The living legacy of the United States Civil War is a complicated time in American history one finds difficult to describe. The ramification of the war prior, during and after still haunt the current citizens who call The States their home. Tony Horwitz’s book Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War looks at the wide gap of discontent that still looms in the late 1990s. For some southerners, the Confederacy still lives on through reenactments, stories and beliefs. For others in the South, reminders the land was dedicated to the Confederacy spark hatred and spite. Tony Howritz seeks to find out why the Civil War still captivates Americans today. From a young age Horwitz is educated about the Civil War from his 101 …show more content…
There Howritz was introduced to the racial rift that lives on between blacks and whites. The birthday celebrations of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and Robert E. Lee were held separate from the birthday celebration of Martin Luther King, nationally recognized for good reason. King’s celebration saw attendants from blacks and whites but the Jackson-Lee celebrations only whites attended. Howritz moves next to South Carolina where he speaks with a neo-Confederate who takes delight in the inauguration of a governor pledging to fly the Confederate battle flag. Horwritz spoke to a “New South” businessman in South Carolina who thought the south would never shed its image left by the Civil War unless blacks and whites band together instead of continuing the …show more content…
Ancestors fought for the Confederate Army, the beliefs of civil and state rights during the Civil War are not far removed from the beliefs of the people Howritz encounters. Not to be ignored is the racial tension that arguably was as intense then as it is now. Many ignorant White people feel superior to black people, driven home by their discontent of the Confederate Army losing the War. The South’s remembrance of the Civil War is based both on fact and lore but mainly on racism and ritual. Yes, people do mask their justification for supporting the Rebels by stating the war was ignited by civil and state rights, other’s do not even attempt to mask their reasoning by down right stating the black race is an inferior one. There was a politically correct remembrance of the Confederacy in that men felt so strongly about their beliefs they were willing to wage war and die for them, many felt that should be honored. My own understanding of the South’s passion with the Civil War is much like Tony Horwitz, In that the War is so intriguing and interesting because it involves the country I live in and the beliefs that are so passionately felt to this day. Born and raised in California I believed racism to be dead and the surprise I received moving to the panhandle of Texas was discomforting. The Civil War has a unique way of luring
Though, he is from the south he does explain why they did have a fault in it. Keeping in mind that he is not bias towards neither side, this does raise the quality of the book. It helps the reader understand both sides of the story and keep their mind on the topic and not towards a certain group by being bias towards a specific side. This is why this book is great for anybody who is doing a study on the Civil
Bernard Baruch was an adviser to presidents from World War I to World War II and became a confidant of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It is because of him that the Mrs. Simon Baruch University Award bi-annually by the General Organization of the United Daughters of the Confederacy became endowed. This award is presented to the author of a previously unpublished monograph or full-length book manuscript dealing with Confederate history, including the ante-bellum period, the causes that led to secession and the War Between the States. The award is presented in even-numbered years and consists of a $500 author’s award and a $2000 publication award. It is considered as a grant-in-aid for the purpose of encouraging research in Southern
David Blight, is a detailed study of the ways that Americans chose to remember the Civil War during the first fifty years following the conflict. Blight argues that throughout this period Americans used the two expression to remember and give meaning to the war with rhetorical effectiveness throughout the excerpt. Blight accomplishes the main theme of competing memories with different ideals of the Civil War seeking to overcome the issue for reunion. A majority of America’s white community chose to obscure the Civil War’s racial meaning behind a front of attitudes that acclaimed both Northern and Southern soldiers. Later Blight uses the themes of ending the war with a push for national reconciliation to demonstrate how the country’s efforts
The question being: are they racists? Bates attempts to answer this question, first, by detailing two Confederate reenactors: Vern Padgett and Don Wirth. Padgett, as Bates describes, is a “diehard Confederate reenactor” (pg. 191) and though a California native, speaks frequently about “misinformed Yankee propagandists” and his strongly held belief that the Confederate Army had as many as 200,000 African American soldiers serving in its ranks. Naturally, professional historians dismiss his claims, but his devotion to the ‘southern cause,’ while also being a Confederate reenactor furthers people’s notions of them being racist. Wirth on the other hand, growing up in the 1950’s and 1960’s, was heavily influenced by southern and Confederate romanticism, this was done through toys, magazines, and television shows, his sentiment is that the war was “full of passion and heroism and noble deeds” (pg. 193) seems in line with Lost Cause thinking.
James M. McPherson’s For Cause & Comrades analyzes and discusses the different reasons why men fought and died in the Civil War. McPherson uses the journals and letters of 1076 soldiers, 647 from the Union army and 429 from the Confederacy. Using these first-hand accounts of the war, McPherson aims to answer the question of how and why soldiers participated in the war. McPherson’s thesis contends that “Duty and honor were indeed powerful motivating forces.
