Afternoon Baseball

On the morning of the Battle of Gettysburg, "If any one had a premonition that we had reached the culminating battlefield of the war, and that that day was to be the saddest, bloodiest, grandest and most glorious day in the history of the regiment, I do not recall that I heard it suggested. I do remember that some of us thought we ought to have been allowed to make coffee before marching, and 'growled' about it." ~Orderly Sergeant James Wright, Company F, First Minnesota, July 1, 1863

We look at events later and have trouble separating our perspective, and hindsight, from the real-time unfolding of events. Men of that time were no different.
This quote was taking from the fascinating book Pale Horse at Plum Run, which documents the First Minnesota regiment, largely through the lens of Gettysburg. Written by Brian Leehan of the Star Tribune, whom I just happened to meet on my orientation day when I mentioned I was a Civil War buff. I'm glad I met him -- his book is very well-written and addresses a unit (and area of the country) neglected from that time in history.