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I've thought about collecting every possible statement by Civil War soldiers, while they were fighting, stating why they were fighting. If we would all comb our resources (published books, diaries, letters home, etc.) and post those statements here, we'd be able to begin to answer the question of why they fought. For example, if a guy wrote home and said, "I'm fighting to preserve the union" or "I'm laying my life on the line to defend Virginia" we could begin to compile these. We wouldn't be resolving the question by counting the number of moderns who have one opinion or another. I'll participate and see what I can find if others would like to do the same. www.timothynichols.com
First of all Ole,
The match was lit long before Charleston, it's just that there was a long fuse, and it took a while for the flame to reach the powder. I suppose you can put the so called 'political power plays' on either side, to anything or anyone, you want, but be that as it may, that portion of history remains a very volitile, and sensitive, portion of our lives. In the midwest, northwest, and far west, the war has almost no meaning, except as you said, that it happened. Here, meaning the North and especially the South, it is something that is very difficult to explain, you must live with it, to even begin to understand it.
It has to do with feelings, I suppose, more than anything else, a feeling inside one's self. Where with you, it means anything from nothing, to almost nothing. You can look upon it with the eyes and mind of someone on the outside, and it may prove most difficult to imagine just how someone could have the feelings about something that happened over 140 years ago. Well, what I do know, is, that it has been passed down through time and generations, and is still very much in the minds of many Southerners to this day.
Now, as whether sincere attempts are made to avoid looking at the years leading up to the conflict and beyond, with modern eyes? I wonder. To many then, the institution (of slavery), was not necessarily wrong. It was not only a fact of life, but a way of life, as well. I will repeat what I have said a few times before: We cannot judge past events solely by the standards of today. In order to understand history, we must consider the attitudes and beliefs of the time.
That still goes. However, I still believe that there are too many people today, that tend to judge those events and those who participated in those events, with the moral judgements of modern thinking. To those who grow up in the North, the war means that it was fought over slavery, and nothing else, and that it was fought, they won, and that's that. To those of us who grow, or grew up, in the South, there was much more to it than slavery. We still cling to those teachings that were taught to us through family, schools, etc. We don't believe the South was ALL right, but neither do we believe that it was ALL wrong. They fought for what they believed in, and no northerner is going to tell me that it was certainly all wrong.
Say what you will, but as far as I am concerned, I've tried to look at the whole thing objectively, and some of my views have changed over the years, with what I've learned, but I know my ancestors, and they were not cruel, vicious, mean, hateful, money grubbing slave holders. They were honest, hard working farmers, woodcrafters and merchant men. Some of them took up arms to defend what they percieved as a threat to their homes and livelihood. There were other reasons, but it was probably important only to them.
Anyway Ole, it is something that, unless you grow up down South, it is difficult to truly understand, I sometimes wonder if I do.
By the same token, unless you grow up in the North, it is difficult to truly understand. I have made the attempt to look through southern eyes, and you obviously believe it is impossible for me to see clearly. I have made and still make the effort.
Ole,
I believe now, as they did then, that the reasons for that horrible conflict, remain firmly entwined in the beliefs of the day. We believe they (The South), went to war for reasons that they thought were right. I imagine you must think the same about the North. Those same reasons hold today, so after 140 years, how much closer to a solution are we now, as oppossed to then, are we? Do we still look at it as a "Me right, you wrong", thing? I'll bet we do. Will we ever......come to a mutual understanding? Yep, if only to continue to disagree.
My place of birth was in a remote mountainous area of western North Carolina, just a few miles from the Virginia and Tennessee state lines. Six of my ancestors fought in this conflict. All lived within a 75 mile diameter circle including farmers, cabinet maker, and baker, none of them wealthy and most with families prior to the war. The cabinet maker became a 1st Lt 13th TN US Cavalry. He lived in Taylorsville (Mt. City) in upper east Tennessee which had much Union sentiment. A farmer from Wilkes County, North Carolina in the Yadkin River valley became a farrier with the 10th TN US Cavalry. His brother were all Confederates as were his neighbors. He had five children when the war began. I suspect he had problems with the home guard because of his beliefs and probably a desire to stay home as long as possible to protect his young family. A steady job and paycheck may have been a factor. Family tradition and records indicate he was very proud of his membership in the Grand Army of the Republic. He came home after the war and shared a farm with one of his Confederate brothers. The baker was a private in battle many times with the 48th VA in the Army of Northern Virginia including Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. He joined the 3rd North Carolina under Stoneman in the same company as his brother in April 1864 and received an honorable discharge from the US Army at war's end. He was 31 years old when the war started and had a young family. Another Confederate farmer was captured early in the war and spent the remainder at Point Lookout Maryland prison. A carpenter from Abingdon, Virginia served from the beginning of the Atlanta campaign until war's end with the Army of Tennessee. He suffered a severe wound in Atlanta trying to defend a city he probably had never heard of previously. Another farmer spent three months in Virginia and separted himself from the action. He had a family at home and had seen enough. These men for the most part weren't really hung up on north and south issues, aside from an occasional bullet or exploding shell that drew their attention. My focus attempts to look at this from both sides. I see no clear answers, mostly just tragedy and growing pains for a young nation.
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