Posted on 12/16/2004 6:48:26 AM PST by cougar_mccxxi
Americans Owe Confederate History Respect
By CHRIS EDWARDS
The Time Has Come To Take A Stand After attending the Confederate Memorial Day service on June 1 in Higginsville, I found myself believing our nation should be ashamed for not giving more respect and recognition to our ancestors.
I understand that some find the Confederate flag offensive because they feel it represents slavery and oppression. Well, here are the facts: The Confederate flag flew over the South from 1861 to 1865. That's a total of four years. The U.S. Constitution was ratified in April 1789, and that document protected and condoned the institution of slavery from 1789 to 1861. In other words, if we denigrate the Confederate flag for representing slavery for four years, shouldn't we also vilify the U.S. flag for representing slavery for 72 years? Unless we're hypocrites, it is clear that one flag is no less pure than the other.
A fascinating aspect of studying the Civil War is researching the issues that led to the confrontation. The more you read, the less black-and-white the issues become. President Abraham Lincoln said he would do anything to save the union, even if that meant preserving the institution of slavery. Lincoln's focus was obviously on the union, not slavery.
In another case, historians William McFeely and Gene Smith write that Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant threatened to "throw down his sword" if he thought he was fighting to end slavery.
Closer to home, in 1864, Col. William Switzler, one of the most respected Union men in Boone County, purchased a slave named Dick for $126. What makes this transaction interesting is not only the fact that Switzler was a Union man but that he bought the slave one year after the issuance of the Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Of course, history students know the proclamation did not include slaves living in the North or in border states such as Missouri.
So if this war was fought strictly over slavery, why were so many Unionists reluctant to act like that was the issue?
In reviewing the motives that led to the Civil War, one should read the letters soldiers wrote home to their loved ones. Historian John Perry, who studied the soldier's correspondence, says in his three years of research, he failed to find one letter that referred to slavery from Confederate or Union soldiers.
Perry says that Yankees tended to write about preserving the Union and Confederates wrote about protecting their rights from a too-powerful federal government. The numerous letters failed to specifically say soldiers were fighting either to destroy or protect the institution of slavery. Shelby Foote, in his three-volume Civil War history, recounts an incident in which a Union soldier asks a Confederate prisoner captured in Tennessee why he was fighting. The rebel responded, "Because you're down here."
History tends to overlook the South's efforts to resolve the issue of slavery. For example, in 1863, because of a shortage of manpower, Lincoln permitted the enlistment of black soldiers into the Union Army. Battlefield documents bear out the fact that these units were composed of some of the finest fighting men in the war. Unfortunately for these brave soldiers, the Union used them as cannon fodder, preferring to sacrifice black lives instead of whites.
These courageous black Union soldiers experienced a Pyrrhic victory for their right to engage in combat. However, history has little to say about the South's same effort in 1865. The Confederacy, its own troop strength depleted, offered slaves freedom if they volunteered for the army.
We know that between 75,000 and 100,000 blacks responded to this call, causing Frederick Douglass to bemoan the fact that blacks were joining the Confederacy. But the assimilation of black slaves into the Confederate army was short-lived as the war came to an end before the government's policy could be fully implemented.
It's tragic that Missouri does not do more to recognize the bravery of the men who fought in the Missouri Confederate brigades who fought valiantly in every battle they were engaged in. To many Confederate generals, the Missouri brigades were considered the best fighting units in the South.
The courage these boys from Missouri demonstrated at Port Gibson and Champion Hill, Miss., Franklin, Tenn., and Fort Blakely, Ala., represent just a few of the incredible sacrifices they withstood on the battlefield. Missouri should celebrate their struggles instead of damning them.
For the real story about the Missouri Confederate brigades, one should read Phil Gottschalk and Philip Tucker's excellent books about these units. The amount of blood spilled by these Missouri boys on the field of battle will make you cry.
Our Confederate ancestors deserve better from this nation. They fought for what they believed in and lost. Most important, we should remember that when they surrendered, they gave up the fight completely. Defeated Confederate soldiers did not resort to guerrilla warfare or form renegade bands that refused to surrender. These men simply laid down their arms, went home and lived peacefully under the U.S. flag. When these ex-Confederates died, they died Americans.
During the postwar period, ex-Confederates overwhelmingly supported the Democratic Party. This party, led in Missouri by Rep. Dick Gephardt and Gov. Bob Holden, has chosen to turn its back on its fallen sons.
