"The South still lies about the Civil War", Does the North lie?

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“In the future they will rewrite our history to match their agenda, they will label us racists and traitors fighting to keep people enslaved; they will make heroes out of the people that burned our homes, destroyed our towns, terrorized our women and trampled the Constitution. They will ignore the fact that we were defending our way of life, the rights of our States to govern themselves and our homes against invaders. They'll ban our flag and pull down our monuments. I hope our children will remember us, preserve our history and teach their children the worthiness of our cause.” - Unknown Confederate Veteran from the early 20th Century...

I found the above quote buried deep inside one of the volumes of the Old Confederate Veteran, it was written by an unknown Confederate Veteran speaking on behalf of a fallen Confederate Soldier with whom he had served during the War. I am not sure which volume it was in, it was some time in the teens if I remember correctly. The quote really stood out to me immediately after I read it so I copied and pasted it to one of my word docs. It speaks to the state of affairs today regarding the demand to remove Confederate Monuments from many places in our nation and to destroy all things Confederate from that era.

Need some help if anyone can. I have seen this quote before but this is the first time I have seen someone give a source. I am unable to find it searching the Confederate Veteran series thru the Library of Virgina search engine and wondered if anyone knew the specific source. I would like to read the entire speech/letter/article it was taken from for a potential future story in Soldier's Tales.

The thing that drew my curiosity was the use of the word 'racist' in the quote that was sourced from the Confederate Veteran. That word did not come into common use until the 20th century. It was odd to see a person who was of military age in the mid-19th century to use it. But anything is possible...

- Alan
 
In the vernacular of the 19th century, southern meant slave state and northern meant free state. These were euphemisms similar to the way pro-life and pro-choice are used today. The Mason-Dixon Line was said to separate north from south (PA from MD) for this reason. Some southern states did not secede, but this didn’t make them northern, it made them Union.

DE had, in the 1790’s, had taken some of the same steps to eliminate slavery as it’s neighbors in PA and NJ, tightly restricting the slave trade. By 1860 there were only a few thousand slaves left in DE, making it not quite northern .
I know plenty of folks refer to, "North" vs. "South", as Yankee, & Confederate. Union vs. CSA. etc..
 
This is a perfect example of the modern version of the northern narrative. Lump every last southern man who fought for the CS into one group and condemn them all. It's not nuanced, it's not factual, it's simply judgmental.
Is there really a "northern narrative"? There is no single "southern narrative", so why should there be a "northern narrative"?
We know there were 'northerners' who favored letting the seceding states go. We know there were 'southerners' who were loyal to the Union.
Some may find it emotionally satisfying to strip away individuality, but one simply cannot "Lump every last southern" or northern- "man... into one group and condemn them all." Doing that only obscures the facts and divides us.
 
Is there really a "northern narrative"? There is no single "southern narrative", so why should there be a "northern narrative"?
We know there were 'northerners' who favored letting the seceding states go. We know there were 'southerners' who were loyal to the Union.
Some may find it emotionally satisfying to strip away individuality, but one simply cannot "Lump every last southern" or northern- "man... into one group and condemn them all." Doing that only obscures the facts and divides us.
I'ma about sick of division. In my humble opinion and just a thought I had, articles like the one posted, while an interesting read for a bout a skinny minute, are mostly just like my hot flashes. They hang around too darn long and make me and everybody around me irritable.
 
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Is there really a "northern narrative"? There is no single "southern narrative", so why should there be a "northern narrative"?
We know there were 'northerners' who favored letting the seceding states go. We know there were 'southerners' who were loyal to the Union.
Some may find it emotionally satisfying to strip away individuality, but one simply cannot "Lump every last southern" or northern- "man... into one group and condemn them all." Doing that only obscures the facts and divides us.
I refer to it as, "Yankee Narrative" vs. Northern, & I prefer to call it, Southern Perspective vs any other label :cool:
 
Was he a villain?
No. But it should not be surprising that some view those who sent him off to fight for an unjust cause critically.
"I wonder if God will forgive those who start wars.... I hope not." --- William D. Ellis, Vietnam War Veteran.
 
