Oh no! You got into a conversation with someone you like about the Civil War and they said something that sounds fishy to you. Their friendship is valuable to you, and you feel like you can engage in a good faith discussion without insulting their intelligence. What do you do?
A. Call them an idiot. Leave.
B. Tell them they're wrong because you just know it in your gut.
C. Change the subject to something less controversial, like presidential politics or climate change.
D. Research primary documents, find what people were saying at the time, distill your research into conversational bullet points so as to not overwhelm them, take the hard step of acknowledging where your friend makes fair and valid points or where you were wrong, and then offer resources that you can look at together if you want to learn more.
Obviously, we all wish we could default to D, but who has the time? Certainly not someone who has enough friends to be engaged in casual conversation.
You know who does have the time?
An amateur historian.
Instead of dedicating hours of your time to researching 19th century newspapers, transcribed personal letters, and WPA slave narratives, you can use this website instead. Titles of posts are all something you might hear in conversation that doesn't pass the sniff test. Tags are listed on the right sidebar on the home page under "Topics of Conversation." You can also search the blog or just scroll until you find something that looks right.
If you don't find the conversation you're having, you can leave it in the comments below! There is also a contact form on the bottom of the home page. I only know tiny sliver of a fraction of what there is to know about the Civil War, but I am pretty good at archival research, and I'd love to find helpful information for you. Hopefully, we'll both learn something.
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