Revolution Article

1: I did not know that there were as many as 620,000 soldiers that died in the Civil War. I figure there were thousands who died in the Civil War, but I did not think it was that astonishing of a number. I started reading this article and this number popped out immediately to me as something new and surprising. This gives a whole new perspective about the Civil War to me. I thought it was a costly war but not as costly as 620,000.
2: I did not know that the Civil War started off as a war to save the Union and ended up as a revolution to end slavery. I knew that they were trying to save the Union prior to the war and during, however, I did not know that they started the war to save the Union. I was under the impression that the war itself started over the fight to abolish slavery.
3: I did not know that most of the participants, civilians, politicians, and other people living during the revolutionary era had died within a decade of the jubilee in 1826 leaving it virtually impossible for the stories of the revolution to be told and for the history recorded to be accurate. That is why most historians according the article mostly talk about the political aspects about the war, such as the signing of the declaration, and the constitutional convention, rather than the hard fought battles of the war itself.
4: I had no idea that during the Revolutionary War, our country lead an invasion against Canada. I also did not know that during this invasion they fought through harsh winter conditions causing a shortage of food. This lead them to have to eat pet dogs, and cook other things like boiling shoes, according to the article.
5: I did not know that a Continental soldier had the odds of dying in battle of 1 in 10 but if captured had a 50-50 chance that he would not survive being captured. This surprised me because I thought that being lined up and shot at in a battle would bring a greater likelihood of death than captured. I figured you would have a better shot of being rescued or surviving in captivity long enough.