Great tagline, too
Posted on 01/17/2016 1:26:17 PM PST by soakncider
ping
Kirkpatrick Sale is a long time leftist best known for his book on the SDS. He thinks Columbus was a mistake so it’s no surprise that he takes issue with a lot of other things in our national history.
Attack the author - ignore the content
They went medieval on them.
“War is the remedy our enemies have chosen, and I say give them all the war they want.” Gen. W. T. Sherman.
The fact is that while Union armies did occasionally "live off the land", Confederate armies did so constantly.
Yes, within the Confederacy they did usually pretend to "pay for" their "requisitions", but once outside the Confederacy they considered any & all Union properties theirs for the taking, sometimes using Confederate money to "pay", but more often not.
By war's end, Confederate armies had invaded or raided into every Union state & territory they could reach, including: Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.
Confederate guerillas also operated in California, Colorado and even Vermont.
In every case they left a trail of destruction and seized "contraband", including "recovery" of any runaway slaves they could grab.
But in proper historical perspective, the US Civil War was absolutely one of the most "civil" of civil wars ever, with relatively few civilian massacres, deaths, mass starvations, etc.
Both sides considered themselves, and generally behaved as Christian soldiers.
The Civil War was fought in order to nullify the Declaration of Independence, which says that the right to secede from a political entity is a natural right.
“And pass that bottle, before i sober up” - W. T. Sherman; insane manic, depressed, butcher of innocent civilians.
Generals Sherman, Grant, and Thomas showed the Rebels otherwise.
P.S. the Confederacy was NOT some Jeffersonian democracy...it was what was the 19th Century version of a Police state, with the Home Guard exercising tyrannical rule over the local folks. The Gestapo and NKVD took notes.
Relatively few civilians were killed in the war. the only real Massacres were when Black American troops surrendered to the Rebels.
While it may be true, and i don’t know that it is, that Confederate soldiers, acting independently or in small groups, committed crimes against civilians, it wasn’t a matter of sanctioned national policy, as it was in the Union army of terror.
“Any people, anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better.”-Abe Lincoln
Even Lincoln agreed with secession until he didn’t.
And in other news today Sherman is still dead and rotting in Hell. :-)
William T. Sherman, victorious General. Robert E. Lee, Noble, Gentleman, scholar, losing General.
MuttTheHoople wrote: Relatively few civilians were killed in the war. the only real Massacres were when Black American troops surrendered to the Rebels.
I assume you are talking about Fort Pillow, but the events of that day are described differently depending on your perspective. Note this sourced article: ‘Forrest’s men insisted that the Union soldiers, although fleeing, kept their weapons and frequently turned to shoot, forcing the Confederates to keep firing in self-defense.[10] Their claim is consistent with the discovery of numerous Union rifles on the bluffs near the river.[18] The Union flag was still flying over the fort, which indicated that the force had not formally surrendered. A contemporary newspaper account from Jackson, Tennessee, states that “General Forrest begged them to surrender,” but “not the first sign of surrender was ever given.” Similar accounts were reported in both Southern and Northern newspapers at the time.[19]’
In any event, these were both military units, and it was not sanctioned by the CSA. Civilian atrocities were officially sanctioned by the Union army of terror.
Great tagline, too
Ho Chi Minh; victorious general; ‘nuff said.
In war, victory is the only thing that count. Ho Chi Minh was not a the victorious general He was the political leader of North Vietnam. The victory over the French and the Americans in Vietnam was engineered by Vo Nguye Giap. He was the victorious general.
Ok, so Vo Nguye Giap; victorious general; winning is all that matters to you; ‘nuff said.
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