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Americans Owe Confederate History Respect
Confederate States of America Page ^ | 6/10/2003 | CHRIS EDWARDS

Posted on 12/16/2004 6:48:26 AM PST by cougar_mccxxi

Americans Owe Confederate History Respect

By CHRIS EDWARDS

The Time Has Come To Take A Stand After attending the Confederate Memorial Day service on June 1 in Higginsville, I found myself believing our nation should be ashamed for not giving more respect and recognition to our ancestors.

I understand that some find the Confederate flag offensive because they feel it represents slavery and oppression. Well, here are the facts: The Confederate flag flew over the South from 1861 to 1865. That's a total of four years. The U.S. Constitution was ratified in April 1789, and that document protected and condoned the institution of slavery from 1789 to 1861. In other words, if we denigrate the Confederate flag for representing slavery for four years, shouldn't we also vilify the U.S. flag for representing slavery for 72 years? Unless we're hypocrites, it is clear that one flag is no less pure than the other.

A fascinating aspect of studying the Civil War is researching the issues that led to the confrontation. The more you read, the less black-and-white the issues become. President Abraham Lincoln said he would do anything to save the union, even if that meant preserving the institution of slavery. Lincoln's focus was obviously on the union, not slavery.

In another case, historians William McFeely and Gene Smith write that Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant threatened to "throw down his sword" if he thought he was fighting to end slavery.

Closer to home, in 1864, Col. William Switzler, one of the most respected Union men in Boone County, purchased a slave named Dick for $126. What makes this transaction interesting is not only the fact that Switzler was a Union man but that he bought the slave one year after the issuance of the Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Of course, history students know the proclamation did not include slaves living in the North or in border states such as Missouri.

So if this war was fought strictly over slavery, why were so many Unionists reluctant to act like that was the issue?

In reviewing the motives that led to the Civil War, one should read the letters soldiers wrote home to their loved ones. Historian John Perry, who studied the soldier's correspondence, says in his three years of research, he failed to find one letter that referred to slavery from Confederate or Union soldiers.

Perry says that Yankees tended to write about preserving the Union and Confederates wrote about protecting their rights from a too-powerful federal government. The numerous letters failed to specifically say soldiers were fighting either to destroy or protect the institution of slavery. Shelby Foote, in his three-volume Civil War history, recounts an incident in which a Union soldier asks a Confederate prisoner captured in Tennessee why he was fighting. The rebel responded, "Because you're down here."

History tends to overlook the South's efforts to resolve the issue of slavery. For example, in 1863, because of a shortage of manpower, Lincoln permitted the enlistment of black soldiers into the Union Army. Battlefield documents bear out the fact that these units were composed of some of the finest fighting men in the war. Unfortunately for these brave soldiers, the Union used them as cannon fodder, preferring to sacrifice black lives instead of whites.

These courageous black Union soldiers experienced a Pyrrhic victory for their right to engage in combat. However, history has little to say about the South's same effort in 1865. The Confederacy, its own troop strength depleted, offered slaves freedom if they volunteered for the army.

We know that between 75,000 and 100,000 blacks responded to this call, causing Frederick Douglass to bemoan the fact that blacks were joining the Confederacy. But the assimilation of black slaves into the Confederate army was short-lived as the war came to an end before the government's policy could be fully implemented.

It's tragic that Missouri does not do more to recognize the bravery of the men who fought in the Missouri Confederate brigades who fought valiantly in every battle they were engaged in. To many Confederate generals, the Missouri brigades were considered the best fighting units in the South.

The courage these boys from Missouri demonstrated at Port Gibson and Champion Hill, Miss., Franklin, Tenn., and Fort Blakely, Ala., represent just a few of the incredible sacrifices they withstood on the battlefield. Missouri should celebrate their struggles instead of damning them.

For the real story about the Missouri Confederate brigades, one should read Phil Gottschalk and Philip Tucker's excellent books about these units. The amount of blood spilled by these Missouri boys on the field of battle will make you cry.

Our Confederate ancestors deserve better from this nation. They fought for what they believed in and lost. Most important, we should remember that when they surrendered, they gave up the fight completely. Defeated Confederate soldiers did not resort to guerrilla warfare or form renegade bands that refused to surrender. These men simply laid down their arms, went home and lived peacefully under the U.S. flag. When these ex-Confederates died, they died Americans.

During the postwar period, ex-Confederates overwhelmingly supported the Democratic Party. This party, led in Missouri by Rep. Dick Gephardt and Gov. Bob Holden, has chosen to turn its back on its fallen sons.

