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And how many have read the old 1940's histories "Life of Billy Yank" and "Life of Johnny Reb"? The author actually knew and interviewed surviving veterans of both armies. He is still considered one of the best Civil War historians long after his death. In "Life of Johnny Reb" he quotes veterans as saying they sometimes tore down rail fences and used the rails as a club because they were heavier than a clubbed gun. I recently answered a question where someone asked what was the battle where men were sent out to explode something under a fence and it failed and then attacking the troops were funneled into a killing ground by the fence. I don't mind the asker picked some idiot who claimed it was a rail fence at Gettysburg and Pickett charge and an amazing lack of judgment by Lee considering his training as a military engineer as much as I mind seeing history mangled. There was not a single instance in the Civil War of that happening because a rail fence is no obstacle to thousands of attacking troops. Rail fences would not even stop wild cattle and that is why barbed wire was developed after the war. Anyone who has ever split rails and stacked them in traditional way knows how frail they are. A "mine" under enemy lines took weeks or months to dig by hand back then. Not over night. And mining a rail fence would just produce a lot of wasted powder and a lot of kindling! The only similar circumstances as described by the asker were in the battle of the Crater during the siege of Petersburg. As its name implies that was a huge hole left by the explosion that trapped the attackers. Now my basic question is why fools insist on disorting truth here on Answers? Is there not enough stupidity already in the current USA?
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