Posted on 07/12/2007 6:04:07 AM PDT by RDTF
Two old steamer trunks sit in the rare-book room at the Virginia Historical Society, looking worn and forlorn. The smaller one was once red but the paint has faded to a dull rust. The larger one is brown with a piece of tin patching a hole in the top. On one side, a name is stenciled: "M. LEE."
That's Mary Custis Lee, Gen. Robert E. Lee's adventurous eldest daughter. In 1917, she stored these wooden trunks in the "silver vault" in the basement of Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust in Alexandria. A year later, she died at the age of 83. Her trunks sat in a dusty corner of the vault for 84 years, unclaimed, until E. Hunt Burke, the bank's vice chairman, discovered them in 2002.
Burke called his high school classmate Rob E.L. deButts Jr., who is Robert E. Lee's great-great-grandson. Together, the two men descended into the vault. Burke carried a basket of old keys.
"The first one I pulled out was a perfect fit," he says.
The trunks were stuffed with Lee family papers -- a priceless cache of 4,000 letters, photographs and documents. DeButts carted them to the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond, which houses the world's largest collection of Lee papers. He spent a week there, sitting at a desk in the research library, reaching into Mary Custis Lee's trunks and picking out treasures and trash.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Your supposition is only correct in regards to yourself, as the threads demonstrate conclusively.
(yes, but your lack of originality is only exceeded by the number of errors you keep making on this topic. FROH)
OK, so I've made errors because you say I did? That explains it. Had me worried there for a moment.
FROH.
Back atcha.
Wrong again, my stats are dead on accurate, your diggin the hole.
Just stop.
Not only that, but Louisiana quickly changed their militia law, specifying that it would be composed of white citizens.
10 months is quickly?
The legislature’s reorganization of the militia also affected the Native Guards. Because the new statute specified white males and disbanded all existing militia units as of February 15, 1862, the Native Guards ceased to exist on that date. Their demise was temporary, however, for Governor Moore reinstated the Native Guards on March 24 after the Federal navy under Captain David G. Farragut entered the Mississippi River. (Link)
Apparently, Governor Moore didn't get the message. The Louisiana Native Guards were abolished for only about 5 weeks.
The Articles of Confederation did prove insufficient, but I think it was because of pretty specific problems, such as states not honoring out-of-state debts. Some of the changes made were akin to using a sledge hammer to swat flies.
Again, as I pointed out before, the Anti-Federalist papers have proven pretty accurate in pointing out the shortcomings of the Constitution. I think the discussion of “were the Federalists right” is one worth having in this day and age.
Nothing could be further from the truth. If Virginia had stayed with the Federal government (which they very well could have done if a few votes had changed sides) Lee would have gladly lead the "War of Northern Aggression" against the Rebel states.
Lee fought for Virginia, not "The South".
More like eight (May to January).But the militia act only formalized what had been de facto before. The preceding four paragraphs of your source:
The first test of Confederate willingness to accept the Native Guards in the spirit of true fraternity had not gone well. On September 28, 1861, word had come that Union prisoners captured at Manassas would arrive in New Orleans within two days. Their arrival was an occasion for much excitement, and the troops selected to guard the prisoners as they marched from the train station to the city prison would be afforded a great honor. General John L. Lewis of the Louisiana militia suggested that the Native Guards be allowed to escort the prisoners of war. But the Confederate commander in New Orleans said no, and white militiamen were picked instead.Despite the rebuff, the Native Guards continued to demonstrate their support for Confederate Louisiana by participating in two grand reviews- one on November 23, 1861, and a second on January 7,1862.
Enthusiasm among the Native Guards for the Confederate cause did not last long, however. Many of the men were still without uniforms or equipment, and one company had only ten muskets. Absenteeism increased when it became apparent that the Confederate authorities did not intend to provide the Native Guards with either the status or support they afforded white soldiers.
When the state legislature passed a law in January, 1862, that reorganized the militia by conscripting “all the free white males capable of bearing arms… irrespective of nationality.”
