Posted on 02/25/2004 11:52:26 AM PST by 4CJ
THOMASVILLE -- Nelson Winbush knows his voice isn't likely to be heard above the crowd that writes American history books. That doesn't keep him from speaking his mind, however.
A 75-year-old black man whose grandfather proudly fought in the gray uniform of the South during the Civil War, Winbush addressed a group of about 40 at the Thomas County Museum of History Sunday afternoon. To say the least, his perspective of the war differs greatly from what is taught in America's classrooms today.
"People have manufactured a lot of mistruths about why the war took place," he said. "It wasn't about slavery. It was about state's rights and tariffs."
Many of Winbush's words were reserved for the Confederate battle flag, which still swirls amid controversy more than 150 years after it originally flew.
"This flag has been lied about more than any flag in the world," Winbush said. "People see it and they don't really know what the hell they are looking at."
About midway through his 90-minute presentation, Winbush's comments were issued with extra force.
"This flag is the one that draped my grandfathers' coffin," he said while clutching it strongly in his left hand. "I would shudder to think what would happen if somebody tried to do something to this particular flag."
Winbush, a retired in educator and Korean War veteran who resides in Kissimmee, Fla., said the Confederate battle flag has been hijacked by racist groups, prompting unwarranted criticism from its detractors.
"This flag had nothing to with the (Ku Klux) klan or skinheads," he said while wearing a necktie that featured the Confederate emblem. "They weren't even heard of then. It was just a guide to follow in battle.
"That's all it ever was."
Winbush said Confederate soldiers started using the flag with the St. Andrews cross because its original flag closely resembled the U.S. flag. The first Confederate flag's blue patch in an upper corner and its alternating red and white stripes caused confusion on the battlefield, he said.
"Neither side (of the debate) knows what the flag represents," Winbush said. "It's dumb and dumber. You can turn it around, but it's still two dumb bunches.
"If you learn anything else today, don't be dumb."
Winbush learned about the Civil War at the knee of Louis Napoleon Nelson, who joined his master and one of his master's sons in battle voluntarily when he was 14. Nelson saw combat at Lookout Mountain, Bryson's Crossroads, Shiloh and Vicksburg.
"At Shiloh, my grandfather served as a chaplain even though he couldn't read or write," said Winbush, who bolstered his points with photos, letters and newspapers that used to belong to his grandfather. "I've never heard of a black Yankee holding such an office, so that makes him a little different."
Winbush said his grandfather, who also served as a "scavenger," never had any qualms about fighting for the South. He had plenty of chances to make a break for freedom, but never did. He attended 39 Confederate reunions, the final one in 1934. A Sons of Confederate Veterans Chapter in Tennessee is named after him.
"People ask why a black person would fight for the Confederacy. (It was) for the same damned reason a white Southerner did," Winbush explained.
Winbush said Southern blacks and whites often lived together as extended families., adding slaves and slave owners were outraged when Union forces raided their homes. He said history books rarely make mention of this.
"When the master and his older sons went to war, who did he leave his families with?" asked Winbush, who grandfather remained with his former owners 12 years after the hostilities ended. "It was with the slaves. Were his (family members) mistreated? Hell, no!
"They were protected."
Winbush said more than 90,000 blacks, some of them free, fought for the Confederacy. He has said in the past that he would have fought by his grandfather's side in the 7th Tennessee Cavalry led by Gen. Nathan Bedford Forest.
After his presentation, Winbush opened the floor for questions. Two black women, including Jule Anderson of the Thomas County Historical Society Board of Directors, told him the Confederate battle flag made them uncomfortable.
Winbush, who said he started speaking out about the Civil War in 1992 after growing weary of what he dubbed "political correctness," was also challenged about his opinions.
"I have difficulty in trying to apply today's standards with what happened 150 years ago," he said to Anderson's tearful comments. "...That's what a lot of people are attempting to do. I'm just presenting facts, not as I read from some book where somebody thought that they understood. This came straight from the horse's mouth, and I refute anybody to deny that."
