I opened this morning's Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/06/AR2010040604416.html) to find that the governor of Virginia, Robert McDonnell, has determined that the state's tourism demands requires a renewal of "Confederate History Month," which has lain dormant for the past eight years.
Ok, I get it. The state needs money and the Civil War is a big draw -- from hotels to gas stations to trinkets bought at the battlefield park gift shops. It should be a big draw for the state. Every American should spend at least a day in their lives standing on the slopes of Little Round Top at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and think about how a handful of loggers and lobstermen from Maine, led by a college professor, saved the Republic on a hot summer's day in 1863. Or in the remains of the trenches at Petersburg, Virginia, imagining the brutality of war, as fifteen and fifty year old men lived, fought and died in muddy holes in the ground.
However, to proclaim a special month for the bloody secession movement that killed 650,000 Americans, that kept African-Americans in bondage, and whose 'beloved memory' prevented any meaningful civil rights changes from taking place for another 100 years, is wrongheaded and just plain historically incorrect. I've defended, on this blog, what has seemed to be pro-Confederate speeches and writings from political leaders and others. In those cases, I defended their right to say what they believe, and to hopefully help others to understand why those men died and to aid in ensuring that such good soldiers should never die in such a bad cause again.
Let's start with what the problems are with Virginia's "Confederate History Month."
First, it ignores the 490,865 African-Americans who were slaves in 1860 Virginia, and whose Confederate heritage was the lash, servitude, and a century of virtual slavery after 1865. Add to this the 58,042 freed slaves who resided in Virginia as well. Were they happy with their lot? Did they take to the streets and cheer when the slave-owning aristocrats, putting the mantle of states' rights and the Revolution over their illegal act, forced the state out of the Union? I do not believe so.
Secondly, it ignores the historical fact that a large portion of Virginia itself was so opposed to slavery and to rebellion that it broke away and formed its own loyal state --West Virginia. Did such overwhelming love for Jefferson Davis fill the hearts of every white man in the Old Dominion? Not in the least; 376,688 white Virginians seceded instead of giving into the demands of the slaveholders for poor white hillbillies to honorably die to protect their 'property.'
Lastly, it ignores the historical fact that thousands of white Virginians fought for the UNION. From Union General George H. Thomas, the "Rock of Chickamauga" and a great hero of the conflict, to loyalists who filled the ranks of West Virginian and Virginian Federal volunteer regiments to those who joined the volunteer regiments of other states; these men have all been systematically ignored and historically forgotten by the Lost Cause mythmakers that have occupied the Virginia state house since the end of Reconstruction. Belittled as traitors or scalawags, they stayed loyal to their nation. While most were not abolitionists, they were Union men and did not believe in fighting "the rich man's war" launched by the slaveocrats in 1861.
If Governor McDonnell wants to promote the Civil War in Virginia, I say more power to him. Let him call it "Civil War Heritage Month" and encourage the study of not just Stonewall Jackson or Robert E. Lee, but George Thomas, the tens of thousands of white and black Union volunteers from Virginia, and let it address the plight of the slaves, the problems of the free black population, and the atrocity of post-Reconstruction civil rights violations in Virginia.
History is not a pretty thing Governor. But perhaps we will learn more by confronting the ghosts of our past than making them gods.
I am the great, great, great, great niece of General Lee and a slave. That is my American story, a mixed race heritage that I am proud of, just as Virginia, the South and our country has a mixed history.
Jeff Schweitzer: The Confederacy: Kill the Myth Once and For All
Waving the American flag while fiercely defending the effort to tear that flag down is untenable. Make a choice; be a proud American or a proud Confederate. You cannot possibly be both.
By the way, the "U" stands for United.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winfield_Scott
Scott was Chief of Staff of the US Army at the outbreak of the Civil War. He formulated the Anaconda Strategy that was used by Union forces to Defeat the Confederacy and Preserve the Union.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaconda_Plan
He was the most hated man in Virginia at the time because he upheld his oath to Preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and remained loyal to the Federal government. How deliciously ironic that the ONE Virginian who had the greatest impact on the outcome of the war ISN'T mentioned because he brought the dreams of the Confederacy crashing down arond their ears.
Anyone want to discuss facts???
