This sounds like one I need to have in my collection doesn't it? Sadly, without a book with the story, my kids and grands don't even try to fathom the concept. Their generation is so far removed from these events being discussed, and they are not just glossed over in History class but not mentioned at all and it shows. They do not get just how we are connected (through ancestral lines) to some of the events and the political climate that controlled them. One daughter and a couple of grands do ask questions but my Son in Law shows more interest and really puts spends time on the material he reads that give him a better grasp of the entire era. He also has ancestors who were in this area when some of the Indian Wars were conducted in lower Alabama and West Florida. I'm so happy to see him get more involved in the research and just learning things he never knew but he told me he had a difficult time finding any friends or family on his side who could even discuss it. They are clueless.

I wonder if one were to ask a high school American History class if the Union only had active troops to fight the Civil War and no other area between 1861 and 1865 they'd say yes. I guess it's possible that some schools in the western areas might touch on the forts being active installations and they even may mention it was to go after and contain Indians to reservations. Probably not a lot of mention on the possiblity of Confederate forces at work in the West either. The majority of time in class must meed federal mandates and most of them are for the 1960's Civil activities be given priority. I never really knew about or had any hint on the Carlyle Schools. It was another 'family connection' that led me to that discovery.

In order for them to understand how they must make some difficult decisions as adults they have to know the past and what got us to where we are today. Some argue it isn't very 'current'. The past is gone. Got news for em. It's about as current as tomorrows headlines. We saw this a while back with a person who had an upper position in DC giving the old union rally cry and paying lip service to Native Americans and it made me sick to think some of those who were cheering do not see where the whole thing is heading. You remember the news reports. He was talking reparations.

Pam