Fascinated British Visitor Describes Life in American Civil War (1863) // Diary of Henry Y. Thompson 

Hello folks, hope you enjoy the video. One correction of a bizarre mistake - Braxton Bragg instead of the entirely invented Braxton Briggs.

I like to imagine you just have a "Sources You Didn't Know Existed" archive you pull documents out of. Great video.

It's worth noting that the person who wrote this was only 24 at the time.

14:59 I couldn't help but remember the quote: _“Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war”_ - Otto von Bismarck

I didn't know that "bite the dust" went back that far, as a phrase.

"The only man to seem unmoved was General Grant himself." He's thinking about the war, not the battle

One of the things I love about your work is, not only the choice of literature you read, but also the quality of images and video clips you use to assist your storytelling.

"Elephantine" is now my word of the day.

"The struggle here is not so much between two Nations but two parties and one nation" lol nothing's changed

In the end, Bragg chose to withdraw rather than facing the Union attack tomorrow, as the Confederate defense line on the Missionary Ridge was already overwhelmed by this day's assault. An interesting trivia is that the successful Union attack on the Ridge was done by accident. Grant was going to capture the first line, then dig in, but due to an unclear order, his commanders thought he meant capturing the entire ridge in one push.

In reference to Lincoln: "He will leave behind him a great reputation" Yeah, you could say that

“It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it.” - Robert E. Lee

"One sups full of horrors..." What a vivid account of both the times and the war. Thank you!

"Many men on both sides [were] of English descent." That is of special interest to this Brit. Thanks.

Being born and raised in Chattanooga, TN , sitting here listening to this on this November morning almost brings a tear to my eye thinking that my ancestors surely died on such a mountain as Lookout . Thanks

British army officer Arthur Fremantle traveled all across the south and met all of the major generals of the confederacy and union and was even present at several battles including Gettysburg. He wrote a great book about his experience which was very popular in Europe and North America.

Maybe you could do a video on Jean-Baptiste Bory de Saint Vincent and his observations of Greece during and after the War of Independence. It is not a time period that is well known at all but he alongside other scientists who accompanied the French Morea expedition formed a scientific, aesthetic and human report that remained for a long time one of the best achieved about Greece.

It's a great shame that General Grant had his reputation dragged through the mud. He was a truly great American general and a genuinely good person.

I knew that there were a lot of unionists in East Tennessee, but it surprised me to know that the citizens of Chattanooga were so HEAVILY pro-union.

You should Check out the writings of Paul Du Chaillu. He was an American who documented his experiences in rural Africa in the mid 19th century.

Sir I congratulate you on such a high quality presentation of an ageless conflict between the divisive nature of humanity. Centuries may pass but that inward struggle for goodness and liberty continues.

I find it funny that this man, who visited the north, becomes such a passionate supporter of the Union's cause, while the friend he writes to, who visited the south, was equally as passionate for its cause.

Leave it to a Brit to open a diary with "I hereby institute..." lmao

He got to see General Grant in person! Amazing! I'm so jealous!

There were a large number of Britons who fought on both sides of that war. I was quite surprised to read about an English Confederate officer! and of course a great many Irish and Ulsterman fought in that war

Your cat has my vote.

The one thing I take away from this, more than any other, is that the phrase "bite the dust" was around as early as the 1860's.

This channel is an incredible resource, thank you for doing the research and putting these wonderful videos together!

This is incredible! Thank you, Voices of the Past!

"If you really think slavery pleasanter all I say is you don't really know what slavery is and if you won't read and know what slavery is you won't believe me who has read and has got a certain idea about it." I see anti intellectualism was strong back in those days as it is in 2020.

FANTASTIC! THANKS SO MUCH. Love Civil War history and lovely your work - so this is a godsend.

Such a great series, incredibly captivating.

That moment when you realize you're living in times that someone's going to have their *own* 'Voices of the Past' video about . . .

I really enjoy your Channel and your content. How appropriate this video is currently.

I must admit I am a little taken aback to hear him speak of the soldiers as his kinsfolk/co-ethnics, while the statement isn't untrue it's a nice change of pace from the soulless detached method of reporting nowadays

I love this channel so much.