Slavery was not ended in the north until the last slave was free, and it sure wasn't decades. Given, it wasn't many after 1850. Kind of like the hunt for black Confederates, not that many, hard to find, yet there are some.

By 1804 legal slavery had ended in all Northern states. And yes, some of those states had gradual emancipation riders that held back some as slaves into the 1850s. If that's yet another attempt to equate Northern slavery with Southern slavery it still doesn't fly. In those decades since 1804 it was some Northern people held back as slaves knowing they were to be freed vs thousands of Southern people held in slavery knowing they were not to be freed.

It's clear that Southern slavery was worse overall (particularly deep South) and for decades longer than Northern slavery. Nobody's accusing modern white Southerners for that, why invent that? Pointless.
 
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By 1804 legal slavery had ended in all Northern states. And yes, some of those states had gradual emancipation riders that held back some as slaves into the 1850s. If that's yet another attempt to equate Northern slavery with Southern slavery it still doesn't fly. In those decades since 1804 it was a few Northern people held as slaves knowing they were to be freed vs thousands of Southern people held in slavery knowing they were not to be freed.

It's clear that Southern slavery was worse overall (particularly deep South) and for decades longer than Northern slavery. Nobody's accusing modern white Southerners for that, why invent that? Pointless.
I think it is more about the overriding attitude concerning the South. One may think they are always right. BUT.............
 
By 1804 legal slavery had ended in all Northern states. And yes, some of those states had gradual emancipation riders that held back some as slaves into the 1850s. If that's yet another attempt to equate Northern slavery with Southern slavery it still doesn't fly. In those decades since 1804 it was some Northern people held back as slaves knowing they were to be freed vs thousands of Southern people held in slavery knowing they were not to be freed.

It's clear that Southern slavery was worse overall (particularly deep South) and for decades longer than Northern slavery. Nobody's accusing modern white Southerners for that, why invent that? Pointless.

Yep, we know. Yankees read them Bible Quotes and taught them Job Skills. They were House Guests!
 
Yep, we know. Yankees read them Bible Quotes and taught them Job Skills. They were House Guests!

Meh. It was also common that Southern slaveowners encouraged the reading of the bible to their slaves. And in the South teaching slaves job skills was standard procedure. Slave blacksmiths, saddlers, farriers and seamstresses were more valuable property than unskilled.

One big difference in the post-1805 South though, black slaves were not guests in the house.

btw what's with the "Yankees" reference? People all over the North had slaves at some point.
 
By 1804 legal slavery had ended in all Northern states. And yes, some of those states had gradual emancipation riders that held back some as slaves into the 1850s. If that's yet another attempt to equate Northern slavery with Southern slavery it still doesn't fly. In those decades since 1804 it was some Northern people held back as slaves knowing they were to be freed vs thousands of Southern people held in slavery knowing they were not to be freed.

It's clear that Southern slavery was worse overall (particularly deep South) and for decades longer than Northern slavery. Nobody's accusing modern white Southerners for that, why invent that? Pointless.
Can we all agree that wherever it was practised, north or south, it was wrong? Arguing over degrees of 'wrongness' is futile.
We ought also recognize that the institution was far more embedded into the economy and culture of the 'Southern' states and thus any solution was far more complicated.
Many in the antebellum and even during the war suggested simply relocating freed slaves to foreign countries. The Lincoln Administration even approached Central and South American countries, proposing to relocate freed slaves there. It was assumed that these countries, whose populations were largely 'people of color', would be receptive to the idea. Instead, in each case, the proposals were quickly rejected.
 
If we agree that both "north" and "south" "lie" about the Civil War, we ought to ask what that means.
Both 'sides' had their own perspective on the underlying dispute. Both had reason to be proud of their military accomplishments and the men who served.
The "lies", at least initially, were told to convince themselves that "they had not acted in vain". I submit that the persistent problem is a symptom of a declining interest in early American History in general and the antebellum/Civil war in particular. Students are left with simplistic answers to extremely complicated questions. It is far easier to say, for example, "Lincoln freed the slaves." than to tell the entire story of emancipation.
We ought not fall into the same trap. Instead, we should recognize the complexity and how it affected every person differently.
 
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