I ask the indulgence of Ga.windbreak, subdjoe, Cabin4, and any other regulars in this forum who already know my ancestry and background on this subject. I don't want to bore you guys by repeating this for the umpteenth time, because you already know it, so please bear with me.This is intended for any newcomers who may not know these things about me, but have the assumption that I (along with most of the regulars in this forum) am "bitter" about the outcome of the War and its after affects, and simply cannot understand why Southerners Still have such animosity toward Northerners, even after 150 years... it is my hope that you guys come away from this with a little different perspective than you have right now.
Fellas, I have a very unique perspective on this War and its aftermath. I'm only 44 years old, and Civil War ancestors of most people my age are at least 5 or 6 generations ago. I graduated high school with 6 people (also my age) whose Civil War ancestors are 8 generations ago. In the South, we call this "generations removed." So these 6 people are 8 generations removed from the Civil War. The uniqueness of my situation is that I am only
3 generations removed from the War. That's right,
3. Before you start screaming, "That's not possible," let me show you that it IS.
I was born in 1966, making me 44, soon to be 45.
In fact, I was born on the 100th Anniversary of Confederate Memorial Day.
My father was born in 1940. Nothing remarkable there, except he was the youngest out of 16!! His 2 oldest sisters (my aunts) were born in 1897 and 1898.
His father, my grandfather, was born in 1876 and he was 64 years old when my father was born. He had 14 siblings.
His father, my great grandfather, was born in 1849. He had 11 siblings. He was 12 years old when the War started. He was denied entry into the Confederate Army 3 times, due to his age. He married in early 1864, just after he turned 15. By mid-summer, he had built his own house and was expecting their 1st child (my grandfather's oldest brother, my oldest great-uncle), with 14 more to follow. In September of 1864, after his 4th attempt, he was allowed to join Co. H of the 11th Georgia Infantry, only because he was married and had his own residence. He completed his military training in October. We all know (or should know) what else happened in Georgia in November 1864. The entire 11th Georgia Infantry was merged with the Army of Northern Virginia and my Great-Grandfather was sent to fight under General Robert E. Lee, less than 2 weeks before General Sherman reached Southeast Georgia on his way to Savannah. He fought at the Siege of Petersburg, and was among General Lee's forces that were surrendered in April 1865. He had a 19 year old brother that was killed at the Battle of the Wilderness. His body was never found and he wasn't listed as a POW. He had 5 brothers who fought that were not wounded at all.
His 2 oldest brothers were severely mangled in battle (one had his left jaw shot off, the other had his right shoulder blown off). They were both at home recovering and bedridden when Sherman came through. Neither man could even stand up, but Sherman had them arrested as Prisoners of War, and they were loaded onto wagons, and carried some 90 miles on the last leg of Sherman's March to The Sea. They were under the constant care of the plantation's doctor until they were literally kidnapped. Neither man could defend himself, or his family and home, from what was about to happen to them at the hands of Sherman's men, on Sherman's orders. Their homes were burned to the ground. Sherman didn't want civilians, women and children and the elderly to have any food, so they shot the livestock and allowed the animals to lay there and rot, because Sherman didn't need them as food since he was so close to Savannah. They took or destroyed all the farming equipment and tools that could be used to grow food. All of the grain stores were either burned or looted. Remember, this was late November, and the South's coldest winter on record.
Most of the regulars in this forum will remember my posts from around a year or so ago, from my Great-Grandmother's journals, where she described how Union soldiers shot two young slave boys in the back while running across a field to warn their families (both white and black) on a neighboring plantation. My GGM described consoling the boys' mother and took her and her mistress into her home until after the War. She described her feelings on what was happening in great detail, right down to her statement of "I think I would like to meet this Yankee general Sherman. I should like to look upon the face of a man who possesses no soul... How can another human being treat descent people this way?" She was not describing her white neighbors, she was describing the slaughter of those two unarmed boys, one of which was only 12 years old and a close friend to her brother, the other was 17 and was a friend to my GGF. It didn't matter that those boys were slaves, they were considered descent people in Southern society. Even Slaves were expected to be treated with respect and dignity, and they received it in return because they were literally part of the fabric of what it means to be a part of a Southern family. They were not beaten every day to "keep them in their place." They were considered part of the family and they were treated that way. My Great Grandparents' home was the only one in the family that was not burned, only because it was off the beaten track. The Union soldiers didn't know it was there because it was only a few months old and there wasn't yet a road leading to it.
My two Great-Uncles were severely beaten in an attempt to extract information that they could not possibly posses. Both men were privates and had been out of the War for more than a month. One couldn't even speak anyway because of his injuries. Both men were denied any further medical treatment for their injuries, including the injuries inflicted by Sherman's men. The one with his jaw shot off died just before Sherman reached Savannah. He wouldn't even allow him to be buried. His brother, who was in the same wagon, later wrote about how, when asked what they should do with the body, General Sherman personally told his men to "
just throw the damn traitor on the side of the road and leave him there. He's of no use to us anymore."
