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."
no less a person than the Judge Advocate General of the US Army said, in 1989 during a proceeding involving a courts martial, that NO INTENTIONAL ABUSE of US POWs was EVER DOCUMENTED at ANY TIME at Camp Sumpter,Andersonville,GA.
NONE. NEVER.while far too many POWs secumbed in CSA POW camps, the deaths were UNintentional & were IN THE MAIN a result of the INTENTIONAL failure of the lincoln regime to allow their repatriation to US lines!
otoh, the damnyankee high command PLANNED deaths by denial of medical treatment,starvation & denial of shelter,clothing & blankets. those records still exist.
there were at least 15,000 CSA POWs that were "disappearred", i.e., MURDERED in coldblood at just one US DEATH CAMP between 1862-1865.
that is FACT!
there are 2 current books in print on that precise subject, which have copies of the ORIGIONAL RECORDS.
furthermore, the Joint Resolution of the US Congress of 1861 states that CSA POWs were to be TORMENTED,tortured,whipped,starved & exposed to the elements so that the "multitudes might perish as soon as possible."
free dixie,sw
he is also a HATER & BIGOT of the 1st class.<P.free dixie,sw
fyi, i predict that #3 is next, as he appears to me and a lot of other "persons of colour" to be a stone racist.<P.free diixe,sw
NOBODY, then or now, except fools believe ANY of those documents were OFFICIAL.
REVISIONISTS & the so-called RADICAL SCHOOL historians tried without sucess in the 1960s to say that the documents were something other than private papers off a FEW persons.
they failed in that attempt.
free dixie,sw
free dixie,sw
Good businessmen can make money in many businesses. Still, secession was pushed by slaveholders for slavery, probably the stupider ones.
No, McClellan styled his campaign not as loyalty to the Confederacy. Just because one was going to vote for McClellan doesn't mean one was loyal to the enemy. But if one refused to admit he wasn't loyal to the enemy of that he was going to be a terrorist on election day, then they shouldn't vote.
You need to look again. It was nolu who said it's because of Indiana racists that blacks vote Democrat.
"Union thug" is a common term and plainly means labor unions. You're just an idiot. lol
What's with this British crap again? The Constitution is the supreme law of our land, not some British document.
The next level is constitutional and treaty law. They are made by the Sovereign and obeyed voluntarily by the Sovereign. They can also be broken by the Sovereign, by sovereign acts.
Not when they ratified the Constitution.
Under the Constitution is statutory law passed by the Government created by the Constitution. Beneath that is regulation lawfully created by bodies created by statute and reviewed by them -- by e.g. administrative law judges and inspectors general. And below that, there are other rules and guidelines that lawyers and regulators can describe in better detail than I. My point here is that under the logic of subsidiarity, a creature of the Constitution, i.e. the United States Government or its branches (Supreme Court, Congress, President) cannot review an act above its pay grade, i.e. above its level of competence. When the People sit in convention assembled, they take up the rods and axes of the Sovereign and become not objects of government but take on their awful aspect of Sovereign, and in that capacity, the People answer to nobody who isn't God Himself. Capiche?.
And God says in Romans that He sanctions the powers that be (if they be of Him), so you just can't break a law when you feel like it and the Constitution is our law.
There were Declarations of Secession separate from the Ordinances of Secession and they say slavery was the reason for secession. Do a search on "declarations secession" and you can read them.
You'll pay for your lies.
He said no southerners voted and yet McClellan got 45% (more than Dole and Bush41, I think) of the vote. So what their determination of who the arsonist southerners were, I don't know. It was obviously more than just voting against Lincoln since people voted in large numbers against Lincoln and they weren't bothered.
In #3World, He appeared in the form of Spoons Butler. No wonder you are such a mess, #3. You worship an image of Spoons Butler.
Liar.
How can a line from the Constitution be proven wrong? This proves you guys don't rely on reading the Constitution but that you cherry pick justices that say what you want to hear contrary to the Constitution.
All allowed when there is rebellion.
You failed the truth test. How can you say union POWs were treated well when Andersonville existed?
there are 2 current books in print on that precise subject, which have copies of the ORIGIONAL RECORDS.
You idiots and your books. Try thinking fore yourselves for a change and maybe you won't be so crazy.
furthermore, the Joint Resolution of the US Congress of 1861 states that CSA POWs were to be TORMENTED,tortured,whipped,starved & exposed to the elements so that the "multitudes might perish as soon as possible."
Prove it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.