Alabama Governor's Slavery Blunder

CBS News ^ | 4/5/05

[Crackingham]

Confederate heritage groups got excited when Gov. Bob Riley's annual proclamation designating April as Confederate History and Heritage Month dropped a paragraph saying slavery was the cause of the Civil War. The groups were pleased because they consider that description of slavery historically inaccurate. Their excitement, however, was short lived.

"It was a mistake," said Jeff Emerson, the governor's communications director, on Monday. He said he did not know how the mistake was made.

Emerson said the governor was unaware of the deletion until The Associated Press contacted his office. The governor quickly reissued the proclamation with the paragraph on slavery restored, and posted it on his Web site.

"That makes Bob Riley look very inconsistent and inept," said Roger Broxton, president of the Confederate Heritage Fund.

State Rep. Oliver Robinson, House chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, was pleased that Riley withdrew the version of the proclamation that makes no mention of slavery.

"To me, the members of the Black Caucus, and the majority of black citizens of Alabama that would be a disgrace," he said.

For many years, Alabama governors have signed proclamations designating April as Confederate History and Heritage Month. When Riley became governor in January 2003, he used the same proclamation as his predecessor, Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman.

It contained a paragraph that says "Our recognition of Confederate history also recognizes that slavery was one of the causes of the war, an issue in the war, was ended by the war, and slavery is hereby condemned... "

[PeaRidge]

I asked you to "Please direct me to a location where we can read the Captain's commentary on why he stopped. That failing, then your comment will have to be seen as pure speculation on your part."

You did not, and you continue to speculate:

"And your version isn't?"

My version is based on the facts, not speculation.

"Let's put it to the judges."

What judges?

"Version A: The Nashville, making a dawn run for port, not flying a flag, gets a shot across their bow. They raise the United States flag and keep going. The Harriet Lane doesn't pursue, doesn't board, doesn't do anything. The Nashville reaches the bar at Charleston and finds the place under bombardment. He waits until the bombardment ends, then proceeds in."

Again speculation. Facts say that the Nashville came to the harbor the night before the bombardment began,

So your commentary: "...making a dawn run for port...The Nashville reaches the bar at Charleston and finds the place under bombardment"

is shown to be wrong by the facts.

Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia

USS Harriet Lane
(later Lavinia, Elliott Richie) Aux. brigantine. L/B/D: 180 × 30 × 12.5 dph (54.9m × 9.1m × 3.8m). Tons: 639 grt. Hull: wood. Comp: 130. Arm: 4 × 9, 4 × 32pdr, 9 pivot gun, 20pdr pivot gun. Mach: inclined, direct-acting engine. Built: William H. Webb, New York; 1857.

Designed as a revenue cutter, Harriet Lane was named for President James Buchanan's niece, who served as the bachelor president's unofficial First Lady.

Originally based out of New York, the ship fired the first shot of the Civil War as she tried to stop a ship inward bound to Charleston on the night before the bombardment of Fort Sumter, on April 12, 1861.

That decides the point. The bombardment had not begun.

You admit it was a blockade.

"No, because it doesn't bear a single earmark of a blockade anymore than the Navy's firing a shot across the bow of a drug runner heading for Florida means that Florida is under a naval blockade."

What is an earmark of a blockade?

From Dictionary.com:

blockade: noun.

1: a war measure that isolates some area of importance to the enemy [syn: encirclement]

2: prevents access or progress v 1: hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of; [syn: obstruct, block, hinder, stymie, stymy, embarrass] 2: render unsuitable for passage; "block the way"; "barricade the streets"; "stop the busy road" [syn: barricade, block, stop, block off, block up, bar]

3: obstruct access to [syn: block off]

4: impose a blockade on [syn: seal off]

The Nashville stopped due to the firing by the Harriet Lane.
It meets all the "earmarks" of the status of a blockade.
Therefore, in reality, it was a blockade.

Encyclopedia Britannica:

Blockade-an act of war by which a belligerent prevents access to or departure from a defined part of the enemy's coasts.

[Heyworth]

Facts say that the Nashville came to the harbor the night before the bombardment began,

And Charleston was a tricky harbor, so he waited at the bar for dawn, as any sensible captain would. Unfortunately, the bombardment started before dawn, at 4:30 AM. The Nashville waited it out, then entered the harbor. During that two days, she was not boarded, inspected, or otherwise inconvenienced by the USN and USRM ships.

You keep claiming that my version is speculation, but every source indicates that the Nashville merely raised a US flag and continued on her way without further hindrance. Your claim that she stopped for two days before going into harbor (where, coincidentally, a heavy bombardment was underway) because of the shot across her bow is equally speculative and much less believable than that she stopped because the harbor was under bombardment before she had enough light to get through the channels over the bar.

From Dictionary.com:

Wow. So when the streets department blocks a road to fix a pothole, they're actually committing an act of war. Who knew?