Lost on 'Cold Mountain': The anti-'Gods and Generals'. (Busting the Dixie myth.)

National Review ^ | January 7, 2004 | Mackubin Thomas Owens

[quidnunc]

2003 was a big year for Civil War movies. Gods and Generals, based on Jeff Shaara's novel of the same name hit theaters in the spring. Gods and Generals was a paean to the Old Confederacy, reflecting the "Lost Cause" interpretation of the war. This school of Civil War historiography received its name from an 1867 book by Edward A. Pollard, who wrote that defeat on the battlefield left the south with nothing but "the war of ideas."

I know from the Lost Cause school of the Civil War. I grew up in a Lost Cause household. I took it for gospel truth that the Civil War was a noble enterprise undertaken in defense of southern rights, not slavery, that accordingly the Confederates were the legitimate heirs of the American Revolutionaries and the spirit of '76, and that resistance to the Lincoln government was no different than the Revolutionary generation's resistance to the depredations of George III. The Lost Cause school was neatly summarized in an 1893 speech by a former Confederate officer, Col. Richard Henry Lee: "As a Confederate soldier and as a Virginian, I deny the charge [that the Confederates were rebels] and denounce it as a calumny. We were not rebels, we did not fight to perpetuate human slavery, but for our rights and privileges under a government established over us by our fathers and in defense of our homes."

Cold Mountain, based on Charles Frazier's historical novel, was released on Christmas Day. It too is about the Civil War but Cold Mountain is a far cry from Gods and Generals. This is the "other war," one in which war has lost its nobility and those on the Confederate home front are in as much danger from other southerners as they are from Yankee marauders. Indeed, Cold Mountain can be viewed as the anti-Gods and Generals.

-snip-

[quidnunc]

Quote:

While Confederate armies tried to hold the line against the legions of the Union, home guards, local militias, and Confederate officials tried to cope with Unionist guerrillas, deserters, and the possibility of servile insurrection. In many cases, law enforcement on the home front was left to local bullies who used power for their own ends and to settle old scores in the absence of the men who were off fighting with Lee in Virginia or Bragg in Tennessee. This describes Teague in Cold Mountain.

Sol apparently all was not as the Lost-Causers would have us believe.

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[tet68]

I wouldn't imagine it was much different in the north either.

[LS]

Richard Bensel, a political scientist from Cornell (and a pretty funny guy) did a book called "Yankee Leviathan" where he compared and contrasted government power in the North and South in some 150 different issues/laws/policies. He concluded that the Confederacy---leaving aside the issue of the treatment of slaves---was overwhelmingly more abusive of personal and civil rights than the north. In everything from taxation (and outright confiscation in the South) to habeas corpus laws to abuse of executive power, he concluded that one of the main reasons the Union won was that it was, in fact, more free than the South. Fascinating book.

[Burkeman1]

Ping*

NRO- defending the PC twaddle of "Cold Mountain"- how low have they sunk?

[buwaya]

The North could not have maintained the economic and industrial growth it did if such disorder prevailed over any substantial portion of it.

[quidnunc]

tet68 wrote: I wouldn't imagine it was much different in the north either.

On one hand the North didn't have to worry about a slave rebellion, on the other hand the North had the Irish.

[buwaya]

The South was in a more desperate situation from the beginning - could it be that this abusive tendency was the effect of weakness rather than its cause ?

[buwaya]

Why is it PC ? I didn't see them, but then I am a foreigner.

[Maria S]

If you're a Civil War devotee...or if you just want a fantastic book to read...get a copy of "The Children of Pride: A True Story of Georgia and the Civil War". It is a compilation of letters written between members of the Jones family in Georgia before, during, and after the Civil War. They were a wealthy plantation family, and because the mother saved all of the letters written between her and her children, it is an incredible look inside a wealthy southern family. And it dispels many of the myths about how slaves were badly treated and sold. Maybe this particular family was the exception in those days; I don't know. But it is a fascinating look at their southern lives.

[Burkeman1]

Check this out:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36413

[IronJack]

I suppose the years have dulled the edge of both motive and practice on both sides. Even the highest of causes must pay tribute to the mundane. Economic, social, and political realities being what they were in the 19th century, I suspect very few ideals survived the war. If truth is the first casualty, grace, honor, and dignity must follow close behind.

[Leatherneck_MT]

This is probably all quite true.

The South lost it's independence by surrendering to a central govt faster than they were able to field armies against the invading north.

A little side note of history tho. Even tho the South did eventually lose the war and thus any notion that they had ever seceded, the Congress turned right around and gave them their Victory de facto by requiring every one of them to "re-apply" for statehood.

If they never left the Union as the Unionists all claimed, then there was no reason to "re-apply".

[what's up]

She's wrong about 2 things:

1) All adults who loved LOTR believe in hobgoblins.

2) The movie "The English Patient" was good.

Maybe she's wrong about "Cold Mountain". Haven't seen it yet so can't tell.

[.38sw]

Good observations. My husband and I enjoyed LOTR, and neither of us believe in "hobgoblins". As to the English Patient, well, I thought it was dreadful. I have yet to see "Cold Mountain", and it's not very high on my list of "must see's".

[Burkeman1]

That book sounds interesting. As of late- I have had a far more open mind than I used to about the Southern Cause. I will try and get that book on Amazon since your description on it will challenge some of my current beliefs.

[Burkeman1]

I half like the LOTR's triology but they are toooo Loooong! Bring back the intermission like they used to have!

Totally agree on "The English Patient"- that was insufferable!

[Heyworth]

If they never left the Union as the Unionists all claimed, then there was no reason to "re-apply".

Well, except to force the southern states to grovel just a little more.

[Leatherneck_MT]

Good point, but still, by doing so, they gave us our victory at the very moment of our defeat.

[Burkeman1]

Another side note of history? The first state that first seriously considered secession from the Union was?

Massachusetts in 1814.

Later Massachusetts was most likely the leading nation (oops- state) to insist on crushing the secession of the Southern states.