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How did the North and South Differ in Antebellum Development? How they fought the Civil

War, and dealt with the Aftermath of the War?

The American Civil War received various names in history that were used in describing

it, as the War Between the States and the War of Secession among others. The battles and

damages realized in the Cold War from North to South compelled America to a new definition.

The backgrounds and causes of the Civil War are as critical as its effects and losses. Such

considerations show why the Civil War has continuously captured the attention and imagination

of the US and the entire world. In such regards, the paper outlines the differences in

developments in the antebellum North and South, how the battles were fought in Civil War, and

the aftermath based on Jonathan Fetter-Vorm and Ari Kelman’s Book. In such regards, various

episodes on the grim realities of barren farms, trenched warfare and lost lives are communicated

reflecting on the broad range of swaths, conflicts towards the abolition of slavery and its

implications.

Battle Lines is a significant achievement in the US history as well as visual literature that

provides a broadened description of the complex situations that transpired in the brutal conflict

of the Americans, Civil War while accounting for the deaths. Fetter-Vorm and Kelman (8) retell

on the occurrences of the American Civil War outlining the regional differences and

contributions towards the war. The authors constitute a creative team for capturing the magnitude

of the Civil War on an intimate and dreadful scale. The title of the book, Battle Lines broadens
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the scope with full inclusion of humanistic narration of the American bloodiest division. The

authors utilize 15 vignettes with briefly typeset and designed contextual articles comparable to

the newspaper in guiding the reader through the Reconstruction. Some of the most appealing

sections in the book involve an escaping slave, who crosses the Union Lines; one lost and one

spared; the two friends behind the Confederate complications; and the doomed journal-keeper

subjected to starvation in a remote camp among others Kelman and Fetter-Vorm 21-136). The

vignettes emphasize a particular aspect of daily life from the Reconstruction period. For instance,

the Rebels matching through the woods with their feet tied around their rags as partial shoes.

After each scene, the writers demonstrate bodies of soldiers, animals and freed slaves

indicating the consequences of the war. Besides, some survivors are shown with lost limbs in

addition to sufferings from disease manifestations from previous encounters. The effects of the

battles on social stability are witnessed from the families of soldiers who do not return home as

well as their homecoming, like a photograph of a man holding his child but return home to find

the wife alone. Some Confederate veterans used tactics to keep a freedman out of the ballots

showed terrorism-like activities under the hooded image of Ku Klux Klan group (Kelman and

Fetter-Vorm 57). Like other aggressive confrontations, the Civil War was a compendium of

tragedies escalated by slavery and tainted by atrocious racial discrimination in the North and

South territories. Battle Lines paints the real picture beautifully and concisely that challenges

readers on the past and appreciation of the present.

The visual rhetoric utilized by the authors indicates that battle has occurred; both people

and the land has suffered to a significant extent. For instance, the blood-stained rocks and bullet-

wounded people are testimonials for the war at Gettysburg despite lack of intervention to such

violence. Such inclusions enable readers to develop immunity towards acts of conflict. Besides,
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the graphic history of the Civil War allows Kelman and Fetter-Vorm (48) to seek the attention of

most people with interest in the American largest and bloodiest battle. The pictures coined in the

Battle Lines are as enthralling as the text. For example, the image of the wounded Union fighter

at the epicenter of the Charles harbor after the attack of Fort Sumter is critical in the illustration

of engulfing war miseries. In such regards, Battle Lines assists in reinforcing knowledge and

understanding by focusing on individual experiences in the larger pictorial representation.

Overall, Battle Lines depicts the challenging and joyous aspects of learning American

history from the bloodiest conflicts to freedom at last. Kelman and Fetter-Vorm have profoundly

described historiographical pictures in the context that paints the realities and increased level of

historical literacy. The book traces a cast of characters from the ban of new slaves’ importation

in the early 19th century to the Reconstruction era. In addition to the causes and effects of the

Civil War, the authors reveal reasons why soldiers from all sides both the North and South

engaged in bloody battles. The aspirations for the Civil War are demonstrated as ambitious

through sophisticated and complex visual representations. As well, the abolitionist, slaves,

Confederates, planters, and Unionists play different roles that are significant in the achievement

of the Civil War and its consequences. Therefore, Battle Lines provides a suitable pedagogical

tool for Civil War and exploration of American history.

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Work Cited

Kelman, Ari, and Fetter-Vorm, Jonathan. Battle Lines: A Graphic History of the Civil War. New

York: Hill and Wang, 2015. Illustrations. x + pp.214.