The Confederacy has unfortunately been lumped with the blame of the Civil War. Yes, slavery was clearly an immoral institution, but it was only the more obvious symbol of racism of the era. Even Abraham Lincoln did not truly believe that blacks were equal to whites. It was simply the viewpoint of the time. If we can't have an intelligent discussion about the Civil War without blaming one side for every racial crime committed in our nation's history and idolizing the other, then we are missing the entire point of history--of examining the flaws and strengths of both sides. That while both harbored deep racist sentiments, they were fighting for their unique visions of liberty. There were contradictions in both of their ideals--they only wanted the white majority to have that freedom. THAT is what the Civil War is about. It is not about pinning racial injustice on the South. So if anyone is going to accuse the Confederacy of being a symbol of racial injustice, don't make that claim without being willing to apply it to the North, too. Confederate History Month lets us understand the other side. It's forcing you to look at the full picture, instead of pointing fingers.
True, only 25% of Southerners even owned slaves. But nearly every able-bodied man in the Confederacy fought for it. If the Confederacy were truly ONLY an institution designed to protect slavery, then all those men would not have fought and died for it.
http://www.wadehamptoncamp.org/hist-scic.html
Those who fought and died for it are the same as those who throughout History have fought and died for spurious reasons, lies and youth's foolishness. Even today Americans with the greatest access to information in History are dying in Iraq for the aforementioned spurious reasons and lies.
What no one remembers is that the entire United States was racist during the Civil War. People who remember the Confederate soldiers today are ignoring the racist issues? Well, why does no one remember the horrible atrocities committed by the Northern states during the war? Why does no one remember the New York Draft Riots in which white men massacred blacks throughout the city? Why does no one remember that the North was not fighting to free slaves, and when Lincoln changed the war aims, thousands upon thousands of soldiers deserted, unwilling to fight for the slaves? Why does no one realize that the debate over slavery started not because so many Northerners wanted to get rid of it, but because they were determined to stop the spread of it into the western territories, for fear that free blacks would take jobs that belonged only to white men? (cont'd)
"At age 34, two years before his first election and two decades before he would run for governor of Virginia, Robert F. McDonnell submitted a master's thesis to the evangelical school he was attending in Virginia Beach in which he described working women and feminists as "detrimental" to the family. He said government policy should favor married couples over "cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators." He described as "illogical" a 1972 Supreme Court decision legalizing the use of contraception by unmarried couples."
It's a proud day for Virginia, indeed.
Learn The Truth!!!!!!
Christ, to hear these people, I feel like it's 1968 all over again. Do we really have to fight this battle again?
Come on let's put some ignorance on display
1968??? That had nothing to do with the War for Southern Independence.
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=10h7evc&s=2&hid=1&tag=west+virginia+1861
"Now, Mr. President, to show you, and it needs but to look at the figures to satisfy the mind of every member, that even a majority of the people within the district composed of the thirty-nine counties have never come to the polls and expressed their sentiments in favor of a new State. In a voting population of some 40,000 or 50,000 we see a poll of only 17,627 and even some of them were in the [Union] army." (Debates and Proceedings of the First Constitutional Convention of West Virginia, Vol. 1, pg. 376).
Most of the state the Unionist government assembled actually was composed of Secessionist counties. (R.O. Curry, "A House Divided", map pg. 49)
It would be nice if historians stopped presenting West Virginia statehood as a populist movement, and be a little more truthful, as Russel Weigley was in his " A Great Civil War" (pg. 55)
"In much of the new state, the Confederacy in fact dominated throughout the war... Except in the Ohio River counties, the new state could enforce its writ only under the bayonets of the Union Army."
Confederate History Month in April.
Nat Turner History Month in May.
Defend treason if you like, but it's still treason.
otherwise known as socialist liberals who know nothing of its own countries history and who think they are entitled to things like freedom and liberty. This country is in a sad state. Thank God that Virginia has the courage to celebrate the Confederate States of America. Its the only flag I will ever fly
again.
if you want to be consistant...
I will not be flying the stripped and raped federal government version of the Virginia flag,
I will be flying the battle flag which is the only flag that represents the soldiers that fought for the C.S.A. I am sure that a liberal yankee like yourself would not understand this, and
you can keep your obamacare crap. I did note vote for it and will not EVER support it so my advice to you is go live in Canada or Europe.