Posted on 09/01/2013 7:51:05 AM PDT by Davy Buck
One of the more interesting stories I came across while researching and writing "Lexington, Virginia and the Civil War" was that of slave Robert Price. Price is little more than a forgotten footnote in the history of the Civil War and Hunter's raid on Lexington, but he provided a valuable service to the Virginia Military Institute and the family of Superintendent Francis Smith. As I tell the story in the book . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at oldvirginiablog.blogspot.com ...
There were a lot of Blacks - Slave and former slave - that fought for the South. It was their homeland regardless of the position they were born into.
It’s an interesting story; but ultimately there can be no defense for slavery, even by those who treated theirs well.
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I am happy that old Bob got a family name and that his wife was recognized as his, and that their children were recognized as theirs. That his owner allowed him these, as privileges, speaks well of that person, and makes old Bob’s loyalty understandable. We know from many testimonials and actions that most slave owners were decent people who treated their chattels fairly. This does not justify or condone slavery or reduce the moral imperative of ending slavery if necessary by invading the South. Once the Southern states withdrew from the Union, the northern states were freed from that deal with the devil, and were free to do what had to be done.
Today, we are free as a nation to embrace all of our citizens, including to embrace our family members torn away from us by the drop rule. As a northern boy, I did not know how much southern boys white and black had in common until I joined the army. The difference, nowadays, isn’t color but city versus rural, Christian versus liberal, and traditional family values and the work ethic versus the welfare culture. The referenced piece on old Bob is part of that embrace.
The interloper in the White House, regardless of his place of birth, is an alien to this country and to the African American experience in this country prior to its corruption by the Great Society programs of the 1960s.
I strongly disagree with your contention that the North had a moral imperative to invade and dictate to the South.
You can’t even claim it was Christian in that the Bible and Jesus don’t condemn slavery as an institution.Mistreatment of slaves, and also being a “slave” to sin are condemned.There is also no doubt that many slaves were most cruelly treated by their church-going owners in a fine display of hypocrisy.
I say the half-million white soldiers who died fighting the American Civil War paid all the reparation due!!!
I strongly disagree with your contention that the North had a moral imperative to invade and dictate to the South.
You can’t even claim it was Christian in that the Bible and Jesus don’t condemn slavery as an institution.Mistreatment of slaves, and also being a “slave” to sin are condemned.There is also no doubt that many slaves were most cruelly treated by their church-going owners in a fine display of hypocrisy.
I say the half-million white soldiers who died fighting the American Civil War paid all the reparation due!!!
How was it their homeland when they were slaves and had zero rights?
Regarding reparations, I agree with you that none are due but for a different reason. Since the South was bankrupted by the war, there was nothing from which any reparations could be paid.
Regarding slavery in the Bible, the Bible allows a certain form of slavery, one in which the person who is enslaved is freed in the seventh or Sabbatical year. For failing to keep the Sabbath, meaning not releasing the slaves, Israel was taken away in captivity. The slaves first brought here were seven-year slaves. The black slaves worked alongside whites and Indians in early colonial America, and the underclass of propertyless people was a mixed race lot. But, over time, the Africans were reduced to chattel slaves. Eventually, even the free men of color in the South had their rights taken away from them. Jefferson, himself a slave owner, knew of the degradation of slavery and feared for the wrath of God. Lincoln saw the Civil War as God’s retribution. Just like you, Lincoln fully counted every casualty, the ones who wore the blue and the ones who wore the grey, as paying the price for our country’s failure to find a peaceful way to end slavery.
In the end, the Civil War was us fighting us to free us, and because of it we all lost much of our freedom because of the draft, one after another war, high taxes and inflation, and the growth of the federal government vis a vis the states. This, too, is from the Bible. Yet we know that God is slow to judge and quick to forgive, and so we pray for our country even as we say Thy will be done.
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