This was amazing! I’m always interested in history and doubly so if there happen to be first hand accounts. What I didn’t expect to hear, even with the Chattanooga campaigns being so numerous, was an Englishman’s first hand account of the bloody battles fought around my hometown. Thank you sir, thank you.

Very nice, always a treat to watch you're videos!

His letter to his mother was... wow, incredible.

Glad to see mention of fellow Kentuckian Gen. Thomas Wood. He was born and grew up in nearby Munfordville. Ironically he was a close boyhood friend of Confederate Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, who was also born and reared near Munfordville. In fact, Gen. Buckner lived with the Wood family at times while attending school in Munfordville. The beautiful and well maintained Wood family home still stand near the Hart County courthouse.

fantastic, thank you!

I've never been this early only uploaded 8 minutes ago love the channel mate cheers 👍👍

While enjoying your videos, and have seen several, this one took me by surprise. However brief, it was fun to see my hometown of Syracuse featured, especially the photo of Downtown when the Erie Canal still flowed through it.

As an American during this time of divisiveness I would like to say thank you for this video. God bless you on future endeavors.

Wow! that was powerful for sunday morning viewing!

At 13:09 I got goosebumps! Or goose pimples to you brits. God bless America! Am I right?!?

If he thought Chattanooga was 'large scale' and brutal, I can only imagine his reaction if he had been around in time to witness Gettysburg, where nearly 20k men died in less than an hour during a single uphill charge on open ground on the third day. Given the enormous casualties of the two days prior, he would have been absolutely appalled by the time Lee had withdrawn his forces. I wish they taught more about the american civil war here in the US because most people just don't understand how unbelievably violent and transformative the war was not only for the country itself, but how it influenced warfare across the planet as other countries observed.

It's funny that he mentions English heritage multiple times. Americans of European descent nowadays generally don't think too much about which country their ancestors are from.

This guy had some meaningful insight.

At 6:00 you can hear the anger in the tone.... Its like someone today trying to explain that slavery in general, is a bad thing.

Your channel is awesome

this channel is simply fantastic. i love this kind of thing. also moar cat pls.

He certainly nailed it about Lincoln. Fascinating account.

Hello from Chattanooga . This man's information is spot on ...

It is interesting how much better spoken (or written) people were back then. I am guessing it is because spoken or written word was the only way of communicating, so they had to be be better.

Thank you for doing this video, it's brilliant! Not the bloodshed, but the terrible observation of the journalist. Can you do a few more please?

Great video.

Can you guys do more about the middle ages? Love it!

Finally , I was looking forward for this episode 😁👍

All the times I've traveled through Chattanooga or been to Lookout Mountain, I never once considered this battle. Now I certainly look back and see things quite differently

What a fascinating fellow to have seen both the American Civil War and WWI.

Coco has an amazing speaking voice.

I sure do enjoy 1800’s style English writing, from all locales and geographies whether British or American. For I can still understand each and every word, compared relatively, to early1700’s and prior to that English writing which I must struggle to comprehend and have a dictionary ready, at hand. It makes me feel super intellectual even though I am as as far from intellectual as could be.

I guess I just never realized that Wingtips existed in the 1860s. My Father wore a variation of those almost every week-day of his professional life. That's quite a long life-span for a very specific shoe design.

I love the “Oh, l would TOTALLY sign up to fight against slavery but l have to visit out West.’

“I had the best view of war you could hope to have and great food and lodgings! It was super comfortable and exciting! Unfortunately, men were dying all over the place but at least I had fun!”

Damn, I love these videos! Such a rare glimpse into the past, especially from an outsider perspective.

This episode feels like an abbreviated Ken Burns special. I mean that in the most complementary way

Ahhh shit boys and girls he's back with another banger

Lol that man giving his mother a talking to, beautifuk.

I looked up “george jokes martha washington” and while not receiving what i hoped to, it was a fun result regardless

Can you do a video on the Grito De Dolores or Cry of Dolores in English in which Mexican priest Father Miguel Hidalgo called for Mexican Independence from Spain

Cool. I live on Lookout Mountain.

