Civil War Drama Field of Lost Shoes Argues No Confederates Were Racist

The Village Voice ^ | Wednesday, Sep 24 2014 | By Nick Schager

[11th_VA]

Rewriting history to egregious ends, Field of Lost Shoes recounts the true-life saga of seven Virginia Military Institute cadets who in 1864 died in service to the Confederate Army during the Battle of New Market.

Awash in phony-looking facial hair and clichéd period drama, Sean McNamara’s drama defines those brave boys via their love of black people, their embrace of Jews, and their desire to fight so that they might protect their homeland from “foreign invaders,” uphold their “traditions,” and preserve their “future.” Save for a brief prologue, there isn’t a pro-slavery Southern man to be found in this fantasyland vision of the Civil War, only kind-hearted, open-minded progressives who want to be with their love-at-first-sight gals, or pursue sculpting careers, or liberate their oppressed African American brethren.

That counterfeit romantic portrait is contrasted with the contemptuous depiction of Ulysses S. Grant (Tom Skerritt) as a “butcher” and the Union as a bunch of child-murderers led by a goofily mustached David Arquette.

[jmacusa]

“My aim then was to whip the rebels, to humble their pride, to follow them to their inmost recesses, and make them fear and dread us. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom’’.- General Sherman. Shermans Army did cause havoc in South Carolina , being that it was the first to secede. But he did not massacre South Carolinian civilians. In fact historian James McPherson noted "Southerners burned more of their own capital(Richmond) than the enemy did of Atlanta or Columbia.'' When Union troops entered Richmond on April 3rd. their first task was to restore order and put out the fires.the fires. It's notable that as Jefferson and his cabinet left Richmond, Confederate soldiers torched and mobs of civilians looted. Sherman's troops didn't ravage North Carolina though as they reasoned it was the last Southern state to secede.

[DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis]

This is a good book to read:

War Crimes Against Southern Civilians