- Joined
- Nov 26, 2016
- Location
- central NC
Human Confederate Flag postcard based on an original photograph taken by Huestis Pratt Cook. Source
Recently one of our members self-identified as a "Lost Causer." I was a little surprised that someone in the 21st century would admit that, even on a Civil War forum, but of course I have always known there were a number of these folks among our membership. Most make it clear in their posts. Yet this outright admission really struck me. So now I'm wondering how many CWT folks self-identify as "Lost Causers." Do you? Why or why not?
According to the Encyclopedia Virginia, the Lost Cause interpretation of the Civil War typically includes the following six assertions:
1. Secession, not slavery, caused the Civil War.
2. African Americans were "faithful slaves," loyal to their masters and the Confederate cause and unprepared for the responsibilities of freedom.
3. The Confederacy was defeated militarily only because of the Union's overwhelming advantages in men and resources.
4. Confederate soldiers were heroic and saintly.
5. The most heroic and saintly of all Confederates, perhaps of all Americans, was Robert E. Lee.
6. Southern women were loyal to the Confederate cause and sanctified by the sacrifice of their loved ones.
EDIT: Would you participate in a human confederate flag today to show your loyalty to the cause? I absolutely would not. Maybe I should have made that the question to begin with. I think you have to agree with all six assertions from Encyclopedia Virginia to be called a "Lost Causer." If you can say yes to #1 and you think Robert E. Lee is a saint, you're a "Lost Causer" in my book.
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