What price is freedom?

On February 20th, 1864, in the swampy woods west of Jacksonville, 5000 young men from the northern states, marched 60 miles from Jacksonville and ran right into 5000 other young men from the South who had marched even further, from Atlanta. After a few hours of intense fighting, the Union forces retreated, leaving 2,807 of these young men dead or dying on a battlefield far from their homes.


Photo by Tony Klimas, Copyright 2005

This reenactment of the Battle of Olustee, held February 20th, 2005, got me thinking about what a horrific thing it must have been to suffer all those casualties in just a few short hours. There probably was not even enough time for Ted Koppel to read all the names on Nightline. Even worse, this is a battle that most have never heard of, fought at the end of the war, with little consequence other than prolonging the war by another year. "Please!", some would say..."bring our boys home for they are dying for nothing." Were they? Did they?

As I watched, I wondered, whether the current citizens and residents of the United States would have the stomach for such a fight today. Would they be willing to take up arms and sacrifice their lives for nothing more than beliefs and principles, and more importantly, would they be willing to do this near the end of the war when their deaths truly became pointless to some. There is no way to know for sure, I suppose, but I think there are maybe still a few of us out here who know in our hearts, that there are indeed ideas and principles worth fighting for and even dying for, and more importantly, people who are willing to do just that regardless of how long it takes.