What Was It Like To Be A Civil War Soldier (Weird History) - Reaction

See the original video here - • What Was It Like To Be...
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#CivilWar #Reaction

[@TheHistoryUnderground]

That was certainly some weird history. 🤨

[@zombiejelly4111]

Yeah…like from a parallel universe or something

[@Maria_Erias]

Weird History is the channel that put out a video talking about how wearing armor in the medieval era was worse than going naked. It's a channel run by morons.

[@professorwhat2704]

It's the Mandela Effect. Gotta be.

[@abhinavjha3082]

Hopping on to this comment, Those who want to see Chris react to HISTORY DOSE's content, raise hands🙋🙋

[@cyndiebill6631]

I’m glad I know what really happened or I would have been so confuse 😁

[@JohnnyMarvin]

I too was a little confused when he went from Sherman to Gettysburg, implying he was there and saw the whole thing. I’m from the UK, and even I know he was out west with Grant. What’s next, Lee witnessed Shiloh?

[@sartanawillpay7977]

The song "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" makes a similar error of geography: "Back with my wife in Tennessee, When one day she called to me: “Virgil, quick, come see, there goes Robert E.Lee”

[@pdub88372]

Yeah they worded that terribly

[@yeetydab1672]

We all know Lee played a major role in the invasion of Omaha beach 🙄

[@scottweiderman9286]

@@yeetydab1672 to be fair i bet there was a Lee of some sort on Omaha beach.

[@koshea44]

@@scottweiderman9286 This is kind of random, but did you know Christopher Lee was related to Robert E Lee?

[@fernandorobles6361]

I’m a history teacher from Puerto Rico brushing up on my U.S. history knowledge, and I must say your content makes it a very interesting endeavor. Very helpful and insightful stuff! Cheers!

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

Glad to have you here Fernando! I need to dive into some Puerto Rican history sometime.

[@fernandorobles6361]

@@VloggingThroughHistory Since USA and PR share a lot of history, i believe its a worthwile endeavor. If you need some recommendations on books or topics I’d be more than happy to share.

[@galindoof]

PR en la casa! Been on a binge on VTH videos to know Puertorican history in context

[@coxmosia1]

@@VloggingThroughHistory On a slightly different note, I would love to watch you do a reaction to the war of 1812. I found this source to be good. Keep up the excellent reactions. Best history teacher I ever had. kzbin.info/www/bejne/m4CpdGyOoa2Yeq8

[@michaeltheknight2004]

Que pasa mihelma

[@danielvaldez9946]

This is why we have people like you Chris. Im pretty certain I would have fallen for all the dramatic generalizations and exaggerations if it werent for your comments. Its good to have a go-to content checker before going into new channels I dont know

[@steveclarke6257]

Chris makes an excellent point on which war was more lethal. Most casualties in war before WWII were caused by disease, so Flemming's discovery of Penicillin was a genuine improvement. However the truth is that's as weapons get better, more people die from injury caused by the weapons. So yes the Minne ball was a vast improvement on what came before it; but by the time of WWI happens brass cased ammunition with smokeless powder, usable in both bolt action repeating rifles and maxim guns, was the universal ammunition of all nations. Add on reliable breach loading artillery in massive numbers- shooting both shrapnel and high explosive shells then add the unpleasantness of chemical weapons shells makes WWI more lethal than any war fought in the 19th century.

[@pc86914]

actually it depends on how you look at it. your % chance of dying as a Civil War soldier was a LOT higher than as a (British) WW1 soldier, though the % of casualties as a share of total force deployed were very similar. 12% of British troops sent to the Western Front died and 44% were wounded or missing/captured for a total of a 56% casualty rate. Using the high-end estimate of 750,000 killed during the Civil War, the Civil War concluded with a 27% death rate and 32% wounded/missing/captured rate, for a total of a 59-60% casualty rate. I'd still rather fight in the Civil War than WW1 though. On the flip side, due to the sheer scale of WW1, Germany, France, and Russia lost a higher percentage of their male military-age population than the US did during the Civil War.

