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To: RikaStrom
"Heaven forbid that people would understand the War of Norther Agression, and actually get a truthful account of what happened."

Here's a truthful account:

On April 12, 1864, Confederates forces under Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest stormed Fort Pillow, a small garrison held by some 600 Union troops. Half were African Americans from the Sixth US Colored Heavy Artillery and the Second US Colored Light Artillery.

Black soldiers who surrendered were murdered. Black sergeants were singled out, nailed to logs and set on fire. The tents of the black wounded were set on fire. Blacks escaping into the Mississippi River were caught in a crossfire. Black women and children were shot on sight. At the end of the slaughter, the Confederates had lost 14 men, but 331 Union soldiers had been killed. The number who were prisoners is unknown. Of the living Union prisoners, 168 were white, but only 58 blacks had survived.

Testifying on Fort Pillow, one Confederate sergeant reported:

"I with several of the others tried to stop the butchery and at one time had partially succeeded, but General Forrest ordered them shot down like dogs and the carnage continued."

After the battle, General Forrest stated:

"It is hoped that these facts will demonstrate to the Northern people that nigra soldiers can't cope with Southerners."

General Grant responded by demanding that black soldiers must be treated like whites or he would cancel the practice of prisoner exchanges that until then had been one of the rules of North-South engagement. That great paragon of the South, Robert E. Lee, refused.

Speaking of Lee, the neo-confederates love to spread the lie that he was opposed to slavery. However, when Lee invaded Maryland in 1863 he ordered all free blacks shipped back to the South as slaves.

Nathan Forrest - the great white hero of the neo-cons - had been a slave dealer in Memphis before the war; following the war he was one of the organizers of the Ku Klux Klan and reportedly served as its first Grand Wizard.

But of course, the Civil War had nothing to do with race, or slavery.

41 posted on 11/18/2001 11:15:28 AM PST by Who is George Salt?
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To: Who is George Salt?
There were racists on both sides of that war. Pointing out one man's atrocities is not going to change that. The war was about state's rights, and under that there were several issues. The war was not fought solely for one issue of slavery.

Also, let's not forget that Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation did not free the slaves held by the Northern States. So, if they fought to end slavery, why weren't the slaves freed?

Here is an excellent link to show what the Northerners were doing. If you to it you can read the proclamations and see where no one was actually freed. Also there is an account in there of Northerners going on a riotious spree and killing hundreds of blacks, I'll give you just a highlight.

Emancipation Proclamation and Northern Hypocrisy

Brief blurb from the article.

What Lincoln was saying was that in territories that he had absolutely no governing power he was declaring slavery to be abolished immediately. In territories in which he had governing power, the areas of the United States and areas of the Confederacy which were presently under U.S. military occupation, were "left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued" or slavery would remain untouched.(snip)

The angry mob burned fine homes, business buildings, the draft office, a Methodist church, a Negro orphanage, and many other buildings. A Negro was hung, then burned as people danced around the burning body. More than thirty Negroes were killed - shot, hung, or trampled to death. It had been reported that Negroes were hung from the lamp posts along the streets. The mobs grew to an estimated strength of between 50,000 and 70,000. For three days they swarmed through the streets, setting up barricades on First, Second, and Eighth Avenues, where sometimes a force of only 300 policemen would have to face 10,000 attackers at a time. Some troops filtered into town, and the crowds took to alleys and rooftops where they killed soldiers with bricks and guns. The gangs caught the colonel of a militia unit, stomping and beating him to death. After dragging him to his home, men, women, and children danced around his body. Eventually, enough troops arrived to put an end to the rioting. Casualties were heavy -nearly 2,000 people were dead from the melee.

I've never denied that atrocities happened in that war, but if you are going to post what one group did, then also make sure that you post what the other side did. Think too, that not everyone felt the way your example did. By pulling one man out of war and holding him up as an example of what every man in that war believed is misleading and inaccurate.

43 posted on 11/18/2001 2:07:42 PM PST by RikaStrom
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To: Who is George Salt?
That's right, I'm glad you reminded us of how humane and kind Sherman, Grant, Sheridan, and that tyrant Lincoln were. They didn't burn any homes, kill any innocent citizens, steal any heirlooms, or rape any slave girls.

Thanks for pointing out what a "kinder, gentler" leadership the Union had. </heavy sarcasm>

44 posted on 11/18/2001 6:29:42 PM PST by stainlessbanner
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