April
24th was Confederate Memorial Day and that morning while checking
the news on my computer, I was pleased to note that AL.com highlighted
Confederate Memorial Day. In a short
article, they provided a brief history saying, “The day traces its roots back
to 1866 when the Ladies Memorial Association of Columbus GA passed a resolution
to set aside a day to honor Confederate soldiers who lost their lives in the
Civil War. Almost 260,000 Civil War soldiers were killed in the lined of duty,”
they reported. Government offices closed
in observance of the state holiday were also listed.
Unfortunately,
an hour or so later they also ran an Associated Press article which was much
more editorial and slanted as you might imagine. After listing the few states which still
observe the day or others as a state holiday, the author immediately followed
that Mississippi in their 1861 secession declaration included that its decision
to leave the United States was "thoroughly identified with the institution
of slavery." They then quoted a
Mississippi activist who complained that the state flag there prominently
includes the Confederate Battle flag. No
mention was made of the referendum put on the ballot there where voters,
citizens there elected to keep their state flag by a 30% margin.
The
same AP article included a quote from SCV chaplain Barry Cook of Jasper, cherry
picking his good commentary previously published on AL.com to minimize the
monumental decision of the Southern states and populace to secede saying it was
merely because “Yankees wanted to disrupt their lives”. This same quote was used on WLWI radio during
their morning news which included the announcement of Confederate Memorial Day followed
by the editorial that some believe that slavery was the sole reason for the
Southern states secession.
Eleven
states seceded from the Union. Upwards
of a million Southerners fought to defend their states, their homes from the
invading Union army. Over a quarter million Southerners died in the War Between
the States. For a “disruption” to their
daily lives? To phrase the reason for
secession and such a monumentally tragic war with such an absurdly
insignificant word as “disrupt” is offensive.
Abraham Lincoln was elected as a sectional candidate with 39% of the popular
vote vowing to enforce oppressive tariffs and taxation to fill his Treasury and
redistribute the wealth of the Southern states to the Northern industrialists
by returning the states of the Confederacy to an imperialist Union, wantonly attacking
fellow Americans many who had served the United States in the armed forces and
government with distinction but who resisted the ruthless overbearing Federal
army and defended their sovereign home states. A mere disruption?
Kevin
Elkin, the host of the morning radio show on WLWI mentioned Confederate
Memorial Day also. His guest that
morning said he was “trying to figure out what to do on Confederate Memorial
Day (and that he didn’t) care anything about it.” Although Kevin said he didn’t intend to
observe the day, he said he “understood the reverence” we place on observing
Confederate Memorial Day to honor our Confederate ancestors. Interestingly, I took note when Kevin said he
is the only radio or TV host in the Montgomery area who is a military
veteran. I think it not a coincidence
that this Army Ranger veteran although a black man understands and appreciates
the sacrifices that the Confederate veterans made in defense of their homes,
many dying, many maimed and crippled.
The deprivation they experienced.
The horror of this modern total war.
A
couple days later I noticed on Twitter a link to an article discussing
President Trumps comments on Andrew Jackson. Incredible to see the ignorance of
all the comments posted to the article who uniformly, just as Chelsea Clinton
did in the article, that secession and the War was all about slavery. Lincoln
said in his inaugural address that he had "...no purpose, directly or
indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it
exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to
do so." Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was a war measure which freed
no slaves as it didn't apply to slaves in states within the Union, only to
states in the Confederacy for which he had no jurisdiction, until his Army
ransacked the countryside and freed the slaves to allow them to starve to death
(read "Sick from Freedom" by Jim Downs). Trump was stating that
Jackson would have avoided secession by negotiating the tariff issue which was
the true impetus of the Southern states leaving the Union. Lincoln provoked the
War at Ft. Sumter (and then escalated and ultimately finished it by invading
the South) as he needed to control the ports to collect his tariffs. He said,
"What about the revenue? What would I do about the collection of
duties?" Wars are fought over money/territory(resources). Follow the
money. Lincoln could not and would not allow the Southern states to peacefully
secede as the industrializing North was dependent on the tax and tariff monies
from the wealthy Southern states.
Western
Kentucky University student government recently voted in favor of reparations
for black students in the form of free tuition; they also recommended
test-optional admissions for prospective black students. One student senator
the resolution was not unfair because it makes up for advantages white people
have historically enjoyed. Evidently
this student of higher learning has never heard of Reconstruction and share
cropping in the South and for that matter the economic disparity between North
and South even today. The Kennedy
brothers spoke at the Education Conference about the destruction today of our
Southern heritage and culture due to internal immigration. Many of our universities and local governments
in the South are controlled now by people who do not understand Southern
history nor appreciate Southern heritage.
One need only look at the repulsive efforts at historical revisionism at
Washington and Lee University and in Lexington and Danville, Virginia to see
the attempts at removal of vestiges honoring Southern heroes. Or at New Orleans
to see the repugnant efforts of a liberal Yankee city administration led by
Mitch Landrieu to remove beautiful historic Confederate monuments.
The
ignorant regurgitation of the slavery issue as the sole cause of secession and
the War, the attacks on Confederate monuments across the cemeteries, universities
and towns throughout the South, are disconcerting and frustrating. We as Sons of Confederate Veterans have the
opportunity to proclaim the truth and perpetuity of the Cause and the relevance
today of the Confederate soldier’s brave struggle for freedom and sovereignty
and state’s rights. As past-Division
Commander Ira West wrote in his Confederate Memorial Day distribution, “We honor
our illustrious Confederate ancestors (who) though hopelessly outnumbered and
with little hope of success, continued to fight for four long years. They fought to protect their families and
homes from the burning and pillaging Yankee invaders as they tried to
peacefully leave a union they had peacefully entered. They deserve our
remembrance and honor. Let us not forget
that more Alabamians gave their lives fighting for the Confederacy than in all
other wars combined.”
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