Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Show Respect for This Flag (Irish/Scottish)
ICNorthernIreland ^ | Jul 10 2003 | N/A

Posted on 07/11/2003 12:25:34 PM PDT by stainlessbanner

THE ALLIANCE Party appears to be exercising some muddled thinking over the origins and the legitimacy of the American Confederacy flag which is being flown in some loyalist areas of east Belfast in the runup to the Twelfth.

For Alliance to summarily dismiss the Confederate flag as a racist emblem is to grievously insult the memory and the sacrifice of men and women of great courage, who fought a noble but unsuccessful fight against the numerically stronger and better equipped Union Army in the American Civil War of 1861-65.

The Confederate flag - the distinctive Stars and Bars - has, admittedly, been wrongly used by racist elements in the United States, in a way that sometimes the Union Flag, the Ulster Flag, or the Irish Tricolour, can be dragged in the gutter, by those who, while purporting to uphold what it stands for, show absolutely no respect for it.

While not wanting to enter into the argument over whether or not it should be flown here over the Twelfth, the Stars and Bars is not an illegal paramilitary flag.

It flies from many civic buildings in the United States - and is an emblem with more relevance to Ulster/Irish culture and history, than the Israeli or Palestinian flags that can be seen flying from lamp-posts on our Northern Ireland streets.

The Confederacy in the United States during the mid-19th century was a cause considered lawful and respectable by many millions of people in the Southern states in America, quite a number of whom had Ulster-Scots Presbyterian family origins.

Indeed, support for the Confederacy in the South also came from a significant percentage of Americans from an Irish Roman Catholic background, many of whom left Ireland after the Great Irish Famine, in 1845-49.

Together, rightly, or wrongly, many in the Ulster and Irish diaspora settled in the Southern states considered it a duty to resist the imposition of federal laws by the then Washington Administration.

The Confederate nation composed of 11 Southern states (Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia) that seceded from the United States in 1861.

It came into being at a convention in Montgomery, Alabama,-where a constitution was drawn up and a provisional government formed.

The Southern nation survived for four years, but it could not maintain its independence against the greatly superior population, industrial capacity and economic might of the North.

Some of the most distinguished Confederate generals in the Civil War were of Ulster stock, proudly fighting under the Stars and Bars.

General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, is considered one of the foremost army leaders in military history. Jackson, a deeply committed Christian, was the great grandson of John Jackson, who came from the Birches-Tartaraghan area, in Co Armagh.

Another highly acclaimed Confederate general from the Shenandoah Valley was James Ewell Brown (JEB) Stuart, whose great, great grandfather was Londonderry man Archibald Stuart, who emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1726.

There were also Generals Joseph Egleston Johnston, Albert Sidney Johnston, Daniel Smith Donelson and Leonidas Polk, other leading Confederates with direct family ties to Ulster.

In the Charlotte-Waxhaws region of North Carolina, the homeland of celebrated Ulster -Scots President Andrew Jackson, an estimated 75 per cent of Confederate soldiers in the Civil War were of Ulster origin.

And it was General Robert E. Lee, the legendary commander of the Confederate Army, who, when asked "what race of people makes the best soldiers?",

replied: "The Scots who came to this country by way of Ireland - because they have all the dash of the Irish in taking up a position, and all the stubbornness of the Scotch in holding it".

The Confederate definitely does have a certain resonance in Ulster history and culture which has absolutely nothing to do with racism!


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Virginia; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: america; confederate; dixie; dixielist; flag; heritage; history; honor; irish; scot; south

1 posted on 07/11/2003 12:25:35 PM PDT by stainlessbanner
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: All

I'M BACK!!!

SUPPORT FREE REPUBLIC

Donate Here By Secure Server

Or mail checks to
FreeRepublic , LLC
PO BOX 9771
FRESNO, CA 93794

or you can use

PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com


STOP BY A BUMP THE FUNDRAISER THREAD (It's in the Breaking News sidebar!)

2 posted on 07/11/2003 12:29:25 PM PDT by Support Free Republic (Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: stainlessbanner
Again, I feel it incumbent upon me as an Irish Catholic to state that the IRA are Communist scum and should be eradicated.
3 posted on 07/11/2003 12:38:08 PM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave soldiers and their Commander in Chief)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: *dixie_list; Gianni; azhenfud; annyokie; SCDogPapa; thatdewd; canalabamian; Sparta; treesdream; ...
Dixie News Roundup!

Jason and the Battle Flag - Failed protester at Gulfport reflects one year later
Revisionists target Great Emancipator - James Gill tries a pro/con argument on Lincoln
Show Respect for This Flag - Tribute to the Confederate Flag from the Irish


4 posted on 07/11/2003 12:38:33 PM PDT by stainlessbanner
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wideawake
Again, I feel it incumbent upon me as an Irish Catholic to state that the IRA are Communist scum and should be eradicated.

I'm of Irish descent and of Catholic upbringing/practicing Christian and to that I say... hear, hear!

5 posted on 07/11/2003 12:53:41 PM PDT by Bosco
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: wideawake
Again, I feel it incumbent upon me as an Irish Catholic to state that the IRA are Communist scum and should be eradicated.

DITTO! (and I'll have another Guinness)

6 posted on 07/11/2003 1:00:54 PM PDT by elbucko
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: stainlessbanner
Of course, that's the Confederate battle flag, not the Stars & Bars.

Stonewall Jackson was born in what is now West Virginia, not the Shenandoah Valley. To be sure, before the War, he was a professor at the Virginia Military Institute, which is in the Valley of Virginia (though, technically probably not the Shenandoah Valley).

I believe that JEB Stuart was from Southside Virginia, not the Shenandoah Valley.

7 posted on 07/11/2003 1:35:24 PM PDT by bagman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: stainlessbanner
FREE DIXIE bump.
8 posted on 07/11/2003 2:11:48 PM PDT by stand watie (Resistence to tyrants is obedience to God. -Thomas Jefferson)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bagman
FREE DIXIE bump.
9 posted on 07/11/2003 2:13:48 PM PDT by stand watie (Resistence to tyrants is obedience to God. -Thomas Jefferson)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: bagman
No, JEB Stuart was born in Patrick County, VA, roughly south of Roanoke, on the North Carolina border. It is piedmont Virginia, not southside.
10 posted on 07/11/2003 2:54:58 PM PDT by bagman ((they say you're crazy if you talk to yourself))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: stainlessbanner
PING! For the St. Andrew's Flag.
11 posted on 07/11/2003 6:38:21 PM PDT by varina davis
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: varina davis
Free Dixie Bump
12 posted on 07/11/2003 8:59:16 PM PDT by proudofthesouth
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: stainlessbanner
Scot-Irish Bump.
13 posted on 07/11/2003 10:41:15 PM PDT by 4CJ ("If ignorance is bliss, then dims and neocons are on cloud nine")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: stainlessbanner
Its MY flag! And I love it for what it stands for ... the FREEDOM OF SELF-DETERMINATION FREE FROM GOVERNMENTAL INTERFERENCE. It also means that we Southerners still reserve the right to secede should governmental abuse warrant it. Unfortunately we here in the US have a bunch of sheep for a populace, they are too willing to lay down and take whatever abuse the government hands them.
14 posted on 07/14/2003 1:20:48 PM PDT by Colt .45 (Cold War, Vietnam Era, Desert Storm Veteran - Pride in my Southern Ancestry!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson