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The 150-Year War

daftandbarmy

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The 150-Year War

I was born in a different era, the late 1950s, when the last Union drummer boy had only just died and plastic blue-and-gray soldiers were popular toys. In the 1960s, the Civil War centennial recalled great battles as protesters marched for civil rights and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. declared from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, “One hundred years later, the Negro still is not free.”

Today the Civil War echoes at a different register, usually in fights over remembrance. Though Southern leaders in the 1860s called slavery the cornerstone of their cause, some of their successors are intent on scrubbing that legacy from memory. Earlier this year in Virginia, Gov. Robert F. McDonnell proclaimed April to be Confederate History Month without mentioning slavery, while the state’s Department of Education issued a textbook peddling the fiction that thousands of blacks had fought for the South. Skirmishes erupt at regular intervals over flags and other emblems, like “Colonel Reb,” whom Ole Miss recently surrendered as its mascot. The 1860s also have a particular resonance at election time, as the country splits along political and cultural lines that still separate white Southern voters from balloters in blue Union states.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/opinion/31Horwitz.html?pagewanted=1&ref=general&src=me
 
There are still strong feelings.

"Dear President Obama: Please Don't Honor the Arlington Confederate Monument:
The Arlington Confederate Monument is a denial of the wrong committed against African Americans by slave owners, Confederates, and neo-Confederates, through the monument’s denial of slavery as the cause of secession and its holding up of Confederates as heroes. This implies that the humanity of Africans and African Americans is of no significance.
Today, the monument gives encouragement to the modern neo-Confederate movement and provides a rallying point for them. The modern neo-Confederate movement interprets it as vindicating the Confederacy and the principles and ideas of the Confederacy and their neo-Confederate ideas. The presidential wreath enhances the prestige of these neo-Confederate events.":
http://hnn.us/articles/85884.html

The Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery:
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/csa-mem.htm

"Not for fame or reward, Not for place or for rank, Not lured by ambition, Or goaded by necessity, But in simple Obedience to Duty; As they understood it, These men suffered all, Sacrificed all, Dared all--and died."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1d0c0UHAL0&feature=related

"The article "Look Away, Dixieland" TIME [January 27, 2003] stated that President George W. Bush "quietly reinstated" a tradition of having the White House deliver a floral wreath to the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery — a practice "that his father had halted in 1990." The story is wrong.":
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/csa-mem-bush.htm

"Arlington Confederate Monument Report:  A blog to report on the campaign to get Presidents of the United States to not send a wreath to the Arlington Confederate monument.":
http://arlingtonconfederatemonument.blogspot.com/2010/10/question-8-as-president-would-you-send.html

The Civil War accounted for roughly as many American deaths as all American deaths in other U.S. wars combined.



 
Very interesting topic,should generate a good discusion.

Our history of this war has come down to us mainly from the winners,as is usually the case,.The Abolitionist propaganda

has been accepted as fact and forms the basis of  this history.The South, IMHO ,was forced into war  by interference in

its Constitutional rights to govern its own affairs,slavery was just one of the issues involved.Who were the Abolitionists?,

the usual suspects,intellectuals,politicos and fanatics, some of course with admirable humanitarian opinions.These

however were the minority,the majority were businessman,they felt the South had, through slavery, an unfair advantage

in trade,as usual economic interests played a large part on the road to war.

Lincoln was not an Abolitionist ,he did not run on the Abolitionist ticket in the election that led to his Presidency, he was

however an intelligent man who saw the two main advantages of jumping on the Abolitionist bandwagon,first this very

emotional issue would gain him the support of states such as Maine,Michigan Minnesota ,states that due to their

distance from the South would see little point in going to war with ,and without the slavery ,would probably have been

in sympathy with their resistance to Federal interference.Secondly announcing the abolition of slavery as his main war

aim he would deny the British  grounds to interfere on the Southern side.

Would the British have assisted the South?,I think they would have.Britain had strong trade ties with the South,the

textile industry ,a huge moneymaker,was run on Southern cotton and the Southern way of life was much admired

by the British.Militarily it would have been very easy for the Brits. to help the South,20,000 Redcoats on the

northern border banging the drum and rattling the saber could not have been ignored by Lincoln and would have

seriously weakened the Union army waging war against the South,also the Royal Navy would have very quickly

been able to break the US Navies blockade of the South.

The British would have loved to teach the upstart United States a lesson particularly with so little risk,however there

was a giant fly in the ointment,the British had recently passed a bill banning slavery and were committed to enforce

this ban worldwide.It was politically impossible for them to support a slave owning state so openly.

President Lincoln recognised this and tacked the Abolitionist fag to his flagpole.

                                                                                Regards
 
time expired said:
President Lincoln recognised this and tacked the Abolitionist fag to his flagpole.
Damn those Abolitionist fags    ;D
 
I was on course in Norfolk around June 03.  I had some free time and a rental car which allowed me to explore some of the Civil War sites of interest such as the Confederate White House, the Museum of the Confederacy and the Tredegar Iron Works to name a few.  While they were interesting to see and visit, I was struck by the feeling that some people were still somewhat bitter and the war might have just ended recently.  I do wonder what kind of a lasting impact a Southern win that could have been maintained would have had on the world stage.
 
jollyjacktar said:
While they were interesting to see and visit, I was struck by the feeling that some people were still somewhat bitter and the war might have just ended recently.

It was total war:
"Until we can repopulate Georgia, it is useless to occupy it, but the utter destruction of it's roads, houses, and people will cripple their military resources….I can make the march, and make Georgia howl."
Gen. W.T. Sherman

Joan Baez - "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATYf0EBpjPU&feature=fvsr

"In the winter of '65, we were hungry. Just barely alive."
 
When the USA abolished slavery through the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, it only did so for the CSA - which, of course, it could not yet impose it's will on.  Odd, don't you think?  You pass a law which affects only your enemy's homeland - a law you cannot enforce, unless you capture it?
 
I live in Raleigh NC where in front of the State House there is a 150 foot monument to NC's "confederate dead".  Depending on who you talk to is was either about slavery or state's rights.

I tend to put it down to a broader purpose after living here for awhile......The North made a ton of money and wanted control of the cotton trade.  The abolition of slavery, as stated in this thread,  was a nice little addition for Lincoln to put on this flag to get the abolitionists all wound up so he could get re-elected.  The northern cotton manufacturers did NOT want cotton to go up in price and slavery kept the employment costs really low.  Thus a cheaper product.

As Stonewall Jackson said,  Slavery will burn itself out on it's own.  The direct cause for his statement is that Britain had already abolished it making it really difficult to transport them from Africa,  the Caribbean, and New Guinea.  The outcry within the country would have fizzled it out internally.

Just my thoughts.......
 
An excellent site for reference material and research can be found here: The Civil War
or google sonofthesouth.
Lots of actual photos and news articles regarding this historic struggle.
:salute:
 
It would seem that Harriet Beecher Stowe started the war: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tom's_Cabin
 
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