More "Balderdash?" ... George?

My research on Civil War writing leads me to one conclusion. If you are literate today, it does not mean you can write -- not even close to it in many cases. But if you were literate in 1863, even if you could not spell, you often could write descriptively and meaningfully.
In the century and a half since, we have evolved from word to image creatures, devaluing the power of the written word and turning ourselves into a species of short gazers, focused on the emotions of the moment rather than the contemplative thoughts about consequences and meaning of our actions.