So its memorial day. A holiday made after the civil war to honor those who have fallen in service of this country. Now I've seen A LOT of misinformation about the civil war on both sides on here. Now, Me I actually do know quite a bit about it. So I thought I'd clear a few things up for people.
Myth 1.The North Started it
Now, The CSA seceded in 1860 and the war broke out in 1861. Now I'm going to go right off the bat and give my somehow unpopular opinion that secession is treason which means the south started it. But lets ignore that. Lets say if a state wanted to secede then then could do it.if you say the north still had no cause for war because what they did was legal. Now take a good look at the map of the CSA and tell me whats wrong with that train of thought take a look at what is west of Texas.
The South didn't just try to secede, they tried to take the territories of New Mexico and Arizona with them, which was hard won in the Mexican American war. So yes by any train of thought, the war was started by traitorous confederates. There should be zero debate about that.
Myth 2. There was one confederate flag
When most people think of the Confederate Flag, they think of that. However, that is not actually the confederate flag. That up there is the battle flag of the army of Northern Virginia.
The CSA went through a number of different flags none of which were that one.
Those were the actual flags used and they all failed for one reason or another. The second one failed because it looked too much like waving a white flag.
Myth 3. The war had nothing to do with slavery
The war very much had to do with the issue of slavery, though it was not the only cause. That up there is a picture of the U.S after the Missouri Compromise of 1820. The compromise was that both maine and missouri would be granted statehood. The problem was that divisions were already growing over slave and non slave states so the response was the missouri compromise, that started the trend of only allowing equal amounts of slave and non slave states. Which in turn increased the tensions even further. This division is probably the largest reason behind the American civil war.
Myth 4. Britain and France had clean hands
Oh, I'm not leaving Non-Americans out don't worry.
See that gorgeous rifle-musket (and yes, that is the proper term, its a rifle that loads like a musket.) up there that is the Pattern 1853 Enfield. The main infantry weapon of the Confederacy. However thats not all. It is in a fact a British made and British designed. It was the main weapon of the British empire till 1867 in fact.
Take a look at some other weapons of the CSA:
A. Lemat Revolver (built in france.)
B. Kerr's Patent Revolver (Designed and built in the U.K by the london armoury company)
C.Pattern 1861 Enfield musketoon (Again, made and Designed by the British)
D. Three Ironclad Warships for the CSA built in the U.K
Then you had the fact that in the years leading up to the civil war, France and The U.K were heavily profiting from Slave made Cotton. France and the U.K were far from Blameless, Hell, remember the British Started slavery when we were just a colony.
I feel a certain Poem by Henrik Ibsen to be apropo:
The Murder of Abraham Lincoln by Henrik Ibsen
They let off a shot over there in the west And all Europe jumped up in shock. What a switch for the stuffy and overdressed To become such a lively flock! Dear old Europe, so well-stocked with order and right, With law and justice and jail, With a sneer for each stain on your scutcheon bright, With virtuous wrath for the slightest slight— You certainly did turn pale! Eagles and unicorns thronged on the seals Of your mourning, with other beasts; The mail boats delivered the cables in reels; Dispatches swarmed to the feasts. The cotton magnates, that glorious band From the land of lies, came ahead; They all stood with the palm branch of peace in their hand, While that one revolver shot rang unplanned, And the one lone man fell dead.
Oh, sages of Europe, was that your fear? Why, bless your innocent souls! That sort of thing never happened here— No Russians oppress the Poles! “The raven is not by the crow attacked”— Would the English bombard the Danes? No besieging of Dybbøl, no low Prussian act, No tomb at Flensburg, was ever a fact, And at Sonderborg quiet reigns!1
The rose, so red that it frightens you As it crimsons America’s coast, Is an offshoot of one that Europe grew And let the New World play host. You planted the cutting and watched it bear fruit In the fertile soil of the west. Your own eminent hands affixed to his suit The martyr’s ribbon, that blood-red root On Abraham Lincoln’s breast.
With forgotten promises, phrases bland, And torn-up treaties to wield, Last year’s vows ground down into this year’s sand, You fertilized history’s field. And you still stood calmly, expecting to reap A rich harvest from your words. Now see how your seed grows, a glittering heap! You scatter, amazed, like a flock of sheep— Instead of grain, you grew swords!
Where justice rests on the point of a knife And law on a gallows-walk, Dawn’s triumph is surer, and nearer to life Than here, where they kill with talk. A will awakens, the case to try, And for lies it’s a crushing cure But first the worm must suck the skull dry And the time itself into knots must tie As its own caricature.
