It's about time that the country is dispelling the nostalgia for the Old South

[Kyblue1]

Growing up in Kentucky I certainly was exposed to the sentiment that the Confederate soldiers were fighting to protect their state’s sovereignty and way of life. There was little or no argument made that the brave men in gray were fighting to preserve slavery. Family lore told me that I had ancestors on both sides of the war, but I am certain there were no slave owners among them. The romantic myth of the “Noble Cause” was strong and enduring.

Many years ago I realized that the stain of slavery had to be recognized if this country was to pursue the lofty goals and principles of our Declaration of Independence. I was at a Honors banquet in college and had the good fortune to be seated next to a distinguished Federal judge. At the time in Lexington there was a,social organization known as the Civil War Roundtable. I asked the judge if he was a member. I will never forget his response. He said that he couldn’t take part in such a club because he considered the Civil War to be a dark period in our history and was not a subject of which we could be proud. He was a wise Southern gentleman and a true American.

[dawg day]

1. I grew up in NC, and it was only much later I realized that the 'Noble Cause'

was fought for mostly by poor men. And most of those waving the confederate flags when I was growing up there were not descended from plantation owners. That much never changes-- racism is always a tool for getting poorer whites to do the dirty work of rich whites.

[thucythucy]

5. A popular saying among southerners opposed to the draft

was that it was "a rich man's war and a poor man's fight."

Some areas of the confederacy actually rebelled against the rebellion--the entire western half of Virginia, the western portion of North Carolina, the eastern third of Tennessee. The south instituted a draft before the north because not enough men were volunteering. And a clause in the Confederate draft law exempted overseers at the largest slave plantations, which added to the resentment of poor whites forced to give up supporting their families and working their farms so that rich fucks could keep their slaves.

In fact, I think one major reason the south lost was because support for the war was far from unanimous. Of course there was also the rank incompetence of southern civilian and military leadership.

We really have to ask why anyone would want to celebrate this sort of "heritage." I suppose the myths are just so much more easily accepted than the reality.

[J_William_Ryan]

2. There is nothing

‘noble’ about a cause that sought to preserve slavery and facilitate war crimes and treason.

[Aristus]

3. Yeah, there's no getting around the fact that historical incidents have been twisted to suit

the 'Lost Cause' myth.

There's a scene in Gone With The Wind in which Scarlett meets some of Tara's former slaves at the train station after the Civil War. One of them says to her: "Miz Scarlett, you come to take us home?"

This has been pointed out by supporters of the 'happy slave' myth that the slaves just wanted to go home and work in the fields again, happily singing their work-songs.

That actually happened to an ancestor of mine, Fanny Hargrove, daughter of Bright W. Hargrove, who was among the men who signed the Articles of Secession for the state of Georgia. She met her old slave overseer, Isaac, at the Atlanta train station, and he asked her pretty much the same question.

The fact remains, however, that he didn't ask because he wanted a return to slavery. He just didn't have anywhere else to go. The antebellum South had outlawed the educating of black slaves, and in many other ways robbing them of agency. It's a terrible thing, to take from a human being their natural ability to fend for themselves, and build a life for themselves and their loved ones. To twist that into "They were happy being slaves" is an act of monstrosity.

[unblock]

4. The line i always got was they were fighting for "the southern way of life"

I always said, no, the south was fighting for slavery.

But I was wrong. "The southern way of life" went far beyond slavery to encompass an entire social structure, backed by government in practice if not in law, that sought to impose a rigid hierarchy with whites over blacks, men over women, etc.

The north won the military war and ended the particular institution of slavery, but the south fought on and won the ability to continue to oppress black people, just through other methods.

[thucythucy]

6. Here's a take on honoring "the southern way of life"

that I always find amusing: