Join us at 6:30 PM, February 24, at Jack’s Restaurant & Bar, located at the Northwest corner of the Westgate Shopping Mall in San Jose, near Campbell (1502 Saratoga Ave, San Jose, CA 95129) and via ZOOM. This month’s topic is

Kirstein Ta on “Ars Moriendi – The Good Death”

Dying far from home and loved ones was a harsh reality that soldiers had to face. Many turned to comrades, religious leaders, nurses, or doctors to help them facilitate “a good death”—a death reflective of character and legacy, based on faith, repentance, and acceptance of God’s will.

“Civil War soldiers were, in fact, better prepared to die than to kill, for they lived in a culture that offered many lessons in how life should end. But these lessons had to be adapted to the dramatically changed circumstances of the war. Soldiers and their families struggled in a variety of ways to mitigate the cruel realities and to construct a good death amid chaos.” —Drew Gilpin Faust

Kirstein Hansen-Ta is a new student of the Civil War. In July 2024, she inherited ten six-inch binders containing her family history, dating as far back as 1630 to the present day. As incredible as all this history is, she found none as fascinating as her family’s experiences during the Civil War. Several men on both sides of her family fought for the Confederacy, including her second great-grandfather and a number of uncles. She is happy to report that, with the exception of one, they all returned home.

Among the hundreds of pages in these binders, Kirstein came across what she considers the most valuable: four typewritten pages of a letter from an uncle describing all three of his older brothers and their time in the Confederate army. Additionally, he describes what life was like for the family during the Civil War. After reading these stories, Kirstein realized that the most intriguing part of the Civil War wasn’t necessarily the battles or the politics, but rather the people who lived through it.

Wanting to learn more about the Civil War, Kirstein discovered the website for the South Bay Civil War Round Table and officially became a member in October 2024. She looks forward to learning more about this significant time in our country’s history.