[@CinemaKnight]

2:45 I'm not sure exactly how accurate those ages were, but I do know that my great-great-great grandfather served as a Union drummer boy and then I believe as a regular soldier in the 19th Wisconsin Infantry from ages 12 to 15 (he enlisted in February 1862 and served with the regiment until they were mustered out in August 1865). He actually served in the same company with his father.

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

Same happened with the ancestor I mentioned. His 15 year old son was a musician in the same company.

[@zaffarismail1508]

Weird history is usually pretty crap as far as historical accuracy goes. Other KZbinrs like metatron and shadiversity made entire debunking videos about their medieval content It's pretty sad that these people have over 3 MILLION subscribers and actually good content creaters have only a few hundred thousand

[@hitomisalazar4073]

Yeah what I've seen about their stuff suggests they do less research and more just ape pop culture ideas of history as the facts. So it gets skewed quite a bit. Like the idea that people literally died of heat stroke inside their armor all the time in medieval warfare.

[@ilikechamomile4502]

Yeah I used to like weird history until I saw metatrons video and I realized how inaccurate it was 😭

[@alexthegamer-is-cool]

I had a great great grandpa who was a 12-year-old drummer boy in the civil war he was almost killed in the battle of Antietam in 1862

[@RobinMarks1313]

I'm not a big fan of the "weird history" or nutty history, because they are basically list videos. Unlike most history channels, they only skim the research and make huge generalizations. I like strange history, but I don't trust these type of list videos. In one word, superficial !

[@afffflacccck7812]

Which is why we have this guy

[@user1738-]

man it sure is a good thing your opinion means nothing then huh

[@dechezhaast]

@@user1738- cool guy

[@BlueZebraStripe]

100%. As soon as I hear the voice I close the video.

[@anyrealitybutthisone804]

You've got to be one of the hardest working youtubers I've seen, man. Touring Europe creating content and you're still posting reaction videos. Respect.

[@maximiliancromwell3593]

Hey man, can you PLEASE continue your reaction on Epic History Tv's serious on The Napoleonic Wars? HE has alot more, and I would really like to see you react to them

[@Nabuhodonozor1000]

UPVOTE THIS!

[@yashjoseph3544]

He said he would do reactions to the rest of the videos in a video a while ago.

[@Zachattack1212]

YES AMEN TO THAT

[@jasonladd3682]

I appreciate that you clarified a lot of Weird History's statements

[@wxixlxsxoxn7321]

Thankyou so much for your commentary by providing the truth and debunking a lot of this channel's misinformation.

[@davidlewis2447]

Think people who criticise this channel are forgetting they are a quick summary of a subject hopefully generating a interest for you to go and learn more ie from people like you who has a great knowledge of the us civil war. I’ve learnt a lot from you about us civil war as it’s not well covered here in the uk

[@that247life]

RE: Am. Civil War v. WWI - Dynamite was invented just after the conclusion of the Am. Civil War and I often wonder if Alfred Nobel had made it, say, five years what impact it would have had. Would the Am. Civil War more closely resembled WWI? I'm glad we never found out

[@expandedhistory]

It would mean the world if you reacted to one of my videos Chris and gave me your honest feedback! Love your videos and your love and passion for history.

[@infinitysck8094]

You actually have a really good History channel ExpandedHistory! I’m surprised you aren’t bigger. Just keep the work up!

[@expandedhistory]

@@infinitysck8094 Thank you for your kind words!

[@TheRazorback5]

You should review more Weird History videos for the purpose of critiquing them like this. I watch their videos but I didn’t realize they may have misleading info

[@troyboytron648]

Im actually pretty glad you reacted to these guys and pointed out some mistakes and things they said. I love learning history and I want to learn it right. You do a very good job and I trust your content more than a lot of others

[@CodyChepa88]

I watched this maybe 9 months ago so it's pretty cool your reacting to it . Been getting caught up on the videos since I was in Utah most of the week but happy to see more content as always 👍💪 Also would have been cool to see what DC looked like while it was so fortified

[@dennypetrosian8589]

Nice! Another channel that most of us are quite familiar with I am sure. Although I look at weird history with more of an "entertainment" lens than I do as a I'll watch this to really get into the detail of things. Great video as usual, brother 🙏

[@omaralvarez8171]

I typically watch videos first then reactions to them. Instead I watch your reactions first cause I prefer making sure that this channel gets their facts right.

