The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History

[Adsos Letter]

The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History
by Gary W. Gallagher (Editor),‎ Alan T. Nolan (Editor)
October 18, 2010

Just now working my way through this. A book combining essays from various authors, each addressing a subset of the Lost Cause Myth. It has been very interesting reading, so far. Here is the publishers blurb:

Was the Confederacy doomed from the start in its struggle against the superior might of the Union? Did its forces fight heroically against all odds for the cause of states’ rights? In reality, these suggestions are an elaborate and intentional effort on the part of Southerners to rationalize the secession and the war itself. Unfortunately, skillful propagandists have been so successful in promoting this romanticized view that the Lost Cause has assumed a life of its own. Misrepresenting the war’s true origins and its actual course, the myth of the Lost Cause distorts our national memory. In The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History, nine historians describe and analyze the Lost Cause, identifying ways in which it falsifies history―creating a volume that makes a significant contribution to Civil War historiography.

https://www.amazon.com/Myth-Lost-Cause-Civil-History/dp/0253222664

[Sneederbunk]

1. Losers will do anything to make themselves feel better.

[Wolf Frankula]

2. Sir, Secession was about slavery.

How do we know this? The secessionists told us so. They took up arms and became traitors. How do we know this. The Constitution of the United States says. "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort." Secession is treason, and every loyal American must aid in putting it down.

Wolf

(channeling his great grandfather William, who risked his life to put down treason.)