Posted on 07/18/2022 1:02:13 PM PDT by Dr. Franklin
Recording made in 1947 when he was 101 years old as an oral history of the American Civil War, (or the War Between the States, as it is known in South). This man joined the 24th Virginia Calvary in 1862 at the age of 16 and and half. He was eventually taken prisoner in the Spring of 1965 at what must have been the Battle of Hillsman's House since her refers to Gen. Ewell's surrender. He was held at Point Lookout, Maryland until the end of the war.
He is quite emphatic that the South didn't fight for "the preservation or extension of slavery", but for states rights. When he begins by reminiscing about the "early 50's", he was, of course, referring to the 1850's.
I addressed Lee in one of the posts.
The Texas North Country eas Pro-Unionist.
Ping
“the American Civil War, (or the War Between the States, as it is known in South). “
My favorite is “The War of Northern Agression.”
Gee, all those History books wrong? Who would have thought?
They had the right to go, as all the states still do, imho. Not a Southerner, and neither a fan or hater of Lincoln.
Follow the money. The north was just fine about letting the south go its own way until they started losing a lot money to southern ports. Most people in the north didn’t give a rat’s furry behind about slavery. I’m not saying slavery is right. The institution had to go, but before we get all self righteous about ending it with a destructive, nasty civil war, consider that it would have eventually gone the way of the dinosaurs and lamp lighters as production became more automated.
A lot of people don’t know too much about the South before and during the Civil War. That’s why they buy into the idea that slavery wasn’t a big deal back then.
That was the old Virginia accent. It changed after the Civil War. Maybe it was the Upcountry changing the Lowland accent, or maybe it came up from the Deep South as Virginians wanted to sound more “Southern.” Lowland and City people whose speech sounded more like British English before the war, may have tried to sound more “country” after the war because that was more “Southern.”
Did I read it was 1/3 of the south had slave?
Eisenhower was born and graduated West Point in the heyday of that compromise. He also went to West Point, where Lee had studied and been commandant. Like everyone else in the military during his service, he wanted to keep the North and the South together. That was the great rift that politicians and generals had to heal and the effort to do so accounts for Eisenhower's attitude towards Lee, who was not only a great symbol for half the country, but an icon at West Point.
Today, the country, or its leaders, are convinced that we are more divided by race, so they put their efforts into that. In a way, today's military bureaucrats aren't so very different from those of Eisenhower or Pershing's day. The focus is different, but the idea that they are trying to hold the country and the military together persists. They may be right or wrong in what they do, but the same applies to the military leaders of Ike's day.
I point out also, that Eisenhower's mother had been born in Virginia. I don't know how Virginian or how Southern she was, but her Southern background might also have been on Ike's mind when he thought of Lee and the Civil War.
Yeah, you’re correct. The correct term is bales.
More like 5%, but that five generally had family members, so certainly a number of times that 5% had an interest in preserving slavery.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. You bring up some interesting points, one being the effect the EP had on England. William Wilberforce and his tireless work really made it a sticky subject for English society, supporting the south. And I have read, that if not for a speech by John C Calhoun giving a sympathetic rationale for slavery in the 1830’s, we might very will have freed the slaves here before the war.
Fascinating to study this period of history.
Old, upper class East Coast accents had a lot of British in them. They weren't always the same as regional accents. An upper class Bostonian, Philadelphian and Charlestonian might have sounded more like each other than like back country speakers in their regions. Maybe what we hear now as "British" was more the absence of strong American regional accents, than anything specifically British.
“Indeed, most of the men who actually fought and died could neither read nor write.”
That is an interesting comment.
May we see your data?
“The USA will stand forever!”
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I would love to agree with you, but I don’t. Here is why:
My paternal grandfather was born in Russia and left right after the Revolution. During the mid-50s, he, a brother and several Russian cousins and friends would get together to eat, play cards, drink some vodka and talk. On one of those occasions my then-late-teens father was there. One of the old guys mentioned how worried he was about the USSR defeating us, and my father said, “what are you worried about, America is the richest and most powerful country ever, America is forever.”
At that point my grandfather gave my father a withering look and said, “Listen to me, sonnyboy, nothing is forever. When I was 11 years old there was a celebration of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty. Understand that Russia was the largest country on Earth, with 11 time zones. My grandfather’s grandfather’s grandfather couldn’t have remembered a time before the czars. The Czar WAS forever…and 5 years later he was overthrown, and a year after that he and his whole family were murdered. NOTHING is forever.”
The same applies to the US. I love this country like few others, knowing very well how my grandparents on both sides were granted refuge here and, had they not been, they and their families would have been murdered. I am intensely aware that now there is now place of refuge that is even remotely like the US was a century ago - there is no place else to go. But as much as I love this country and want it to survive and prosper for centuries after I am gone, I am also a realistic student of history. The simple fact is that the PAC Americana is over, and we’ll be lucky to survive as an intact, reasonably unified nation. If our financial profligacy doesn’t do us in, our imperial overstretch and foreign policy arrogance will.
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