[@J_E_Sandoval]

Nutty History is good too. Great video! Have a safe trip!

[@SideSwipeGTA]

This was actually pretty good accuracy for Weird History, usually they are pretty terrible, they seem to spend more time making the videos look good than being accurate.

[@erichvondonitz5325]

especially after the "Wearing is more dangerous to the knight" vid that got into controversy

[@mike04574]

@@erichvondonitz5325 ?

[@ryanheister6802]

You should react to more Usefulcharts. They have videos on who would be the most senior heir of Charlemagne as well as more royal history videos.

[@backspaceninja9860]

Love your content bro. I mean it’s barely the second video I’m on but I’m enjoying this. Thank you.

[@jackmessick2869]

A GREAT book on the daily life of a Civil War soldier is actually a work of fiction, written by an Ohio veteran. Wilbur F Hinman's "Corporal 'Si' Klegg and his 'Pard'." (Not the McElroy book, I cannot vouch for that one as I haven't read it). Also, there is the book "Hardtack and Coffee" by Billings and the aforementioned Sam Watkins's "Company 'Aytch'"

[@petercurran3723]

Great call out here....Thank You for your work.....the true timeline is and should be followed!👍

[@robertadams998]

Although I have been born and raised in Northern Ohio my mothers family hails from South Carolina. My great-great grandfather, Frank Fergerson McMillian attempted to join the Confederate forces at 13 years old. Although not allowed to fight he was given the duty of tending horses for the Cavalry.

[@blackjack90631]

nice! Weird History is one of the main channels I watch (to include VTH)

[@jackmessick2869]

Joseph Plumb Martin was 16 when he enlisted with his grandfather's permission in the Revolution, so I would expect the same rules in effect 85 years later. I would guess most of the under 18 group were 16 or 17, which was so close to being an adult in the day, much more than 20th and 21st century generations.

[@jefferyhyatt]

6:20 "Only a fraction made it home". Well, semantically speaking, 3/4 is a fraction 😉

[@Goosavich]

I liked you calling out inaccuracies especially from a channel I watch. I'll still watch them because I enjoy their content but I always enjoy your explanations on the reality of what is being talked about.

[@ShivamR34440]

Great video

[@celston51]

Iverson's experiences at the first day of Gettysburg are more a statement about how badly his command was handled during that attack. He was relieved of command soon afterwards although whether it was wholly his fault or his division commander Rhodes' is debatable, not that the tactics used were archaic. Probably not the best source to draw on there.

[@comusrules1244]

I am a big fan of Weird History. I thinks it’s meant to be a type of skimming over of historical events. This one sure was. I already knew everything they said here about the Civil War, so I gave it more scrutiny too, as you did Chris. But most of their content is really cool and talks about things in history very little known. Literally weird stuff! Give them another chance. 👍🏽

[@calebhodge6574]

Weird History released a video a few days ago about the RMS Titanic and it really opened my eyes to just how bad that channel is when it comes to presenting accurate facts. As someone who has extensively researched the Titanic, there were many errors in the video that stuck out like a sore thumb.

[@robdixon7732]

Love Weird History!

[@apm9151]

This one is funny… I want more reaction videos of faulty history videos 😆

[@bobbypugh2666]

Been enjoying your channel now for a few weeks, and was shocked to read your sweatshirt. Are u from my hometown? This may be even better!! Keep the great vids coming.

[@SPZ_2224]

Hi Chris

[@andrewshaw1571]

Not normally one to recommend videos but i'd like to recommend a video called the battle of may island: Down the rabbit hole by Fredrik Knudsen. Not the usual place to look for the kind of history you'd be after but that particular, very long video is worth it, especially given your interest in world war one.

[@williamwallaceoftheus8710]

I'd recommend their video on the Lewis and Clark expedition for the future

[@CaptainMurphyTKoM]

Chris, if you haven't seen it I definitely recommend the 11th OVC KZbin channel. Really cool living history content

[@SentinelGhost]

I've reached the point where I just grab whatever bottle of whiskey I have on hand when I watch these so I can take that shot lol

[@PuckishAngeI]

Your videos are seriously one of the best, can't wait for the ucpoming european vlogs.

