Like I stated above, slavery was more of an issue for the elite Confederate leadership (not the rank and file soldier).
To TheGallantPelham17, welcome to the trenches! Remember to keep your head down, and before firing, be sure and yell, "DOWN YANK!"
Now, to the matter at hand, "DOWN REB!" I am forced to conclude, because of the recent books and research I myself have done, that slavery for the 'rank and file' Southern soldier WAS a big issue and a concern for him.
Marse Lee did free all of his slaves prior to the War.
You might want to do a bit more research here. Robert E. Lee still had control of, and worked slaves, DURING the Civil War.
The Union was not fighting to end slavery, but to save the country from breaking apart.
Yes, that was the reason the North went to war with the South, to preserve the Union. But the South left the Union over the issue of slavery. PERIOD.
IMO.
Unionblue
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
On this one, I vote 'phooey'. It wasn't as simple as period. The pump was primed by a few other details.
Larry,
I'll raise your 'phooey' and see you with a 'nayh.'
It was that simple.
Nobody was willing to kill their fellow Americans over the tariff. No one was deprived of representation in their local or national government. No large, oppressive federal government was in existence. And the richest people in the US lived SOUTH of the Mason-Dixon line.
The only thing that got the ball rolling, the one subject that people could not compromise on, was the issue of slavery.
Call.
Unionblue
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
yes i agree. slavary was never mentioned in the begining of the war. Congress and Lincoln wanted to preserve the Union. slavary ain't a reason.
The North never went to war because of slavery; they went to war because they had been attacked by the Confederacy. But your statement ignores the clearly stated reason the Confederacy was created: slavery.
Tim
__________________ "Let us, then, consider all attempts to weaken this Union, by maintaining that each state is separately and individually independent, as a species of political heresy, which can never benefit us, but may bring on us the most serious distresses."
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina, 1740-1824, Revolutionary War soldier, one of the authors of the US Constitution in 1787, speaking at the South Carolina Ratifying Convention in 1788.
It is an oversimplification to say that Confederate soldier fought because there was a war. And that there was a war because the slavocratic leaders had a burning need separate for fear that the institution was in danger.
But that, in a nutshell, is where it is.
We can discuss individual circumstances of each Confederate soldier and make a good case that he wasn't fighting for slavery. In effect, he was. No slavery, no war.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
It is an oversimplification to say that Confederate soldier fought because there was a war. And that there was a war because the slavocratic leaders had a burning need separate for fear that the institution was in danger.
But that, in a nutshell, is where it is.
We can discuss individual circumstances of each Confederate soldier and make a good case that he wasn't fighting for slavery. In effect, he was. No slavery, no war.
ole
ole:
I would amend this slightly. He was not necessarily fighting for slavery. He was fighting as a result of slavery. I imagine many who were conscripted into the Confederate ranks, especially from parts of, say, North Carolina, were not too interested in fighting for slavery.
Yes, the net effect of their service would, if successful, be the continuation of slavery, so in that sense they were fighting for slavery. But if asked, they would say they were not fighting for slavery.
Okay. Now I made my own head hurt.
Now I need a nap.
__________________ "There must be more historians of the Civil War than there were generals figthing in it... Of the two groups, the historians are the more belligerent." David Donald, Lincoln Reconsidered (1961)
Yes, that was the reason the North went to war with the South, to preserve the Union. But the South left the Union over the issue of slavery. PERIOD.
IMO.
Unionblue
Union,
Maybe I should amend my response to say that Lee freed some of his slaves prior to the War. I've read and heard all of my life that this was the case. Heck, Grant freed one of his slaves prior to the War, but he had the services of some of his father-in-law's slaves during the War as well. It was all a big mess to say the least.
__________________ Ancestors: Cpt. Isaac H. Vincent, CSA - 47th Alabama Infantry, Company I; Sgt. James B. Stamp, CSA - 3rd Alabama Infantry, Company I; Pvt. William Spivey, CSA - 1st Alabama Infantry, Company G, Perote Guards; Rear Admr. Raphael Semmes, CSA Navy, CSS ALABAMA
Sons of Confederate Veterans - Pvt. Augustus Braddy Camp
"It is really extraordinary to find such nerve and genius in a mere boy. With a Pelham on each flank I believe I could whip the world." Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson
Maybe I should amend my response to say that Lee freed some of his slaves prior to the War. I've read and heard all of my life that this was the case. Heck, Grant freed one of his slaves prior to the War, but he had the services of some of his father-in-law's slaves during the War as well. It was all a big mess to say the least.
To TheGallantPelham17,
I only consider that "it was all a big mess" only if one does not fully dig for the facts of the matter.
Lee owned slaves and did not oppose slavery.
Grant had the services of one slave which he freed, when he could have sold him for a considerable sum.
The facts are there if we wish to find them.
A pleasure talking to you,
Unionblue
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
Grant had the services of one slave which he freed, when he could have sold him for a considerable sum.
To be fair, Julia had the services of two and three "servants" (probably belonging to her father). They were no longer mentioned somewhere around the winter of '63-64.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
To be fair, Julia had the services of two and three "servants" (probably belonging to her father). They were no longer mentioned somewhere around the winter of '63-64.
ole
ole,
No problem with "fair" old friend.
My problem is "the quick and the dead."
How quick some seem to judge the dead without doing any real research.
Sincerely,
Unionblue
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
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