A demon rules with eternal power But he still must be defied! The gilded grandeur was dust in an hour And rubble was Nero’s pride. But first Rome’s crime had to grow and extend Through the earth, from pole to pole. To fall, the tyrant had to transcend, And Caesars their golden portraits to lend As gods to the Capitol.
Then it all came down, every dome and bust, Circus, temple, columns in rows, Palaces, arches, all trampled to dust By the hard-hooved buffaloes. Then they built again, on all the old land, And the air was pure for a while. Now they tell us a new era is at hand, While the plague from the marshy swamp is fanned; As it hovers, it seems to smile.
But if through the swamp of decay we must go, I refuse to groan and whine Over every poisonous flower to grow So thick on the tree of time. Let the worm dig in. Roof and wall will burst Soon enough when the skull’s sucked dry. Let the system twist up and do its worst; The case will be tried, the revenge rehearsed, And this epoch of lies will die!
Myth 5. The South was completely unified as the CSA.
Now not all southerners turned on the country. Those men up there are members of the First Alabama Cavalry, Union. Every single state of the CSA had entire regiments that fought for the union and a good chunk of these were made up of former slaves. Some such as the 1st Alabama Cavalry were entirely white. The men you see up there were part of one of the hardest fighting regiments in the war and were General William Shermans Bodyguards and right hand during his march to the sea.
Then you had the fact that West Virginia was formed because a part of Virginia for the longest time had wanted to become a state and they used the war to secede from Virginia and join the Union as a state. Hell by the end of the War Georgia had secede from the Confederacy to BECOME ITS OWN FREAKING COUNTRY.
Now I am expecting mountains of hate for this take from people who don't know what the hell they are talking about, the thing is, I actually do, so go ahead Confederate apologists make my day.
The Civil War was the most preventable of all wars. Slavery was dying out and that war didn't need to be fought. I have ancestors on both sides. Even though I'm from Texas, I'd have fought for the Union. I believe in states rights, but the preservation of the Constitution is an oath one takes upon being sworn into the military. I take that oath very seriously.
That it did. Everyone sings the praises of Abraham Lincoln. Shit ! He was the biggest racist ever in the Whitehouse in my opinion next to Woodrow Wilson. I think he's vastly overrated. Always have.
Also I too have ancestors on both sides, Its sad that many americans don't realize that most of us do. I may not like the confederacy at all but I do understand why confederate memorial day is important, its not about the cause its about the men who died
" Even though I'm from Texas, I'd have fought for the Union." You'd have good company, Sam Houston, the then governer of texas and former president of the republic of texas actually stepped down as governer as he supporter the union
" Even though I'm from Texas, I'd have fought for the Union. I believe in states rights," If my state had fought for the confederacy there would be no question that I'd fight for the union against it. of course I just fucking hate massachusetts. Massachusetts is also the reason my views on states rights are that the state doesn't always make lawful decisions. My dad was an air force officer with a TS clearence and was in during the mid to late 80s when the cold war was winding down. In new mexico he had a CC license and he owns an M1911, a.357, and a Savage lever action from the turn of the last century. He gets to massachusetts and he is told not to move the guns untill he is moving out of the state. Yeah, Its fucking insane. The thing is its not like all of new england is like that, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are very gun friendly, Hell in Vermont and Maine are one of the unrestricted carry states like Idaho or Arizona.
1. If you assume that secession is an illegal act, then you may say that the South started the war; of course, that also requires you to ignore all of the things which happened which led to the move to secession. Many of the antecedent acts imposed unfair economic burdens on the South and attempted to place the Southern states in a subjugated position.
The legality of secession is analogous to the legality of abortion. People have a position and then state that certain "rights" are fundamental and cannot be questioned. However, the illegality of secession is not as clear as you state. Rather than make all of those arguments in this space, I would refer you to an excellent discussion on the subject: www.theamericanconservative.com/.../
2. You are absolutely correct about "the" confederate flag. There were several and what we now call the Stars and Bars was never the national flag of the Confederate States of America.
3. For some, the war was about slavery. For some, the war was not about slavery. That issue has been the subject of much revisionist history.
Abraham Lincoln is widely hailed as the champion who abolished slavery. It is true that he did so, but not because of his personal beliefs on the subject. He did so for the political and strategic advantage which it gave him in conducting the war. Listen to Mr. Lincoln’s words in 1858 - just three years before the war began - as he spoke at one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates:
"I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white and the black races. There is a physical difference between the two, which, in my judgment, will probably forever forbid their living together upon the footing of perfect equality, and inasmuch as it becomes a necessity that there must be a difference, I, as well as Judge Douglas, am in favor of the race to which I belong having the superior position."
