller of Millennium Suites, LLC 2008