Tomasz
Private
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2016
- Location
- Zagreb, Croatia
Hello everyone.
I have searched for similar thread here, but I haven't found any, so I've decided to start a new one. It seems to me that when people in general think about the United States during the American civil war, they naturally focus on African Americans and the whites, kind of forgetting about the third race in the continent - the natives.
As I am not American myself and I live in Europe, I don't have an access to much literature nor other materials regarding the civil war, English is not my native language, so my knowledge in this area is quite limited and flawed. Thus, it was a surprise to me when I found out that so called Five Civilized Tribes supported the Confederacy. Soon it became quite clear and logical: after all, the Southerners rebelled against the government which for years had been fighting the Indians, taking their land and making them flee. To both Confederates and the natives it was most probably tactial alliance, of course. On the other hand, some Indians supported Union, Opothleyahola among them. Still, it made me think about the matter a bit more this year.
So, one would start wondering were the Union "the good guys" after all. Of course, history is written by the winners and they always portray themselves as the good guys, but no one would argue that freeing the slaves - even if it was a side effect of the war - wasn't a morally good thing. On the other hand, is keeping some people enslaved really worse than slaughtering the others? It seems like the abolitionists and their supporters longed for freedom for the former and did not care about the freedom, nor even life, of the latter. Weren't they all human beings, however?
The civil war surely brought freedom to African Americans, but it changed nothing or little to the natives. Within a few decades after 1865 they were completely defeated and as a result they nearly went extinct. If the Confederacy survived, is it possible that at least part of the Indians who perished would survive?
What's more, while the Union volounteers and regulars fought for liberty of the blacks, at the very same moment local militia massacred the Indians. Phil Sheridan's most famous quote (even though I am not sure did he really say it, and most people who know it have no idea who said it nor whom he was) is "the only good Indian is a dead Indian" or "the only good Indians I saw were dead"; sounds like the Union hero was a horrible racist, doesn't it?
That's the picture that one may get. Depressing picture, lots of bad impression. I would like to know, are there any examples of statements of abolitionists that would show their attitude towards the native Americans? Or could anyone tell me what was the policy of the Lincoln's administration regarding the Indians?
I will be grateful for help in that matter.
I have searched for similar thread here, but I haven't found any, so I've decided to start a new one. It seems to me that when people in general think about the United States during the American civil war, they naturally focus on African Americans and the whites, kind of forgetting about the third race in the continent - the natives.
As I am not American myself and I live in Europe, I don't have an access to much literature nor other materials regarding the civil war, English is not my native language, so my knowledge in this area is quite limited and flawed. Thus, it was a surprise to me when I found out that so called Five Civilized Tribes supported the Confederacy. Soon it became quite clear and logical: after all, the Southerners rebelled against the government which for years had been fighting the Indians, taking their land and making them flee. To both Confederates and the natives it was most probably tactial alliance, of course. On the other hand, some Indians supported Union, Opothleyahola among them. Still, it made me think about the matter a bit more this year.
So, one would start wondering were the Union "the good guys" after all. Of course, history is written by the winners and they always portray themselves as the good guys, but no one would argue that freeing the slaves - even if it was a side effect of the war - wasn't a morally good thing. On the other hand, is keeping some people enslaved really worse than slaughtering the others? It seems like the abolitionists and their supporters longed for freedom for the former and did not care about the freedom, nor even life, of the latter. Weren't they all human beings, however?
The civil war surely brought freedom to African Americans, but it changed nothing or little to the natives. Within a few decades after 1865 they were completely defeated and as a result they nearly went extinct. If the Confederacy survived, is it possible that at least part of the Indians who perished would survive?
What's more, while the Union volounteers and regulars fought for liberty of the blacks, at the very same moment local militia massacred the Indians. Phil Sheridan's most famous quote (even though I am not sure did he really say it, and most people who know it have no idea who said it nor whom he was) is "the only good Indian is a dead Indian" or "the only good Indians I saw were dead"; sounds like the Union hero was a horrible racist, doesn't it?
That's the picture that one may get. Depressing picture, lots of bad impression. I would like to know, are there any examples of statements of abolitionists that would show their attitude towards the native Americans? Or could anyone tell me what was the policy of the Lincoln's administration regarding the Indians?
I will be grateful for help in that matter.
Forum Host
Bringing the