Just a few months after the war began, Missouri came under Union control. General John Frémont was placed in charge of the occupation. On August 30, 1861, Frémont declared martial law in Missouri and he also ordered the emancipation of slaves in the state. At the beginning of the Civil War, emancipation was not a popular sentiment among Union Army officers. “The few officers who did support emancipation were clearly animated by politics,” wrote historian Mark Grimsley. “Politically Fremont was associated with the faction of the Republican party known as the radicals, who wanted to make the abolition of slavery one of the official objectives of the war. Fremont was sincerely antislavery, and his desire to strike a blow at that institution, coupled with his opinion that Lincoln had given him a blank check, caused him to set up as a policy maker,” wrote military historian T. Harry Williams.
“Like McClellan, the Pathfinder had assumed that he could define policy without consulting the government. Unlike McClellan, he had announced a policy which ran counter to the one proclaimed by the government. Lincoln and Congress, in order to keep the border slave states in the Union and to unite Northern opinion on one issue, had said the war was being conducted to restore the Union.
On September 11, President Lincoln ordered Frémont to rescind his proclamation. Two months after issuing his emancipation proclamation, General Frémont was relieved of his command by President Lincoln. He served briefly and ineffectively in Virginia in the spring of 1862. www.mrlincolnandfreedom.org/.../
Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was not signed until January 1, 1863. If the war was fought to end slavery, why did Lincoln wait almost 2 years to sign the Proclamation?
The Proclamation did not free ALL slaves! The Proclamation took effect in the following areas:
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.
I know the proclamation did not free all slaves, it was essentially a way to deprive the south of resources by essentially saying that the army could free slaves
Notice that the state of Tennessee is not included in this list. And why are these other areas excepted from the effect of the proclamation? Because the state of Tennessee and these other areas were already under Union control and Lincoln did not want to provoke the occupants of those areas into resistance activities against the occupying troops.
Obviously, slavery was a motivating force for many in the the war but it was far from the being a universal rallying point for the North.
4. Britain and France did not have clean hands, but neither did the North. Yes. Britain and France were eager to trade with the Southern states; they were able to get cotton at a cheap price because of the use of slave labor. Before the war, the North had benefited from cheap cotton and high tariffs had prevented the South from selling its cotton competitively in the world market. That is why many in the North had NO desire to abolish slavery.
5. You are absolutely right about the lack of unity regarding the war. Many in the South opposed the war just as many in the South opposed slavery. Many in the North were making money from King Cotton grown with slave labor and they had no intentions of ever making slavery illegal.
Throughout the course of world history, military victors have rewritten the history of conflicts to glorify themselves and vilify their vanquished opponents. The same happened with the Civil War. Some people have been so indoctrinated in the Lincoln/Great Emancipator/Civil War fought to free slaves myth that they may be angry and will perhaps direct some angry responses at me. No one need believe me, but if you want to know the truth, go read primary sources. Don't believe anything written by historians who embarked on their tasks with a pre-determined agenda. Red and decide for yourself!
part of me wants to try reneacting, then another part of me thinks that might be because riding horses while wearing a slouch hat and firing blanks out of a muzzle loading revolver sounds fun.
Yes, it does sound like fun. I have a young friend who is a re-enactor for the National Park Service and who also does an annual re-enactment at the Battle of Olustee.
I have 10 or 11 ancestors who fought in the Revolution, including two who died during the war: one at the defense of Philadelphia and the other at Valley Forge.
Exceptional my friend. I am Civil War expert, self taught.
#3. Thank you. Thank you... when I hear states rights I know that someone who is interested in the Civil War bit probably hasn't got past the second book. But good for them for Learning and I hope they'll get past the states right defense. How a little way that I can prove the circumstantial evidence that slavery was definitely a reason for the war. It was THE reason actually but we both know that things are not always that simple but check out my evidence. Any area that was mountainous in the south and a slave state was not good for slavery. For obvious reasons just wasn't enough land to be farmed to make it worthwhile to pay for slaves to eat lodging excetera every area that had mountains in the south hadlow number of slaves were all Union sympathetic coincidence? I hardly think so. Always was sent to the south in the Lost Cause and kind of rooting for them even though it doesn't make a difference but since the whole Trump thing started I've kind of made myself a union man. Democrats can have their slavery in the South. They still got it today with their voter Plantation
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