How my fascination with the civil war started part 1

As I am from Europe a fascination with the American civil war may not be the most logical thing.

I grew up in the seventies and eighties and as we did not have that many tv channels then I devoured many American series on tv. And during those years many good historical series were made. I learned about history through watching tv. It was not until much late that I started reading books to verify that what I had learnt was the truth or learning the real truth. Series like Centennial and Roots remained with me throughout my life and made me cry at the injustice people inflict on each other.

The civil war fascination really started with the blue and the gray and that was because my favourite actor during those days Gregory Peck had a small part in it. He played Abraham Lincoln. I was hooked. 

When I had to chose a topic for my history paper in secondary school I did not have to think very long and picked the American civil war. I hit the library [no internet in those days] and read all the books I could find on the civil war. Not that many.

My grade however was pretty disappointing. I was marked down because my paper was too one sided. I had not considered the Southern perspective at all and saw them completely as the bad guys in the fight.

The year I graduated North and South came out. Another series I loved from beginning to end. And of course the Northern main character was my favorite from the beginning. 

This was even more intensified when Glory came out. That movie blew me away. I cried and still cry every time at the movies end and the injustice of it all.

In 1993 I was in a relationship and just after summer my boyfriend and I talked about going away for a week in the autumn and after going backwards and forwards we decided on a week in Washington DC. For us first the first trip to the USA. 

I absolutely loved Washington and Americans. Had a great time in Washington. While we were there we decided on one day trip outside of the city. And I had remembered that Gettysburg was not that far away. We had rented a car so it was not hard to go. 

Gettysburg was impressive. I took it all in and especially loved the Northern side of the field with the Northern battlefields. Driving back that evening we spotted a cinema which announced the movie Gettysburg was playing. We decided to go see it the next evening.

That evening was to change my life forever...

I also have a facebook group and would like to invite respectful discussion on the civil war there