To commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War, our Miscellaneous page will highlight events of the War, along with other highlights.
The 150th Anniversary of the Civil War deserves our attention not only because the war is endlessly fascinating for myriad reasons having nothing to do with the battle strategy, but also because in many ways, the issues it dealt with are still with us—particularly federal-state power and, of course, race.
For 4 years, between 1861-1865, civil war raged across America. In that time it is calculated that over 10,000 military engagements took place, ranging from brief skirmishes and raids, to sieges and battles involving whole armies. Wherever they occurred, they marked the land and a generation, creating sites and places that are remembered and revered to this day. It is the battlefields the world over that have become sacred ground, and nowhere more than in the divided America that went to war with itself in 1861 and covered its young landscape in its own blood.
Highlights in History
In 1879, the 2nd Massachusetts became the first unit to erect a monument on the Gettysburg Battlefield. Today there are nearly 2,000 markers, monuments and tablets at Gettysburg National Historic Park.
The 20th Massachusetts Regiment was known as the “Harvard Regiment” because so many within its ranks were graduates and students. It was led by the grandson of Paul Revere. Colonel Paul Joseph Revere was killed at the Battle of Gettysburg. Also in the 20th was Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., who became famous as a justice of the Supreme Court.
Other Articles of Interest
1. West Brookfield Railroad Station