The act of pulling down Confederate flags at two obscure Confederate cemeteries for the sake of promoting Gephardt's hopeless quest for the presidency was a cowardly decision. I pray these men will rethink their decision.

The reality is, when it comes to slavery, the Confederate and United States flags drip with an equal amount of blood.

Chris Edwards is a local musician and MU graduate student of history. He is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and of the board of Missouri's Civil War Heritage Foundation.


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: americans; blahblahblah; condeferateneos; confederacy; confederate; confedobsessors; csa; dixie; dixiecranks; dixietrash; dixiewankers; flagobsessors; graylosers; graylost; greyisgay; hate; hicks; history; kkk; neoconfederate; owe; rebelnutballs; redneck; rednecks; respect; respectmyass; respectthispal; segrigation; southmoronics; weoweuanotherwhuppin; youlostgetoverit
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To: WildHorseCrash

John Brown was a psychopathic idiot but the PC side of this argument you've aligned with treats him as a prophet.

I'm glad Brooks caned Sumner. Wish he coulda caned all the RRs of the day.


I'm Southern and make no excuses to any of ya'll whose water we have to carry to keep this nation from falling into the abyss.

Respectfully.


141 posted on 12/17/2004 9:29:39 PM PST by wardaddy (Quisiera ser un pez para tocar mi nariz en tu pecera)
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To: stand watie

yes I knew that but the public school PC koolaid drinkers here who think race trumps any evil ever known to man would never know such nuance.


142 posted on 12/17/2004 9:30:56 PM PST by wardaddy (Quisiera ser un pez para tocar mi nariz en tu pecera)
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To: Bluegrass Conservative
my point is that the "damnyankee cause" was a FARCE, a POSE, a MYTH & a LIE.

that the bluebellies were FILTH and that we southrons deserved to be FREE & left alone to live in a FREE dixie republic.

"war is hell" is a WEAK, self-serving excuse for WAR CRIMES & CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY. nothing more,nothing less. (that excuse at Nurenburg got a LOT of WAR CRIMINALS "a short rope & a long drop".)

free dixie,sw

143 posted on 12/17/2004 9:34:38 PM PST by stand watie ( being a damnyankee is no better than being a racist. it is a LEARNED prejudice against dixie.)
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To: stand watie

Your apology is graciously accepted. Who is N-S? I'm new here and don't know all the nicknames and anacronyms.


144 posted on 12/17/2004 9:34:40 PM PST by ariamne (reformed liberal and Shieldmaiden of the Infidels)
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To: ariamne
Non-Sequitur = N-S.

N-S is the Damnyankee Minister of Propaganda.

N-S is the ONLY unionist on FR,who has BOTH a BRAIN & an EDUCATION.

free dixie,sw

145 posted on 12/17/2004 9:42:55 PM PST by stand watie ( being a damnyankee is no better than being a racist. it is a LEARNED prejudice against dixie.)
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To: cougar_mccxxi

That was a different time, things were as they were. History has been and will continue to be rewritten to suit the victors. The victors will think as they like about the "reasons" and their claims to total "heroism" in every instance. Let them think as they like. I have to assume that the will of God was done for some reason, though quite possibly not for the reason which the victors declare it to be. They'll think as they like. I'll think as I like. I do not speak nor understand certain disrespectful language.

That time is past. I will respect what I wish, and I will not respect what I don't, and give others the quarter to do the same. God will sort it out and at some juncture in the distant mists, He will declare the truths of each man's actions, whether they were noble or whether they were a lie, or somewhere in between.


146 posted on 12/17/2004 9:45:42 PM PST by Twinkie
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To: stand watie

Thank you for the quick lesson. I bid you good night.


147 posted on 12/17/2004 9:47:27 PM PST by ariamne (reformed liberal and Shieldmaiden of the Infidels)
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To: ariamne
btw, WELCOME to the WBTS threads!

i didn't realize you were that new.

fwiw, buy you some FLAMEPROOF undies, before you spend too long over on the WBTS threads. you are swimming with sharks. beware!

free dixie,sw

148 posted on 12/17/2004 9:49:31 PM PST by stand watie ( being a damnyankee is no better than being a racist. it is a LEARNED prejudice against dixie.)
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To: ariamne
good night. sleep well!

incidently, come over to the Freeper canteen & the Freeper FOXHOLE & say, "HI". you'll be welcomed by the gang.

free dixie,sw

149 posted on 12/17/2004 9:52:04 PM PST by stand watie ( being a damnyankee is no better than being a racist. it is a LEARNED prejudice against dixie.)
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To: stand watie
as usual, you are 100% wrong. GITMO is under long-term lease & has been for over 100 years. the Cubans cash the lease checks every year (it's a source of much needed dollars for them).