[@shanejones7906]

The thing I think most people miss is that the world was a vastly bigger place back then. The average speed a person traveled at that time was 3 to 5 miles per hour. Armies traveled on foot or horseback. It took an army 3 days at the minimum to March 100i miles. I drive 50 miles per day to get to work and 50 miles back. During that time, it would've taken me an entire day to get to my job and and an entire day to get back home.

[@bluewolfe6048]

Hey man can you plz do more videos on Ancestry

[@Ozie1981]

I've been watching your content for a few months now and I've really been enjoying it. I've seen you do a few alternate history videos and I wanted to make a suggestion: How do you think the 20th century would have played out if Truman hadn't recalled/cashiered MacArthur? Do you think that would have completely prevented the rise of the CCP? Do you think we would have wound up in a hot (as opposed to cold) war with Russia?

[@ruben346]

Chris is a great mix between specialist and generalist pertaining to history but boy he knows his Civil War.

[@davidwood8730]

You make a good point about the brutality of WWI. Pickett's charge was bloody indeed, but I watched your videos about the Somme and those charges were much worse!

[@JuggerNATE93]

I'd really like to hear your thoughts on the Cracked video, "Why Benidict Arnold was an American Hero (and still a Traitor)" from the series Hilarious Helmet History. That whole series is pretty fun, but I think that one would fit your channel well

[@alpharius4434]

Wow, I didn't knew that the musket had such recoil, nor the effect on the shooter ! O_O But yeah, Civil war was quite brutal, but not so far as the WWI or even WWII on the eastern front : Half of the french Casualties happenend in the first years of WWI and the life expectancy of a front russian soldier was six months and in those two cases, a soldier could NOT get out of his service before the war ended or before he was so mutilated that he could not fight anymore. (And this last statement was quite overall the same for all armies in WWI and WWII.

[@kyleheins]

It doesn't, if used properly. The problem isn't that the muskets recoil harder than modern weapons of 308 or more, it's that if loaded wrong or held wrong they have the force of a light punch. Imagine holding a hunting rifle or shotgun in the wrong part of the shoulder, or not pressed into it. That was common for most volunteers then. If the shot isn't fully rammed, the recoil also goes up ALOT! I make and shoot live rounds from springfields and enfields on the regular, and both I and the men of my unit have no issues as long as we shoulder the rifles properly. Occasionally someone messes up or we get a new guy who learns the hard way though. Good for a laugh I dare say.

[@doylesgirl73]

Weird History can be hit and miss with their content. Sometimes I feel like there needs to be a better fact checker.

[@gamelandmaster3680]

But when it's 90% right, it's 100% wrong.

[@1CE.]

The channel is honestly hit or miss I feel the more recent stuff if better but it gets more egregious the further back one goes especially when it concerns Europeans

[@gengar5213]

Yeah most of there recent stuff isnt as bad

[@zombiejelly4111]

@@gengar5213 for all you know, have a historian watch it and bet it’s just as inaccurate

[@jeffersonott4357]

I like weird history. They have one of the best narrarators around, and some good humour. Mistakes, sure, but a good presentation in my view.

[@sparkyphantom92]

Misinformation all the same.

[@itspandasman3040]

"Weird History" is not a good channel if you want to learn history. I have seen a few people who know their stuff react to "Weird History"s videos and they have pointed out ALOT of inaccuracies in "Weird History" content. PS: the soft led bullet you described is called a "Dum-Dum bullet"

[@JudazRex]

Chris I hope You see this, It’s true what @It’sPandasMan says

[@lovelyhatter]

What you said about choosing the Civil war over WW1 is so true. I would MUCH rather have lived and fought through the Civil war rather than have gone through any part of WW1. Disease in the Civil war was bad sure, but compared to WW1 it's laughable. Great stuff as always.

[@XQFangs]

Hey VTH, I was wondering if you have seen the World War II: Every Day with Army Sizes video by Christopher yet? It's a great informative video with incredible detailing of the frontline and army changes of WWII, but the pace of the video is relatively fast and often lacks context. So I was wondering whether you would be interested in reacting to it? It would be great to have a historian react to the video and give additional context as to what is happening!

[@donniedewitt9878]

You should do the central powers one from whatifalhist

[@LeslieHarvey607]

You need to do "Ripped Lincoln" barley gets any subscribers but he is absolutely AMAZING

[@dustinlbarr]

Have you seen free state of jones? In the movie they talk about how the poor farmers were tired of dying for the rich slave owners. Is there any truth to that? It would be cool to do reactions to historical movie scenes and discuss how realistic they are. Similar to how Legal Eagle reacts to lawyer movies. Not sure how that fits with KZbin’s copyright rules, but that would be cool!

[@cyndiebill6631]

I take weird history with a grain of salt. I’m a Civil War nut so I like to find the miss information in the videos. If you don’t know a lot about the. CW than I guess it’s a good place to start but remember not everything they say is true. Thanks again for bringing history fact a live.👍😁

[@JBatesProductions]

For a different flavor, I’d love to see you comment on veritasiums “The man who accidentally killed the most people in history”, as while it’s a science channel, that video is tied with history and would be awesome to hear you fill in some of the gaps there

[@euanstrachan2471]

Something I’ve been curious about is why cities populations have fluctuated so dramatically over time, there doesn’t seem to be any KZbin videos covering this topic and thought it could be something you could cover

[@RealEthanYang]

Hi, I am a middle schooler. Some kids in my class say that the south had the right to leave the union. How do I debate that the north was the good side?

[@phantomtitan9792]

It was interesting

[@ZoppanEgod]

I love Weird History and I love your channel so this is just great, thank you!

[@JonahNelson7]

lol it's nice to see a historian correct the video's facts

[@DMatt343]

15:55 this threw me off as well. I guess it was an error, but saying, "X is a high number under these circumstances, and to put in perspective, here's the same number under the circumstance" seems like a pretty big oversight. What he meant to say was, "To put it in perspective, that's the equivalent of 10 Gettysburg battles." He just left what was supposed to be an unused take from the previous line in the final video.

[@jackmessick2869]

44,000 dying from dysentery sounds a little low. It has to be the most common cause of death, doesn't it?

[@charliep123]

Putting a number in your shoe then saying you’re “over” that number is genius

[@fruitpunk]

i am once again requesting you react to cgp grey hes alot more accurate than these guys :P

[@thorbeorn4295]

How did it come to be you became an expert on the civil war? Was it because it was the most interesting part of history in your view, or any other reason? I'd love to know :)

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

When I was a kid and started to love history, that was about the time that several Civil War shows/documentaries came on TV (North & South, Gore Vidal's Lincoln, Ken Burns' Civil War). I was exposed to that event more than any other in my early years, plus the proximity of where I grew up to the civil war battlefields. I've been consuming all the information on the Civil War I can get my hands on ever since.

[@jordanjohnson3138]

This channel also posted a video about how medieval armor was worse than wearing nothing at all. So they definetly dont have a good history of researching their topics.

[@notdio9893]

You say ww1 was worse than the cival war, but what about napoleon's invasion of Russia? Or Marcus Antoniuses invasion of parthia. Sorry if this is very much off topic but I truly want to know if you would desire more to serve in the others.

[@gapman1900]

You should do the one on lady jane grey next Xd Actually felt so bad for her

[@stephenparker6362]

Hi, Chris, I didn't know of Weird History before this, I'm pleased you were there to give an accurate picture. I was thinking about worst wars to fight in, I think the European Eastern front in WW2 must have been bad for all sides. I suspect early Naval battles must also have been bad, can you imagine what it was like fighting at Trafalgar ? I'd like to recommend something else from the Biographics channel, which is Simon Whistler, firstly there was one on Harry Truman, the accidental president and secondly on Franz Joseph, who he labels the last great emperor. I'd like to hear your opinion on them.

[@ollietaylor5981]

I think this channel could be good to do reactions too, but as you rightly stated there’s a lot of generalised comments that either need historical/factual proof or simply just more detail in the explanation. Otherwise it leaves us with slight misinformation about historical events.