The act of pulling down Confederate flags at two obscure Confederate cemeteries for the sake of promoting Gephardt's hopeless quest for the presidency was a cowardly decision. I pray these men will rethink their decision.
The reality is, when it comes to slavery, the Confederate and United States flags drip with an equal amount of blood.
Chris Edwards is a local musician and MU graduate student of history. He is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and of the board of Missouri's Civil War Heritage Foundation.
I'm less than impressed with our new friend cvn76.
every word you post damages the damnedyankee side & helps ours, so post LOTS of your STUPID personal attacks.
as for being back, YEP always & forever. (unlike you, my lady & i have a LIFE.)
and you flatter yourself that ANYBODY reads the foolishness, bilge & VULGAR nonsense that you post, at least after the first 2 or 3 times, as you have NOTHING of VALUE to say.
free dixie,sw
free dixie,sw
New handle since Sept 2004.
this one, however is a bigger DUMBbunny, more HATEFUL/ignorant & evidently a stone RACIST to boot. (i wonder if he's figured out that i'm NOT a white guy???)
PITY!
free dixie,sw
This time he seems to be in a bigger hurry to get zotted.
i got a msg earlier that a dear FRiend zapped him.
free dixie,sw
I concur, though it looks like as if he's transferred to a new neo-nazi compound in California. Perhaps he's trying to get closer to his old friend El Capitan?
Keep in mind that from the #3perspective that seems to be so popular within the Wlat Brigades latest reenlistment, David Duke is considered too liberal.
Nobody would accuse him of being too swift on the uptake.
They have left David Duke behind and are striving for James Mitchell.
repost, repost, repost!!!!!!!!
as long as your time is spent that way..........well then like I said before COVEN = HAPPY.......
and.....SMSGAMGMLFC CHAN =NEUTERED ROFL!!!!!!!!!!
IT'S ALL GOOD my little phaser wielding starship commander!
it's a vrwconic!!!!
THE SEWER IS BACKING UP:):)
more nazi ants to blast cool.
bioya dr winkerhonkie you are boring, so you'll just get bioyas!!!! but keep posting here so you'll use your considerable idle time between classes (lol!!!!!!), i mean fillups looking at THE BIG WORDS (:):):)) and not bothering other fr members. don't forget, be a good little southron ant:)
(unlike you, my lady & i have a LIFE.) lol!!!!!!!!!
"yep" in your urbane university policy wonking vernacular!!! "YEP" ROFL!!!!!!!!
your lady named nolu??????? ROFL!!!!!or maybe the one you and STARFLEET BOYWONDER blow up?
you whitesheet jethro hicks are pathetic:):)
always have to validate....from you to phaser boy with the algebra who thinks it's ENGINEERING MATH (LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) to the ohio turd.......always.
but we'll leave to the sophisticate to discern this........you boys just keep on "YIPin"....."YAPin".....and "YEPin"
ya'll keep countin down now, ya heah!!!! we be still in the 90's:):):):)
giggle,giggle,shake,shake!!!!! LOL!!!!
time for dinner here. crushing you insects makes me hungry for some reason........maybe the grasshoppers and other wierd snacks:)
he/she/it is an embarrassment to the damnyankee coven (2 of the coven have PM'd me to tell me that they are EMBARRASSED to be identified with any group that includes him/her/it!) & unwittingly a force for turning neutrals into SOUTHRONS!
free dixie,sw
how is FR's very own RACIST IDIOT this fine morning?
PLEASE keep posting your STUPID, ignortant bilge!
the unionist coven is UPSET at you being on their side & we southrons are DELIGHTED that you are!
"YEP!" is a common term among Texans/Texicans/Texians of all social classes. it is probably an AFFECTATION (did the teach you big words like that in the CA fruits & nuts "publick screwls"?)
btw, have you gotten fitted for your robe & hood yet?
free dixie,sw
Enjoy your dinner.
Remember all those #3responses to posts that were not sent in a #3direction but nevertheless mocked his #3stalking of Jessica Lynch? He #3combed the threads and #3replied to every single one of them. Look familiar?
Recall that a certain #3zotted poster also used to make abnormally frequent #3replies to his own #3messages
zot. flush.
free dixie NOW,sw
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.