Thomas County Historical Society Board member and SVC member Chip Bragg moved in to close the session after it took a political turn when a white audience member voiced disapproval of the use of Confederate symbols on the state flag. Georgia voters are set to go to the polls a week from today to pick a flag to replace the 1956 version, which featured the St. Andrew's cross prominently.
"Those of us who are serious about our Confederate heritage are very unhappy with the trivialization of Confederate symbols and their misuse," he said. "Part of what we are trying to do is correct this misunderstanding."
Now, now, #3. Take your pills.
I haven't made any defense of Booth. All I did was provide documentation that your assertion about the end of the war was wrong. Heavens, I had an ancestor killed by Sherman's troops after Lincoln's assassination. The war was still going on, whether you recognize it or not.
I can readily understand why you prefer the word of the Southerners over that of the known liar Lincoln.
It's obvious my point was that anyone who was paying attention knew the war was over for all intents and purpose, making Booth's act murder, (as if it wasn't already). For you to deny that does indeed make you a Booth defender. I find that despicable.
Heavens, I had an ancestor killed by Sherman's troops after Lincoln's assassination.
You'll be OK.
The war was still going on, whether you recognize it or not.
Anyone who was paying attention knew it was over for all intents and purpose.
You're the liar claiming people would be shot for voting for McClellan.
As I said, you make up your facts which is why you cannot provide a quote.
If you have something you can quote, quote it.
This is an example of what proving you said there were armed Viking ships, so you know what it looks like.
#422 [#3Fan] Military ships that travel close to land need arms. The Vikings had arms,
#423 [#3Fan] All I can do is repeat that military ships that travel close to shore do indeed have arms. Vikings, Vietnam, and the Spaniards all had arms.
You must be as demented and Lincoln and his wife.
I study your heroes from the Lincoln era. Many of them found their way to the insane asylum.
Post #848, you claimed that the Republican Party was the lackey for Indiana racists and that's why blacks don't vote Republican. You're a weirdo.
Show me the mass graves to prove your claims of all McClellan voters being shot.
Yep it was.
Then where are the mass graves of the McClellan voters to prove your claims?
Obsess much? It's 2004.
They had marched north as an army of concerned citizens. Along the way they learned to speak with a Bronx accent and they decided, as long as they were there and they fit right in, what the heck, they would just go ahead and change their place of official residence to the Bronx, register, and perform their civic duty of voting. They were conscientious and went to Penn Station (across from Madison Square Garden where the Knicks were playing) and caught the 8th Avenue line downtown and went to 26 Federal Plaza and reported to INS and did all their paperwork right and proper.
It is surprising how they could pass for New Yorkers, considering the accent. One would have thought it would have been much easier to go to Chicago where the accent is much more similar, and they could have just claimed residence at any local cemetary and voted as dead people.
I still have no such impediment to proving you idiotically claimed to know of armed viking military ships.
#422 [#3Fan] Military ships that travel close to land need arms. The Vikings had arms,
#423 [#3Fan] All I can do is repeat that military ships that travel close to shore do indeed have arms. Vikings, Vietnam, and the Spaniards all had arms.
Obviously anyone supporting a rebellion should not be allowed to vote.
I see you STILL do not provide a quote because
YOU ARE A BLATANT LIAR!
As the post shows, fully quoted below, you are a pathetic liar.
To: Grand Old Partisan; Gianni[GOP #811] Those who seek to destroy the UNITED States of America, in the 1860s and now, are the ones "oozing with hatred".
Gradually the newspapers are revealing this close connection between Republicanism and the Klan in the North: in such States as Maine, New York, and Indiana the influence is profound.
-- Lucy Shelton Stewart, The Reward of Patriotism, 1930, p. 449.YOUR source proclaims Republicanism to have a legacy of oozing hate, being the lackey of the KKK in northern states such as Maine, New York and Indiana. This disgrace is suppressed no longer. Finally, the Republican inability to capture Black votes is explained. Good catch!
848 posted on 03/17/2004 12:35:17 PM CST by nolu chan
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