The United States Civil War is possible one of the most meaningful, bloodstained and controversial war fought in American history. Northern Americans against Southern Americans fought against one another for a variety of motives. These motives aroused from a wide range of ideologies that stirred around the states. In James M. McPherson’s What they fought for: 1861-1865, he analyzes the Union and Confederate soldier’s morale and ideological components through the letters they wrote to love ones while at war. While, John WhiteClay Chambers and G. Kurt Piehler depict Civil War soldiers through their letters detailing the agonizing battles of war in Major Problems in American Military History.
Despite the many years after the Civil War ended in 1865, the war’s significance was still great enough to have caused such controversy with the public over its meaning. In David W. Blight’s Race and Reunion, the meaning of the war changes throughout the period of Reconstruction not due to the misconception of it solely, but due to what we wanted to interpret from the war (or rather, what we remembered from the war that eventually changed over time). Blight argues, “I am primarily concerned with the ways that contending memories clashed or intermingled in public memory, and not in developing professional historiography of the Civil War” (Blight, Prologue). With this being said, the meaning of the Civil War changed through what people felt and
The Civil War was one of America’s most trying and troubling times. Following the Civil War was Reconstruction, which posed an important question that would affect the country forever, “What do we do with the South?” During Reconstruction, the Government was faced with a plethora of difficult questions to answer and a series of difficult situations, but the topic at hand was the same reason the Civil War started in the first place: African Americans. The statement “After the Civil War, the only way to truly enfranchise former slaves was by effectively disenfranchising their former masters” is true because white Southerners would constantly and consistently attempt to undermine African Americans. There were many ways that white Southerners used to belittle African Americans; the creation of Black Codes were one of these ways.
As seen from articles from Confederate Veteran Magazine, the Confederate spirit was upheld throughout the years, mostly by women who felt the need to avenge husbands, brothers, and fathers ' deaths . They did things like erect monuments and statues in honor of heroic Confederate leaders, and taught their version of Civil War history in their schools. Together, many ex Confederates and their supporters formed the southern democratic political party, that upheld the Confederates beliefs and ways of life. Their opposers, the southern republicans, were mercilessly attacked repeatedly by the democrats, in an attempt the avenge the Confederacy. The lost cause split the south
To them, their service qualified for full rights as American citizens. They fought in the war for the freedom of the enslaved. Confederate patriotism was based on interests for their loved ones, which they assumed was the survival of slavery. Slavery was considered the “cement” that held Confederates together. It was the foundation of the southern social
The American Civil War, between 1861 and 1865, is widely considered the second American Revolution. The war profoundly affected American culture, sovereignty, and politics. Its most significant impact was the abolition of slavery, which had been a contentious issue in American society since its nation's founding. This essay examines why the Civil War is considered the second American Revolution, focusing on its role in ending slavery, promoting civil rights in America, and expanding federal power.
What does confederate remembrance mean to you? Confederate Remembrance is a hot topic hitting headlines today. Some believe that the confederacy is a sign of racism and others believe it is about heritage. The philosopher George Santayana once said "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
The issue of the confederate flag has been an important cultural discussion point for some years now, but has recently taken on even greater importance in light of recent hate crimes in South Carolina, as well as rampant police brutality and shootings across the country. Much of the discussion has been an argument between the two schools of thought being that either the flag is a symbol of cultural heritage and nothing more, and the other being that it is a symbol of systematic and violent racism that has no right being in a place of honor and reverence in today’s society. In a way both schools are correct. The Confederate flag is a symbol of southern cultural history; it also happens that that history is a history of systematic and violent racism, starting from the flag’s creation and on to its popular resurgence in the south at the time of desegregation and the civil-rights movement.
Perhaps no one were expecting the secession of eleven states and creation of Confederate States of America in 1861 would be the beginning of a civil war that lasts four years and takes so many lives. Although the election of President Lincoln and slavery could have been the causes of the Civil War, the soldiers’ motivation in enlisting themselves for this war; depending on the geographic location and the time of the enlistment, could vary and partially or even totally be something different. Considering soldiers’ motivations variety and changes based on location and time factors during the four year civil war, this paper by looking for clues in soldiers’ letters as a precious and reliable source, claims the “community pressure” as the dominant
In chapter one of What They Fought For, I learned about the letters and diaries of the Confederate soldiers. The themes of the letters were home-sickness, lack of peace, and the defense of home against their invading enemy. The thought of soldiers fighting for their homes and being threatened by invaders, made them stronger when facing adversity. Many men expressed that they would rather die fighting for a cause, than dying without trying and this commitment showed patriotism. Throughout the letters, soldiers claimed their reason for fighting, was for the principles of Constitutional liberty and self-government.