Don't you check anything before embarassing yourself? Gitmo is under a perpetual lease, which can be cancelled only with the agreement of both sides. And contrary to your claim that Castro cashes the checks as a source for much needed dollars, depending on who you believe Castro has either cashed none of the checks or else he cashed only the first check. The annual lease of about $4000 probably wouldn't cover his cigar bill much less provide 'badly needed dollars'. Castro wants Guantanamo Bay out. He views it as Cuban territory which the U.S. does not belong on. By those lights I suppose you would support him if he shelled the base into submission. Right?

150 posted on 12/18/2004 4:10:05 AM PST by Non-Sequitur (Jefferson Davis - the first 'selected, not elected' president.)
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To: stand watie
if lincoln, the TYRANT, had been INTELLIGENT, he would have wished the new nation well & traded with the CSA.

if davis, the TYRANT, hadn't been such an IDIOT, he wouldn't have started the WAR by SHELLING sumter.

151 posted on 12/18/2004 4:11:35 AM PST by Non-Sequitur (Jefferson Davis - the first 'selected, not elected' president.)
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To: ariamne
Who is N-S?

That would be me.

152 posted on 12/18/2004 4:14:13 AM PST by Non-Sequitur (Jefferson Davis - the first 'selected, not elected' president.)
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To: honest2God
And can you please tell me what forms are ok?

Can I want my children to marry other Jews? Is that okay with you? (It's, oooooh, "racism.")

Can I generalize and say that blacks are better basketball players? You know, "White men can't jump," and stuff like that.(It's, oooooh, "racism.")

Can I observe that Asian kids, even ones fresh off the boat, seem to outperform the general population, in academic achievement?.(It's, oooooh, "racism.")

ML/NJ

153 posted on 12/18/2004 4:27:25 AM PST by ml/nj
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To: honest2God
If you have an argument against what I say on the Civil Rights movement in Civil War, Reconstruction & Creating Hate In America Today, make it. The facts cited as to the origins of the movement may be verified. That it embraces a different concept of the role of Government, from what was embraced by the Founding Fathers, is obvious, if you but analyze what was being advocated.

I did not suggest that the concept that all men were created equal was refuse. What was refuse is the smear of the Southern hierarchy. Why don't you read the Declaration of Independence through as an entity, and understand what Jefferson, Adams and Franklin were acually saying. It hardly supports your argument. They certainly were not attacking the landed gentry in the American South. (See Declaration Of Independence.)

William Flax

154 posted on 12/18/2004 7:32:01 AM PST by Ohioan
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To: Marauder

Ditto's


155 posted on 12/18/2004 8:32:43 AM PST by cougar_mccxxi
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To: Don Simmons

Right on my friend :)


156 posted on 12/18/2004 8:39:07 AM PST by cougar_mccxxi
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To: Non-Sequitur
then i'd guess that you believe the base CDR @GITMO lied about the lease the payments, huh???

free dixie,sw

157 posted on 12/18/2004 9:26:21 AM PST by stand watie ( being a damnyankee is no better than being a racist. it is a LEARNED prejudice against dixie.)
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To: ariamne
btw, anything i EVER said in my whole life is wrong according to N-S, the Damnyankee Minister of Propaganda.

it is the NATURE of a PROPAGANDIST to LIE, as it is the NATURE of a SERPANT to slither.

free dixie,sw

158 posted on 12/18/2004 9:30:58 AM PST by stand watie ( being a damnyankee is no better than being a racist. it is a LEARNED prejudice against dixie.)
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To: Non-Sequitur
btw, i'm pleased to share the following private message with you:

"stand, continue to post the truth, despite what Non-Sequitur says. Everybody, except the dumbest & most ignorant of the Unionist clique on FreeRepublic.com,knows what he posts are nothing but spin, exxagerations, nonsense & falsehoods."

he/she GETS IT!

free dixie,sw

159 posted on 12/18/2004 9:43:49 AM PST by stand watie ( being a damnyankee is no better than being a racist. it is a LEARNED prejudice against dixie.)
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To: stand watie

Thank you for your gracious welcome. I will come to Foxhole and Canteen and say hi!. And thank you for the advice about the flameproof undies. I'm afraid I've already had my lace singed a bit in my short tenure here--I've always been outspoken and its hard to just sit back and lurk while my betters (those here for a long time) have at it. Be well.


160 posted on 12/18/2004 10:27:14 AM PST by ariamne (reformed liberal and Shieldmaiden of the Infidels)
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