...and then a man rode through the lines bearing a white flag.

[Major Hogwash]

90. Just out of curiosity, did you read many books about the Civil War?

By the time I was in the 5th grade, I would guess that I had read about 10 books written about that war.
I knew more about that time in our nation's history than my elementary school teacher did.
I was fascinated with the history of that war.

In 1965, for the Centennial celebration of the end of the war, The Purina Company included a multi-colored brochure in their 50-pound bags of Purina Dog Chow dog food.
The brochure folded out like a road map, with 4 completely different pages of facts.

When the brochure was completely opened and folded out flat, there was a map of all of the states in the South, and all of the areas where most of the major battles of that war took place.
They even had arrows drawn from battlefield to battlefield showing the different military campaigns that were fought during the war.
When the left and right leafs of the brochure were folded inwards 1 time, there were pictures and a short history of the Generals of those battles on the back of those leafs.
The Union Generals were depicted on the left side, and the Confederate Generals depicted on the right.
After folding the leafs in a 2nd time, there were other officers of less rank who had became famous in that war, with pictures and a short history of what they became famous for on the back of those leafs.

After my parents when to the store to shop for groceries, my dad opened up the dog bag, and took the brochure out of it.
There was a big advertising note on the lower front of the bag that stated the brochure was contained inside.
But then, to my horror, he gave it to my older brother!
I thought my brother was just going to read it for awhile and then give it to me.
But no, he wanted to keep it.

So, I raised holy hell over it, saying that he didn't even care about history, he didn't even study the Civil War as much as I did.
We almost went to blows over it.
My dad was kind of shocked that I threw such a fit over it.
But, that's because my older brother got everything he wanted; he was spoiled rotten.

So, on the next weekend, my parents went back to get groceries for the family again . . and my dad bought another 50-pound bag of dog food for our dog, even though we didn't need it yet, in order to get another brochure about the Civil War just for me.
I was only 9 years old at the time, but man, was I ever surprised when my ol' man said, "here, I went and got one for you, too."
I couldn't believe it.
I almost cried.

I studied the shit out of that brochure.
I memorized the most famous Generals and the most famous battles.

History is one of the most overlooked and underrated subjects taught in America.
They just don't have the time to go in to great detail about American history, until about high school, and then, only briefly.
Nevertheless, by the time I was in the 5th grade, I was chock full of facts about the history of that war.

But by 1968, just 3 short years later, all the hell that was in the news broke out on the tv . . . and it just seemed to me like we never got over that war.