Absolutely. I never denied that. It would also refreshing to hear strict constructionists say that the Constitution was a mistake rather than their traditional pose as the ultimate Constitution lovers whose interpretation of that document is the "one true official interpretation." As I said, strict constructionism was the natural position of the opponents of the Constitution once it was adopted.
My one point was simply that local politicians are as human (meaning as fallible, venial, and corrupt) as national politicians, and state sovereignty would not necessarily mean some sort of conservative utopia, as so many seem to hold.
American history is as fascinating as that of any ancient nation. I never joined this thread to belittle General Lee in the least, but only to protest when an extremist proponent of local custom implied an attack on objective morality. That was my only reason for being here.
Perhaps. I was going from the April 21 organization meeting to the actual February 15th dissolution brought about by the law.
They didn't fare much better under the Feds, but at least they were given uniforms and supplies, and they fought at Port Hudson. Wikipedia is not always a trustworthy site, but here is what they had to say:
On September 27, 1862, Butler organized the Union Army's 1st Louisiana Native Guard regiment, some of whose members had also been part of the previous Confederate Native Guard regiment. The regiment's initial strength was 1,000 men.
... When Nathaniel P. Banks later replaced Butler as Commander of the Department of the Gulf, he began a systematic campaign to purge all the black line officers from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Regiments of the Louisiana Native Guard. He succeeded in securing the resignations of all the black line officers in the 2nd Regiment in February 1863, but most of the black line officers in the 1st Regiment and 3rd Regiment remained.
... From its formation in September 1862 until early May 1863, the 1st Louisiana Native Guard largely performed fatigue duty–chopping wood, gathering supplies, and digging earthworks. From January 1863 to May 1863, it also guarded the railway depots that ran along the rail line between Algiers (now part of New Orleans) to Brashear City (now called Morgan City). By this time, its numbers had diminished to 500.
In mid-1863, the 1st Louisiana Native Guard, along with the 3rd Louisiana Native Guard, had its first chance at combat and participated in the first assault at the Siege of Port Hudson on May 27, as well as the second assault on June 14. ...
In June, 1863, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Louisiana Native Guard Regiments were dissolved and folded into the newly formed Corps d'Afrique. Perhaps 200 to 300 of the original 1,000 members of the 1st Louisiana Native Guard made this transition.
Poor treatment by white soldiers and difficult field conditions had lead to the resignation of many officers and the desertion of enlisted soldiers. In April, 1864 the Corps d'Afrique was dissolved and its members joined the newly organized 73rd and 74th Regiments of the United States Colored Troops of the Union Army. By the end of the war, 175,000 African Americans served in 170 regiments of the United States Colored Troops. In contrast to the 1st Louisiana Native Guards organization, all field and line officers of the United States Colored Troops were white. By the end of the war, approximately 100 of the original 1,000 members of the First Louisiana Native Guard were members of the 73rd and 74th Regiments.
There is a continuing legend that the Confederate Army's Louisiana Native Guard regiment organized in May 1861 was reformed in its entirety as the Union Army's 1st Louisiana Native Guard regiment in September 1862. This assumption is incorrect. Of the nearly one thousand enlisted Confederate Native Guard members, only 107 were recorded to have enlisted in the Union "Native Guard" and only ten of 36 officers served the Union. The legend of continuity of regiments is considered by many to have been a propaganda ploy by Union General Benjamin F. Butler.
Here's some information on the resignation of black officers of the Native Guards under Union General Banks: Link (scroll down to see the roster). Many of them served from September 27, 1862, to February 19, 1863, the date of the so-called "mass resignation." Hmmm, let's see. That's less than five months service.
On February 18th or 19th, 1863, General Banks reportedly implied that he would not object to letting enlisted Negroes resign and return to their plantations if they so wished (Source: New Orleans Daily Picayune, February 20, 1863). Perhaps that date ties in to the "mass resignation" and ties in to the low numbers of Negroes that made the transition to the Corps d'Afrique in June 1863. That and the Port Hudson battle, of course.
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