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Shareable Snack: A Firsthand Account of the Civil War and Its Causes

Shareable Snack: A Firsthand Account of the Civil War and Its Causes

Help us create family-friendly, educational short videos that inspire and uplift young minds, that are designed for education, and offer a positive alternative to toxic content on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Donate today and help bring rational discourse to the digital world!


Julius Franklin Howell joined the Confederate Army when he was 16. After surviving a few battles, Howell eventually found himself in a Union prison camp at Point Lookout, Maryland. In 1947, at the age of 101, Howell made a rare recording at the Library of Congress, in which he described his enlistment, sudden capture, and his experience in the Union prison camp. This is his firsthand account of the Civil War.

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  • Avatar
    Robert Ryan Farrell
    October 5, 2024, 7:33 am

    A voice from the past – very interesting. Slavery, along with tariffs and state's rights were all causes of the war. But the reason southern men fought I believe, was because their homeland was invaded by foreigners.
    Why the northern men fought and invaded the South is a more complicated question.
    Some no doubt were politically minded and fought to preserve the union. A smaller number fought to free the slaves. But most probably fought because their fellow citizens signed up. It helped that they were all well-paid. And then there were the German and Irish immigrants who for financial or sentimental reasons, signed up.
    I struggle to understand how men could agree to invade and burn down someone else's country, for whatever reason.

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    William
    October 19, 2024, 1:16 pm

    nice

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    Jacqueline
    October 22, 2024, 1:59 pm

    "The night they drove ol Dixey down".

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    Harold Waxman
    October 28, 2024, 4:19 pm

    You missed one prime factor in the cause which is always a factor to consider: Industrial vs Agrarian. Unless your intention was to include it under 'tariffs.' Two separate life styles, one based on Cotton, Tobacco, Rice etc. versus a healthy and growing industrial complex.

    You could accurately state that a line of demarkation existed where the Tobacco belt ended and the Corn belt began. Likewise geography (Appalachia) played a minor roll with the creation of West Virginia aiding the Union cause.

    Re States Rights, it's only fair to remind folks that the Constitution never covered the right of secession. If the Deep South thought they could not secede from the Union they never would have signed on.

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