The Civil War Today

Coming from a network that has made its recent fortunes on the backs of reality television, I wasn't exactly expecting much depth from The Civil War Today. While there are some areas that need polish, the content this app provides is breathtaking in scope. For every day of the civil war (nearly 1500 days) this app provides you with an article describing the events of that particular day from the perspective of citizens of the times. You also get letters and diary entries recorded for each day. Every other day or so brings a secondary article that gives additional context. There are also plenty of photos and relevant maps for each day, although these are often very slow to load. The net result is an app that does a great job giving you a feel of how the Civil War unfolded from the perspective of those that lived through it.

For a few months, there seemed to be a problem with some of the game aspects of this app, but I didn't get it for the games. I think they have worked those issues out, anyway. This is a great way to start the day. It is now a part of my morning routine. I check the daily updates on the events of 150 years ago, and read the diary entries. These two features are great for keeping the pace of the war in context. Recently, the battles in Kentucky were covered. The pace and coordination (or lack thereof) of the marches of Bragg, Morgan, and E. K. Smith are much easier to "feel" when the events come at you one day at a time. Later in the day, or over the weekend (or when shut in by a hurricane!), I catch up on the featured reading. I particularly enjoy Longstreet's memoirs, but all of the reading is well-chosen. Living in Northern Virginia, there are a number of ceremonies and living history days marking the 150th anniversary of battles and events. This app reminds me of the events, so I can then look for any of the commemorative events that might be happening. If I choose to go, being up-to-date on the events that led up to the event being commemorated is helpful. Then, engaging with the living history participants is much more enriching. As a confirmed Confederate, I'm still hoping that this time things will work out differently! Seriously, this is a fine app; one of the very, very few that I'm still using months after I bought it.

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I had previously purchased this app and tried to re-download it to my iPad today but I was unable to. It seems to be stuck on the screen of my iPad with the word “loading“ underneath it and never makes any actual progress. I am not purchasing this for the first time, but I can only imagine how upset someone would be if they were purchasing this for the first time only to find out that it doesn’t even load. I see the latest update to this was three years ago, but hopefully we can get an update that fixes this bug, because this app was an amazing and fun resource when it functioned.

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I purchased this app today and it will not load. When it opens I receive a message that I am not connected to the internet. I am connected so I don’t know what is wrong. How do I resolve this or did I just waste my money?

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This app no longer loads. All I receive is a spinning gear and the text “loading.” My WiFi signal is strong and I have no problems with other apps. HELP!