[@codynewland4968]

Could you do another reaction from weird history called What was hygiene in Colonial America

[@GoldGloveDruid]

"Weird History" isn't one of my favs and some of their interpretations clearly have a bias.

[@nickshaffer9961]

I agree. This was kind of a mixed bag for me, which didn’t leave much to the credibility of the information being presented. Some instances were good, then others not so good. Like when you pointed out about talking about Sherman and then transitioning into Gettysburg. The way it was presented would make someone think Sherman was there. On another note, as a former reenactor, I can attest those weapons get hot!!! A lot of us tied pieces of leather around the barrel so we have somewhere to grip without burning our hands On another note, I hope you make the video about the day the music died at some point. I made that suggestion during one of your gaming live streams and I’d love to see it happen!!

[@willb6608]

I’m interested on your views of the Bruce Catton books. I read them all and loved them, especially Terrible, Swift Sword. But was he accurate? You would know better than I.

[@buckybland901]

civil war vs wwi would be a great comparison video. i agree with a lot of what you said but I think it would be worse to be a civil war soldier just because of the times.

[@MagicButterz]

No way I'm going to Amsterdam from Canada next week to go check out ww2 sites, any recommendations?

[@ASPECTICKLE]

This sounds like it was written by Chatgpt lmao.

[@tylermorrison420]

I've been looking for videos on your channel discussing civil war campaigns for about 20 minutes, can anyone drop a playlist link or something

[@charlieblack20wolfpack]

Chris would you please do a reaction to the video “Checkmate Lincolnites Where there Black Confederate soldiers?” It’s the only video of that series you didn’t react to

[@yeslol9303]

Excellent video

[@dennypetrosian8589]

Hey, brother. Returned to one your older videos. Also wanted to introduce a channel that might interest you, Premodernist is its name. Very fascinating stuff, would love to see what you think.

[@danehayden2438]

checkout their lincoln and jfk assanination videos

[@cyberus1438]

I know that responding to potentially biased or propagandizing pieces has gotta be painful, but I think it’s an important thing to do, increasingly so today

[@janmichaelsaulsbury5137]

Hey man I know you love and study the Civil War, but can you go to something else for a while. The Crimea War would be great to show the Russian flow of power during the cold War, or maybe the French revolution following the neopolican dictatorship

[@Clipedbyspanxx]

been a while since on this channel loved the trip to france whats otg with the trip to the never lamds anyone ?

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

I arrive in Amsterdam Wednesday morning.

[@coreyholt6145]

happy anzac day

[@CalebHawbaker]

Are you still planning on continuing the series on Cesar by historia civilius?

[@james_bond_cpa361]

Do you have a podcast? If you make something about the civil war for spotify you would at least have me as a listener.

[@jarofpickles4057]

I apologize for asking an off-topic question, but could you potentially make a video discussing Princess Diana at some point? As a younger American, all I've really ever heard from the media and popular online opinions is that she was something of a martyr and an absolutely wonderful person. I ask you specifically because I watched your livestream ranking the British monarchs throughout the last hundreds of years recently and I believe you mentioned something about not being a big fan of her, and that's the first time I've heard someone say something like that. Especially someone who seems to have such knowledge of history. I'm very ignorant on this topic as a whole, having been born after she died and not growing up in that country. Or, if someone else sees this, potentially provide a good video/book on the topic. There's a lot of conspiracies on the topic, from what I've seen, and I'm not interested in that sort of thing. Unless, of course, there's validity to them. I just don't know.

[@thefutbolfollower8326]

Hey VTH I know this will sound like begging but I would like it if you reacted to my presidents ranking video. I don't talk over though (I do explain reasonings, but don't talk over).

[@drexmartell9803]

Fun fact: Decimated historically is only 10% losses. -- But has warped with our culture washing it to a generality over time.

[@janeeyre5909]

Fitch Falcons? Are you from Groton CT?

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

No. I get that all the time. Austintown, OH.

[@Jamessmith-xk3fh]

The little town I live in is named after the last name of my I think 4th great grandfather who was a captain in Louisiana and their flag is in the civil war museum in New Orleans

[@AdamS-nv5oo]

I think you nailed it. Weird history is ok, but they just paint broad strokes and often seem lack research. Some videos are better than others.