In the words of Gen. William T. Sherman - and in the haunting music of Crosby, Stills and Nash

Memorial Day is a time for remembering. It was 150 years ago, April of 1861, that hostilities erupted between the Confederate States of America and the United States of America. When it was over in April, 1865, more than 610,000 American soldiers had given their lives.

In 1982, Crosby, Stills and Nash released "Daylight Again," a song about war written about the Civil War. The song evolved out of Stills' guitar-picking to accompany on-stage stories regarding the south in the Civil War, seguing into "Find the Cost of Freedom," which had been the b-side of the "Ohio" single in 1970

Daylight Again

Daylight again

Following me to bed

I think about a hundred years ago

How my Fathers bled

I think I see a valley

Covered with bones in blue

All the brave soldiers

that cannot get older

Been asking after you

Hear the past a' calling

From Armageddon's side

When everyone's talking and no one

Is listening

How can we decide

Do we find the cost of freedom

Buried in the ground

Mother Earth will swallow you

Lay your body down.

The five costliest battles of the war:
Battle of Gettysburg
Date: July 1-3, 1863
Location: Pennsylvania
Confederate Commander: Robert E. Lee
Union Commander: George G. Meade
Confederate Forces Engaged: 75,000
Union Forces Engaged: 82,289
Winner: Union
Casualties: 51,112 (23,049 Union and 28,063 Confederate)

Battle of Chickamauga
Date: September 19-20, 1863
Location: Georgia
Confederate Commander: Braxton Bragg
Union Commander: William Rosecrans
Confederate Forces Engaged: 66,326
Union Forces Engaged: 58,222
Winner: Confederacy
Casualties: 34,624 (16,170 Union and 18,454 Confederate)

Battle of Chancellorsville
Date: May 1-4, 1863
Location: Virginia
Confederate Commander: Robert E. Lee
Union Commander: Joseph Hooker
Confederate Forces Engaged: 60,892
Union Forces Engaged: 133,868
Winner: Confederacy
Casualties: 30,099 (17,278 Union and 12,821 Confederate)

Battle of Spotsylvania Date: May 8-19, 1864
Location: Virginia
Confederate Commander: Robert E. Lee
Union Commander: Ulysses S. Grant
Confederate Forces Engaged: 50,000
Union Forces Engaged: 83,000
Winner: Confederacy
Casualties: 27,399 (18,399 Union and 9)000 Confederate)

Battle of Antietam
Date: September 17, 1862
Location: Maryland
Confederate Commander: Robert E. Lee
Union Commander: George B. McClellan
Confederate Forces Engaged: 51,844
Union Forces Engaged: 75,316
Winner: Inconclusive (Strategic Union Victory)
Casualties: 26,134 (12,410 Union and 13,724 Confederate)

It's proper to remember.