Unofficially it ended in 1917 when AMERICAN soldiers fought against a common enemy. For the first time in almost 50 years AMERICAN soldiers mixed and mingled, fought and died beside and for one another in an AMERICAN army.
C'mon, what about the Spanish-American War of 1898? There was an American army composed of men from all over the country, with if I'm not mistaken, even a few Confederate officers brought back into active service as goodwill propaganda.
It may not have been a war to be proud of, that's another matter, but it did happen before the Great War.
On another note, it could also be said that in other parts of the south, like Vicksburg, the civil war wasn't over in the hearts and minds of the citizens until WWII, when for the first time Vicksburg celebrated Independence Day again officially.
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indy_go_blue44
8 years ago
I was actually paraphrasing some historian whose name I can't recall. In relative terms, the Spanish-American War was a skirmish, not large enough to blend/merge/join more than a handful of people... relatively speaking. WWI joined together millions of young Americans from all the 48 states, many of whom had never met a living descendant of the men their granddaddies had fought against and were thus known to each other only by what their daddies and granddaddies had told them. Remember, people didn't get around nearly as much in those days... no superhighways, internet... for the most part not even radio.
The Cagney movie was mentioned; in a more recent movie about WWI, "The Lost Batallion" a young southern officer or non-com (I can't recall which) was supposed to have posted with a southern battalion but somehow ended up with a unit from NY. He's voicing his concerns to the Colonel (played brilliantly by Rick Schroeder), and says, "how am I supposed to lead these men? I can't even understand them?" The Colonel answers, "that's not your job. Your job is to make them understand you."
Back to the SAW, there's a story that Gen. Wheeler was urging on his boys who were charging up some hill (Kettle Hill?) yelling, "GO ON BOYS! GIT THEM YANKEES!"
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