“His brilliance as a general is based on his record of killing men wearing the uniform of the United States and fighting under the Stars and Stripes.“
Bullshit.
It all depends on who wins the war. The losing side are called “rebels” or “traitors” - but if they had won, they would be called “patriots”, “revolutionaries“ or “Founding Fathers”.
What do you think the American revolutionaries were called by the British? What would they still be called today if they had lost and we were still British subjects? Murderous Traitors.
My great grandfather was a Confederate Captain and after the war he moved to PA with his family and was a beloved and highly respected pillar of the community for 50 years until his death at the age of 95. Nobody ever called him a traitor or accused him of defending slavery.
He was honored as a war veteran alongside the Union veterans in Memorial Day parades and after his death, his grave was decorated with a confederate flag to honor him - right here in Pennsylvania!
And he was not the only one. Memorial Day was established in 1868 for that very purpose, and war veterans of the North and South were honored side by side to heal the nation and remind future generations that we have more in common than we have that sets us apart.
This recent attempt to stir racial divisions over the Civil war after 150 years of healing is a tragic manifestation of Leftist race-baiting and hate-mongering. What a shame that the people who fought were able to reconcile, and all that healing and mutual respect is being squandered for political advantage.
I do not understand why Conservatives allow the Left to recast American history as being founded on systemic racism. That is a lie. Are we really this gullible?
Isn’t it obvious who benefits from this racial division?
Yet every time the subject of the Civil War comes up, certain FReepers pile on with Southern-bashing.
The veterans of that war - on BOTH sides - must be rolling in their graves...
No argument. But they would have been called "patriots”, “revolutionaries“ or “Founding Fathers” of a different country, not the United States.
What do you think the American revolutionaries were called by the British? What would they still be called today if they had lost and we were still British subjects? Murderous Traitors.
And I seriously doubt there'd be a lot of monuments to them on the courthouse squares of small towns.
And he was not the only one. Memorial Day was established in 1868 for that very purpose, and war veterans of the North and South were honored side by side to heal the nation and remind future generations that we have more in common than we have that sets us apart.
Forgiveness and an eagerness to "bind up the nation's wounds" as Lincoln put it, are not the same as a vindication of the cause of those wounds. And before you go citing the 1868 proclamation by John A. Logan to the GAR establishing Memorial Day, and its purpose, you might want to actually read it.
"We are organized, comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose, among other things, "of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers, sailors, and marines who united to suppress the late rebellion." What can aid more to assure this result than by cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead, who made their breasts a barricade between our country and its foe? Their soldier lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains, and their death a tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms. We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the Nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders."Yet every time the subject of the Civil War comes up, certain FReepers pile on with Southern-bashing.
Only in response to the bashing of the United States that comes from the Lost Causers. I've seen my ancestors who fought in the uniform of the United States called everything from fools to Nazis. I've seen them accused of war crimes. I've seen falsehood after falsehood about the war and its causes. I've seen one Lost Causer insist that slaves who escaped to join the United States army were traitors to the confederacy. So forgive us if some people feel the need to set the record straight and not allow calumnies against OUR ancestors to stand unopposed.