Photo of slave wearing collar device from Ken Burns documentary

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Sounds about right...
True! I've wondered about that. A business client of Forrest's was surveying his railroad after the war and wanted to know who would rebuild Mississippi? Forrest replied the blacks would because they were the hardest workers - there were 50,000 white men who wouldn't work! He was talking about the planters and their sons. Sherman made pretty close to the same comment, saying the whole class of planters should be deported because they would cause trouble forever - they wouldn't work and were idle and useless!
 
True! I've wondered about that. A business client of Forrest's was surveying his railroad after the war and wanted to know who would rebuild Mississippi? Forrest replied the blacks would because they were the hardest workers - there were 50,000 white men who wouldn't work! He was talking about the planters and their sons. Sherman made pretty close to the same comment, saying the whole class of planters should be deported because they would cause trouble forever - they wouldn't work and were idle and useless!

There were only 350,000 white Mississippians at the start of the war. Of the half (175,000) that were male, some 80,000 served in the CS army. That was virtually all of the military aged population. As has been discussed endlessly here most of CS soldiers came from families who owned slaves. I would call that work, hard work.
 
Well, if the black man did all their hard labor, is it any wonder they fought their hearts out to keep their slaves chained to their plantations.

Mulejack
The really hard lifting was done by Irish immigrants. They were cheaper and easily replaceable. If you think 80,000 young Mississippians went to war just to keep their help then you haven't a clue.
 
A lot of the men either died or were simply sick or too debilitated from the war to jump right back into daily farm life right away. I know that out of my family, my second great-grandfather returned home after three years with a lasting injury and was sick the last few months of the war. His three uncles on his mother's side serving in the same regiment all died in the war. And out of the three uncles I've traced on his father's side from the same regiment - one came home with pneumonia and measles, and the other with a head injury that caused epileptic fits. Many others from that side of the family also died in the war, or were discharged towards the end due to disability. They weren't your "typical" plantation owners as most view them - these were hard-working people with large farms. The ones who were left standing afterwards however continued to work hard and the land remains in my family to this day (though broken up of course between the many descendents). It's clear from my family history that slave labor was not the only labor that caused their farms to succeed.
 
Oh I, don't know being a dumb Irishman meself I think 80,000 lazy white Mississippians would have done anything to keep their slaves in pepetual bondage. I find it refreshiing that Whites, not Blacks were lazy and shiftless.

Mulejack
 
That number was pulled out of his hat for illustration!

It's a fact that large numbers of the white male population were too crippled up to be hard workers, and another goodly number of them took a hike West. The South was hurting when the blacks also took a hike further North. That's why Forrest and others supported 'apprenticeship' programs for Africans and wanted to import Chinese.
 
Families throughout the world have relied on hard work without resorting to slavery. To do so, by the way while raising your own sons and daughters to do absolutley no manual labor or other menial tasks is unconscionable. There is no doubt in my mind that soldiers after years of warfare suffered physical exhaustion. As someone who learned his trade after 5 years apprentice training I can understand Forrest's reasoning.

Mulejack
 
We have a race of people often referred to as lazy and shiftless and Lord knows what else, yet they're the ones who did all the work on farms and pantations. I've also read where the sons and daughters of plantation owners performed absolutely no manual labor, nor did they cook, do laundry or kitchen work. Whatever did those people do after their slaves were freed.

Mulejack

They worked or starved....or used the sharecropper system to continue virtual slavery.
 
Oh I, don't know being a dumb Irishman meself(sic) I think 80,000 lazy white Mississippians would have done anything to keep their slaves in pepetual(sic) bondage. I find it refreshiing(sic) that Whites, not Blacks were lazy and shiftless.

Mulejack

Geez, who could've guessed?
 
Keep it under control Gentleman.....There is no need for name calling, keep the posts related to the photo or a start a new thread on this topic in a different part of the forum... Otherwise this thread is history..

My first official post as MOD in this forum Yay
 
We will always have a certain segement of the population who cast aspersions at anyone who disagree's with them. Until now I've found this forum to be without this personal rancor, but that's the way the mop flops. We have a photo here of a black man wearing a metal collar that I find repugnant. I understand it was quite normal among Mississippi slave owners to attach leg irons and collars to their field hands to prevent them from escaping.

Mulejack
 
We will always have a certain segement of the population who cast aspersions at anyone who disagree's with them. Until now I've found this forum to be without this personal rancor, but that's the way the mop flops. We have a photo here of a black man wearing a metal collar that I find repugnant. I understand it was quite normal among Mississippi slave owners to attach leg irons and collars to their field hands to prevent them from escaping.

Mulejack

This particular forum will remain clear of personal rancor, in here we can examine photos simply for the love of history, leave the bitter debates and geographical in-fighting for other threads...It has no place here and won't be allowed.... Mulejack not directed towards you in particular just hijacking your post :smile: This is the first thread out of the thousands of posts that this has popped up on, let it be the last....
 
Mulejack: Your apparent need to argue or comment on every single moderator action is wearing thin.
If you need to question or protest your innocence, or just want to make sure you're not understood, use a PM. We as Mods have plenty of inbox capacity and are happy to answer any questions or find answers to them.

If this is just a ploy to drag folks into an argument and show how macho you are, I have a thought. Don't know where you came from, don't care. Stay or leave. Politeness is required. Moderators have control. This forum is Wilber's baby and he gets to run it that way.

Sorry for butting in, Wilber. It is yours. I have the axe sharpened and available for use.

Posted in Capacity as Moderator
 
Congratulations Wilber!

Let me issue a warning to all: Make sure you have the safe search option on if doing a Google image search for "slave restraint devices".:eek:

dvrmte
 
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