Posted on 04/19/2010 12:44:06 AM PDT by BnBlFlag
The New Intolerance by Patrick J. Buchanan
04/09/2010
"This was a recognition of American terrorists."
That is CNN's Roland Martin's summary judgment of the 258,000 men and boys who fell fighting for the Confederacy in a war that cost as many American lives as World Wars I and II, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq combined.
Martin reflects the hysteria that seized Obamaville on hearing that Gov. Bob McDonnell had declared Confederate History Month in the Old Dominion. Virginia leads the nation in Civil War battlefields.
So loud was the howling that in 24 hours McDonnell had backpedaled and issued an apology that he had not mentioned slavery.
Unfortunately, the governor missed a teaching moment -- at the outset of the 150th anniversary of America's bloodiest war.
Slavery was indeed evil, but it existed in the Americas a century before the oldest of our founding fathers was even born. Five of our first seven presidents were slaveholders.
But Virginia did not secede in defense of slavery. Indeed, when Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated, March 4, 1861, Virginia was still in the Union. Only South Carolina, Georgia and the five Gulf states had seceded and created the Confederate States of America.
At the firing on Fort Sumter, April 12-13, 1865, the first shots of the Civil War, Virginia was still inside the Union. Indeed, there were more slave states in the Union than in the Confederacy. But, on April 15, Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 volunteers from the state militias to march south and crush the new Confederacy.
Two days later, April 17, Virginia seceded rather than provide soldiers or militia to participate in a war on their brethren. North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas followed Virginia out over the same issue. They would not be a party to a war on their kinfolk.
Slavery was not the cause of this war. Secession was -- that and Lincoln's determination to drown the nation in blood if necessary to make the Union whole again.
Nor did Lincoln ever deny it.
In his first inaugural, Lincoln sought to appease the states that had seceded by endorsing a constitutional amendment to make slavery permanent in the 15 states where it then existed. He even offered to help the Southern states run down fugitive slaves.
In 1862, Lincoln wrote Horace Greeley that if he could restore the Union without freeing one slave he would do it. The Emancipation Proclamation of Jan. 1, 1863, freed only those slaves Lincoln had no power to free -- those still under Confederate rule. As for slaves in the Union states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri, they remained the property of their owners.
As for "terrorists," no army fought more honorably than Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Few deny that.
The great terrorist in that war was William Tecumseh Sherman, who violated all the known rules of war by looting, burning and pillaging on his infamous March to the Sea from Atlanta to Savannah. Sherman would later be given command of the war against the Plains Indians and advocate extermination of the Sioux.
"The only good Indian is a dead Indian" is attributed both to Sherman and Gen. Phil Sheridan, who burned the Shenandoah and carried out Sherman's ruthless policy against the Indians. Both have statues and circles named for them in Washington, D.C.
If Martin thinks Sherman a hero, he might study what happened to the slave women of Columbia, S.C., when "Uncle Billy's" boys in blue arrived to burn the city.
What of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, at whose request McDonnell issued his proclamation? What racist deeds have they perpetrated of late?
They tend the graves of Confederate dead and place flags on Memorial Day. They contributed to the restoration of the home of Jefferson Davis, damaged by Hurricane Katrina. They publish the Confederate Veteran, a magazine that relates stories of the ancestors they love to remember. They join environmentalists in fighting to preserve Civil War battlefields. They do re-enactments of Civil War battles with men and boys whose ancestors fought for the Union. And they defend the monuments to their ancestors and the flag under which they fought.
Why are they vilified?
Because they are Southern white Christian men -- none of whom defends slavery, but all of whom are defiantly proud of the South, its ancient faith and their forefathers who fell in the Lost Cause.
Undeniably, the Civil War ended in the abolition of slavery and restoration of the Union. But the Southern states believed they had the same right to rid themselves of a government to which they no longer felt allegiance as did Washington, Jefferson and Madison, all slave-owners, who could no longer give loyalty to the king of England.
Consider closely this latest skirmish in a culture war that may yet make an end to any idea of nationhood, and you will see whence the real hate is coming. It is not from Gov. McDonnell or the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mr. Buchanan is a nationally syndicated columnist and author of Churchill, Hitler, and "The Unnecessary War": How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World, "The Death of the West,", "The Great Betrayal," "A Republic, Not an Empire" and "Where the Right Went Wrong."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reader Comments: (731)
Southern Heritage Ping!
Pat puts the onus where it belongs - The Left, which is doing its best to tear the country apart.
Hey! I saw where you’re still up posting so I thought I would ping you to an article I just posted by Pat Buchanon concerning the on going war against the South.
lol...this will get the race baiters going...facts so suck.
Pretty stupid in my opinion for any Conservative to eulogize the antebellum South and the CSA in any way.
the Civil War ended slavery in the states as well as in the Indian Nations, most of whom increased their slave numbers after removal to ‘Indian Territory’, following a pattern of slave trade begun long before the first pilgrim landed.
http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/history/hs_es_indians_slavery.htm
I agree. Slavery is an abomination in civilized societies. Anyone who misses the “good ole’ days” of owning a slave does not believe in the Constitution of this country. Do not clothe yourselves in this tyranny.
I wonder if any Indians who honor their Confederate ancestors are attacked by the politically correct crowd as whites who do the same thing are.
“Pretty stupid in my opinion for any Conservative to eulogize the antebellum South and the CSA in any way.”
It’s pretty stupid to be on a Conservative forum and siding with the most radical leftists in the country. You will fit in well with our PC South Hating Contingent here on FR though. However, as far as I’m concerned, I don’t give a Damn what you think. KMA!
I agree and well said.
Exactly, it’s better to let the left and Marxist dictate thought and have the right and whites always running around in circles over race.
Thank you, Pat.
So you are suggesting people who honor their ancestors and a part of American history want slavery? Slavery was all of this country. Are you also suggesting we remove George Washington and most of the founders too? Are you really that obtuse or are you just making crap up as you go along? The only slaves I see are people like you who insist we must get in line with proper thought, speaking of tyranny. Meanwhile anti white and nation destroying race groups are running rampant in America ala LaRaza, the Black Caucus, The Hispanic Caucus and a multitude of other race political and lobbying groups. Not to mention gangs, the black panthers, flash mobs, MEChA...
So please keep running around in circles over 'slavery'.
I beg your pardon???
I only regret that you are not in my presence to repeat that statement.
My first instinct was to invite you to go to Hell. On second thought, I would invite you, no, make that urge you, to study history much more closely than you apparently have already, and to focus some serious study on what is actually in the Constitution.
You have no discernable grasp on the history of the 19th century and I doubt that you have ever even read the Constitution let alone define for the rest of us what it means.
Willful ignorance is unseemly on this forum.
Thank you! It’s terribly PC and cool now to hate all things Southern, however. I just wouldn’t have expected it here where posters are usually better informed.
Ignorance in action. You must read articles before flailing.
Posting ignorance in opinion is your right... but you are not allowing the truth or known stated facts to be disputed, just your kneejerk. Pretty stupid is now your claim to fame.
Damn all ignorant Yankees... and you carpetbaggers, too.
Damn Yankee rabble rousing selfrightousist
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