If I had a time machine...

[tomarch]

Re: If I had a time machine...

Here's a thought for discussion. Anybody want to go to Fords theater and keep JW Booth out ?

One theory of reality holds that there are any number of universes with an infinite number of possible outcomes. So if you went back to stop booth other outcomes could be:
1.) You succeed and become the most famous hero in U.S.history
2.) You fail and history goes on as before
3.) You end up doing the deed yourself instead of Booth
4.) Abe is already dead from the potshot taken at him at Soldiers Rest earlier in the year
5.) You go back and find out General Thane (Planet of the Apes) is there instead of Lincoln:wink_smil

[Darrell Cochran]

Re: If I had a time machine...

I chose going back temporarily to check impressions, but not so much to see what we might be doing wrong as to find out what I don't know, so to speak ... I'm the chairman of my unit's standards committee, and so much information about how the Regular Army "really did it" has been lost that I've come to the conclusion that the only way to answer most of our questions is to go back and look. I figure 24 carefully targeted hours in each year of the War would take care of that part of it.

And of course I'd like to catch up with my GG-grandfathers to verify that they were in fact serving where I believe they were - One on each side.

As for living any length of time in the 19th Century I could do it but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like it much - too much like work, plus I do like my electricity, indoor plumbing, and running water. :D

[garyjd]

Re: If I had a time machine...

Here's a thought for discussion. Anybody want to go to Fords theater and keep JW Booth out ?

I actually thought of that. Imagine going down in history as the man or woman that stopped John Wilkes Booth.

It's really hard to pick any one event though this one is a biggie. ~Gary

[csabugler]

Re: If I had a time machine...

Here's a thought for discussion. Anybody want to go to Fords theater and keep JW Booth out ?

[tomarch]

Re: If I had a time machine...

Just for the evilness of it I would go back with several thousand sets of "suttler row" uniforms and get a contract to supply them to the U.S.Army.

On a more serious note In addition to naming the "time of arrival" I would also hope to choose a geographical location (say, Beverly Hills) and buy up as much land as possible...:D

[Charles Heath]

Re: If I had a time machine...

If I could visit for a day, then it would be my GGF's wedding just over the border in Stokes County, NC, in 1871. Do I ever have some questions I'd love to have answered about who, what, and when about the war, certain relatives, a few washed out tobacco fields near Creasy Chapel, and that generally horrid period of time known as Reconstruction.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: If I had a time machine...

Hallo!

The only known cure for Future Shock.
:)

Curt

[51stNCVCo.K]

Re: If I had a time machine...

I think it would be very tough to adjust to life in the 19th Century but I think I could get used to it. I have often wondered why I was not born back then.

[JLHurst]

Re: If I had a time machine...

The idea would be nice. I'd definitly opt. to stop in and tell the pickets not to fire on Gen. Jackson. . .ya' know just to see how that would've turned out. I'd drop in on my 4th great grandfather and ask him not to sell the rimfire idea. . .(big money there). Make some notes of everything an eye could see and head on back. My wife, my life is here. Might as well stick around and make some history myself. ;)

[Dale Beasley]

Re: If I had a time machine...

I would have liked to see General Robert E. Lee ride by...

[YoungCampaigner]

Re: If I had a time machine...

Hello All. I chose staying full time. I would live on my family farm with my ggg-grandfather and his wife. It would be great to get to know them and to see how the place looked 140+ years ago (I live there now, so it would be an interesting comparison).

[MD_Independent]

Re: If I had a time machine...

I chose staying full-time. Figured I'd scat on back to the family farm on the Elk Creek, explain my situation, prove it somehow(proving it shouldn't be much of a problem, having knowledge only a man from the future would have), and live happily ever after with my folks from way back. Would be nice to see the old home place when it consisted of a few hundred acres of open fields instead of houses... I don't suppose I'd have to worry about being conscripted into the service since, by all definitions, I wouldn't exist yet.
Let's see, I'd see my 4th PA ancestor come marching home. Then the boys of the 6th MD, those ornery fellers from the 5th MD, and maybe Snow's Battery. Would be great just to see them all coming home. But, yeah... Would be nice to sit on the front porch of the cabin, and when my great great grandfather came to ask my great great grandmother to marry him in the 1870's, chasing him off with a shotgun(he was, afterall, the one that lost the farm by buying drinks instead of paying taxes). Such great possibilities... Oh, well...
Billy Birney

[CJDaley]

Re: If I had a time machine...

Right here, right now, there is no other place I want to be
Right here, right now, watching the world wake up from history

[DougCooper]

Re: If I had a time machine...

I would go back and save Jennie Wade and bring her back to the future (er, today). :D

Almost forgot - I would wander over to the ANV and try to get an idea about how many blue-gray kersey uniforms there were in the ranks (feedback to Neill Rose), and since Jennie dated one of the Culp's before the war, that would be my intro in. Course I would need to do all this NLT June 30.

Whatever happens I hope I don't run into that plump CS picket sentry

Also want to bring back a skillet sized corn cake so I know what they are supposed to look and taste like. I always burn the stupid things...;)

[Secesh]

Re: If I had a time machine...

I wish I could have shaken Lincoln's hand...