Posted on 08/15/2020 6:00:34 AM PDT by Kaslin
My great-great grandfather was a hero of the Civil War--a soldier of the Ohio Cavalry who was wounded and captured. He almost died in the most notorious and horrific Confederate prisoner of war camp.
As a child, each Memorial Day, I heard the stories about the War Between the States as my dad put flowers on his great granddad’s grave. The stories were not told with animosity. Just facts. But I developed my own prejudice against Southerners based on those facts.
As time went on, I delved into study about the horrors of slavery and spent a great deal of time researching the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King, Jr’s. theories on passive resistance. My negative feelings about the South strengthened.
After reading voraciously and eventually spending time in the South, I developed some understanding that the Civil War was a terrible time to be an American—on either side. There were bigger forces at play that pulled in many bit players, many who were not necessarily guilty or immoral. As I grew in my faith, I understood that no one is responsible for the sins of their forefathers. We all stand before God individually.
So, I do not cringe when I see a statue of Robert E. Lee. I just see it for what it is—a bit of history. History is mostly the story of forces for evil and good battling it out, but it is always more nuanced than we make it. It is often about little guys being dragged into the battles of the big guys—the elite.
My granddad was a little guy who could have just as easily been forced to serve under Robert E. Lee if my ancestors had settled a little farther south. That is the raw truth.
It was the idea of this Yankee girl to create my organization’s latest project to protect monuments (www.protectmonuments.org). As I have been interviewed about the project, the same question comes up: “What about the Confederate monuments?”
My contemplation led me to wonder how I would feel if I drove to Georgia where my great-great granddad was wounded, and I saw a statue of the Confederate soldier who shot him. Would I wish to get a sledgehammer and destroy it? No. It would not even occur to me. If my children were with me, I would use it as an opportunity to tell them the history of the war, the evil of slavery, and their great-great-great grandfather’s bravery.
This horrible war, that pitted family members against family members and countrymen against countrymen, provides numerous lessons about mankind’s long history of sin and forgiveness. And I want my children to know that even if man does not forgive man, God always forgives those who ask.
If I met the great-great granddaughter of that soldier would I feel any animosity toward her? Absolutely not. I cannot blame her for the actions of her forefather any more than I can take credit for my ancestor’s heroism.
Upon further thought, I realized that it is likely that the young soldier who shot my grandfather did not come from a wealthy family with slaves. It is possible he did not feel he was fighting for the evil of slavery, but to protect his family from descending forces. Through history, most soldiers are dragged into conflicts not of their choosing.
I would like to think that our country is still capable of fact finding, reason and empathy. We must strive to engage in civil discourse especially when it relates to the most sensitive subjects.
The slogan of our project to protect monuments is “Discussion. Not Destruction.” Can America still do that? Or must we pick at old historical wounds until we are bleeding?
Prejudice--or prejudging--is a natural part of the human experience. We do it daily in a million ways. We can grow out of it by acquiring new experiences and knowledge and respectfully interacting with those with whom we disagree. And, I would suggest, by asking God to open our hearts and minds to truth and forgiveness.
Was that Andersonville ???
...............................
Location of a notorious Confederate military prison where many Yankees died from diseases rather than their combat wounds.
I’m sure that if the original slave owners could see how this all turned out they would have told the slave traders to keep their Africans.
“I’m sure that if the original slave owners could see how this all turned out they would have told the slave traders to keep their Africans.”
Spot on!! The U.S. ended up with about 10% of the slaves that were sold to the slave traders by the black tribes in Africa. The remainder went to other places around the world in much larger numbers — including the Carribian and Brazil.
Can you imagine how bad it would be if that 10% had been doubled? Even Lincoln thought about sending them back.
How about Ft. Douglas? The North’s prison camp. Equal to Andersonville.
Yes it was horrible...I felt like crying while I was there with a friend who is a member of a Grand Old Army society and had a relative imprisoned there...
Yes think about how Haiti turned out...
An interesting thing happened on Haiti and other French islands in the Caribbean during the French revolution...Guillotines were sent to those islands and the slaves were encouraged to revolt and use the machines to kill the white masters and any other people they didn’t like...the result was somewhat more gruesome and out-of-control than the homeland...
My great grandfather started out with the 2nd Ohio Cavalry. When his horse rolled on him, he switched to JAG and got the death penalty for the southern conspirators at Ft Douglas. I never read a word he wrote hating the confederates that he fought.
I do believe the majority who fought on both sides were good people who found something they believed to be honorable and put their lives on the line to support that thing. I don’t believe it was slavery. States rights was the likely common confederate ideal. And once the higher ups set a war in motion, you weren’t fighting for an ideal so much as to defend your home and your family and friends.
For the first few years, before explosives turned war into present day horror, there was a military chivalry that led to respect of the fighters on both sides. And if you read Chamberlain’s description of the surrender at Appomattox, you’ll get chills down your back for the soldiers’ honor the North awarded the South.
All of this history is lost if we continue to allow liberals to educate the young to lose the past and enthrone liberal crud as doctrine. WE have to write history and WE have to publish it. And WE have to build the social networks that allow the good and the bad of history to be discussed rationally, with some control over the type of censorship allowed.
My YouTube channel lets me censor comments on the mideast war news tapes I put up. I refuse those comments with obscenities or those that are against our troops without polite reasoning. But I’ll let people who can argue in a controlled fashion go at it together. If GOPe wants more civility, fine, let them train moderators to control discussions on social networks that WE control.
BLM is not about slavery. It’s about using any means to change the narrative of success to one of failure so that the political point of view of liberals can succeed. We need to blast apart censorship with the same fervor our ancestors brought to their own battlefields.
some of it is being rebuilt
not too far from there was a German POW camp in Van Etten
And a couple of thousand of early “parolees” from Andersonville and another POW camp, whose homeward destination was up the Mississippi, had the misfortune of embarking on the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultana_(steamboat).
............................................
I am somewhat of a student of history, but did not know about this incident, so thanks for sending this.
The lead story in the news cycle was Lincoln’s assassination, and the ensuing manhunt.
Anything else was a mere blip, even the largest maritime disaster in US history.
“Tell that to Sherman.”
I don’t anticipate meeting the gentleman.
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.