We haven’t had a Civil War discussion here in a while, but I found this quote of Mark Twain’s regarding the Southern view of the Civil War to be very close to my feelings about the topic:

The hearts of this whole nation, North and South, were in the war. We of the South were not ashamed of the part we took. We believed in those days we were fighting for the right - and it was a noble fight, for we were fighting for our sweethearts, our homes, and our lives. Today we no longer regret the result, today we are glad that it came out as it did, but we of the South are not ashamed that we made an endeavor. And you, too, are proud of the record we made.

We are here to honor the noblest and the best man after Washington that this land, or any other land, has yet produced. When the great conflict began the soldiers from the North and South swung into line to the tune of that same old melody, ‘We are coming. Father Abraham, three hundred thousand strong.’ The choicest of the young and brave went forth to fight and shed their blood under the flag and for what they thought was right. They endured hardships equivalent to circumnavigating the globe four or five times in the olden days. They suffered untold hardships and fought battles night and day.

The old wounds are healed, and you of the North and we of the South are brothers yet. We consider it to be an honor to be of the soldiers who fought for the Lost Cause, and now we consider it a high privilege to be here tonight and assist in laying our humble homage at the feet of Abraham Lincoln. And we do not forget that you of the North and we of the South, one-time enemies, can now unite in singing that great hymn, “America.”

While I’m not in agreement with Lincoln being the “noblest and best man after Washington” bit, I think Twain makes an eloquent description of the war and the goals and views of both sides (self determination and states’ rights versus preserving the Union).  I find people who say simply that the “war was about slavery,” and take the simplistic view that it was Northern abolitionists against Southern racists to be incredibly ignorant of history.  They don’t know that the Emancipation Proclamation was an economic document that only freed slaves in Confederacy-held territories - not those slave-owning areas under control of the Union.  I could go on all day here, but I want to see what others have to offer about the deadliest war in American history.

H/T to Power Line, which is where I saw the Mark Twain quote.

v.
As Supreme Chancellor of Save The GOP,

I am alarmed by the noise of the Southern bloggers concerning the matter of secession from this Union of United Bloggers. I am order the calling up of an army of 70,000 good union men in order to put down this rebellion. I have appointed Gen. Alexander to lead the army, and under his command will be Gen. McCormack and the other union sympathetic members, who wish not to tear assunder the blog nation their forefathers worked so hard to bring about on this continent.

The first battle in what I expect to be a short, nearly bloodless war has been joined here, but I expect with our supperior union forces we shall open many fronts on which the Southern disloyals will be unable to maintain their presence. We shall have a march to the ‘net!
Signed,
Mark Harris
Supreme Chancellor of Save The GOP

[Hint: It’s a joke]

Well, it’s a nice Sunday afternoon and I had a hankerin’ for some arguin’. It’s come to my attention over the course of this year that many conservatives have been duped by neo-Confederate revisionist history.

I read through the first few pages of this today and was, how do you say, unimpressed. This is not history. It’s historical claptrap. Or perhaps you prefer fiddle-sticks, tommyrot, twaddle, hogwash, hooey, horsefeathers, piffle, poppycock, or rubbish. I just wanted to inform everyone that over spring break I plan on plowing through much of this “history” to see if they have a real argument. That is, an argument with someone other than LBJ or FDR.

Anyway to start some debate, I will offer the following salient points. (Click on more for more)

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