Omg your cat looks exactly like mine. Hi Coco!

Timely.

lol... well timed on this content.

Can you do Theodore Roosevelt's Bigfoot story please

At 13:10, you quote Thompson describing Union forces planting the United States flag atop Lookout Mountain, but the picture you show is of the Confederate States flag. Well, there was a reason the Confederate forces adopted the Battle Flag.

Hearing a foreigner talk so highly of Americans has made me proud to be an American

Hey! Big fan of the channel, just wondering about the Patreon; is it possible to get ad-free versions of these videos as a perk there? I love to listen to these readings but the ad breaks do sort of spoil the experience a little (tho I understand why they're necessary, obvs) If there was a Patreon tier to effectively remove these ads by supplying edited versions of the video without them, I'd certainly be interested in it!

The real winners were Colt, Remington, Enfield, Smith & Wesson, Deringer.

5:37 He nailed it on Lincoln.

Imagine living from 1838 to 1928...almost a 100 years and the ammount of change you went through

*War is the worst thing any man can ever know. And he can only ever know it if he has lived it.*

I love it up on lookout mountain. 😍

It's astonishing that this young British journalist, in his private journal, had accurately deduced the great threat the two, Scottish-built, Laird ram blockade-breaker ships would pose to the Union if the Confederacy took delivery of both warships. Showing great political acumen, he privately considered the United States must do everything in it's power to prevent the delivery if the Laird Rams to the Confederacy. Shocking for even a loyal British subject, he added in his journal that the US government should even threaten war to force the British government to prevent the Laird Rams from ever leaving their British construction dockyard. But he greatly hoped this would not be necessary. Showing remarkable prescience, this is almost exactly what happened in real history. The US government in due time learned of the Laird Rams under construction in England by the renown Scottish shipbuilding company, Laird and Sons. The American ambassador put great pressure on the British government, rightly pointing out that the Laird Rams were a violation of International rules and customs of neutral nations trading between wartime belligerents. It needed not pointing out that Great Britain Herself was behind the authorship of many of these International Agreements. As a last measure of diplomatic pressure, the American ambassador led it be known to the top three British government leaders that if Britain allowed the release of the two Rams, it meant war. As the Americans were on the right side of International Law concerning neutral nations in wartime commerce, the British government really had no choice. The British government siezed the two Laird Rams as both neared completion, emplacing government law enforcement agents at the dockyard to prevent the two ships from departing. The British government shortly afterwards purchased both ships from Laird and Sons. Found to be mediocre sailing ships by the Royal Navy, both Rams found service as coastal defense ships around the British Isles. Around fifteen years or so later, the Royal Navy sold both ships.

7:24 i just about died from laughter

It fascinates me that they used the phrase 'bite the dust' back then.

@15:16 is that brent (neebs) from neebs gaming? the more i look the more i can here his voice when i do

"Bite the dust" is that old? Wow.

Lookout mountain is really amazing. The whole Chattanooga area is some of the prettiest of the whole appalachians

When the Alabama's keel was laid It was laid in the yard of Jonathan Laird It was laid on the town of Birkenhead

'War Between the States' is what we called it in school: Opa Locka Elementary, Florida. We sang Dixie in school. I prefer 'Lincoln's War', the 'War of 1861', or 'The Second American War for Independence'.

I think I can understand Grant being solemn during a celebration after a battle against his fellow countrymen. It had to be done but it's sad to know your enemy is your fellow Americans.

"No wonder there were riots in new york" Me: some things never change.

Didn't know the term ambulance was used before the motor vehicle.

The War of Independence was the British fighting amongst themselves and so too does it seem the Civil War was. I can't help but think of all those lost lives and dreams in a new land.

Are there any writings from the Moroccan perspective of the Union and Confederate soldiers that came to them for help? I think that could be a fun video.

8:17 there is an error. It is Braxton Bragg, not “Briggs”.

I had known Tennessee to have Unionist sympathies, but would not have guessed them to extend so far south as Chattanooga.