The other one (with his shoulder blown away) made it to Savannah with Sherman's troops where, a week later, he was put on a train and sent to the Union POW Camp at Elmira, NY. His arm was amputated only because of the stench of the wound. Remember, he had been denied any medical treatment up to that point. He survived the war and returned home, but he died from malnutrition and pneumonia three months later. There simply was not enough food to go around because of what Sherman did to the Families of Georgia and South Carolina. This was not war, it was meticulously calculated murder of the unarmed civilian population. These acts were not only known by the upper echelon within the Federal Government, they were supported and approved of, all the way up to Abraham Lincoln, himself. If I have to show you proof, I can and will.
My family owned seven separate farms made up from adjoining land in three counties. They combined their resources to create a single plantation of more than 7,500 acres that stretched some 30 miles, from north to south. They owned somewhere between 70 and 100 slaves all together. Sometimes more, sometimes less. They kept very detailed records of births, deaths, sicknesses, and even those who were freed. My family maintained such a close relationship with their slaves that, after the War ended, none of them left the plantation. They all decided to remain at "their home place." They were mentioned often in various diaries and journals being kept at the time, especially my Great-Grandmother's, and always with respect. In fact, more former slaves moved there to live after the War. My Great-Grandfather became the predominant owner of the land and he actually gave the family's former slaves large parcels of land, free and clear, as reward for "their devoted service to the family." Some of those families still live on that land to this day. I know them well, and they are dear friends of my family, even today. One particular descendant of those slaves (Willie - seriously, his real name) is the same age as my baby brother, and we were all in high school together (they were in 9th grade, I was a senior). He has our last name and everyone there knew this. One day there was a good sized group of us (about 15 or so) just standing around talking after lunch. This one boy asked Willie why his last name was the same as mine and my brother's. Without any hesitation or reservation, he boldly told him, "because his family used to own my family." You could have heard a pin drop on the sand where we were standing. Willie asked them what the problem was. He wasn't ashamed of his heritage, why should they be? Several years ago, I was visiting Willie and his family when his grandfather started telling stories that had been passed down about what my family had done to help his family. I told him that, not only were those stories true, but I had come to give him copies of those journals and records proving they were true. He wept like you wouldn't believe. They had all heard the stories, including Willie, but to see the documents where there ancestors' births and deaths were recorded, was a very humbling experience for those people.
My family history has been successfully traced back to the year 1140, in detail. The records my family kept from the 1800's have afforded me a very rare opportunity to look back in time and see the TRUTH of how life was back then. Were some slaves abused? Of course, but just as some children are abused, should we look at all parents a child abusers? While I know that less than 6% of all Southerners held slaves, and that the vast majority of those who did have slaves actually owned, on average, less than 6, Northerners don't want to hear that. You have to understand that every time we turn on the TV to watch a "documentary" about the War, or every time there is a movie put out about the War, all that is ever portrayed is the horrid abuse of slaves on some big plantation, and the master whipping his slaves for the most mundane offense, or the brutal rape of some slave girl by her drunken master. While most Southerners are not stupid enough to think these kinds of things Never happened, neither are they stupid enough to be "taught" that they happened on such a scale as what I just described. But the vast majority of Americans actually believe this to be the normal day-to-day of all Southerners.
While I know that 11 of the 23 Northern states had state mandated laws
forbidding free blacks from living in those states, I also know that
not one single Southern state ever had such a law. I also know that Northerners were FOR slavery, so long as it was profitable to Them, and that the so-called "abolitionists" wanted the Southern slaves freed, so long as they didn't come North, but when have you ever heard or read, or seen on TV how Evil the North was for having slavery? I would wager you have Never heard it. Back then, Northerners believed if they merely called their own system of slavery something that sounded more civilized, like
indentured servitude, it was perfectly alright and just. But those evil Southerners had to be dealt with, no matter what. Rest assured, gentleman, I don't give a rat's ass WHAT you call it, indentured servitude is STILL SLAVERY!!!! And if the South was so Evil for having slavery, then BY GOD so was the North!
There isn't room here to write about all I have learned from my family's records. But you guys need to know, to understand, that what you have been taught in government schools about this War and its causes is for the most part WRONG. This war happened Here, in the South, to Us, to Our ancestors, in Our homes and Our towns, and to Our economy. What you perceive as "Bitterness" on my part, while I, in particular, and Southerners, in general certainly have every right to BE Bitter, is simply frustration in trying to get people to see the Truth of this War. I don't see any spin in what we are posting here. I can show you documented proof of everything I write in this forum. So can all the other regulars.
I will sum up my frustrations this way...
Legend has it that, during the Battle of the Crater in 1864, while the Rebels were shooting down into the multitude of Yankee soldiers, one Rebel asked a Yankee, "Why don't you Yankees just surrender, and you won't have to die like this?" The Yankee hollered back at the Rebel, "Why don't you LET us!?!" I get asked by people all the time, including many blacks, "if you know all this and you have proof of it, why don't you just show it to everybody, then maybe they would understand?" Every time, I answer them just like that Yankee down in that hole, "Why don't you LET us?" For the most part, any organization using the Confederate Battle Flag as its symbol is automatically assumed to be racist in nature, so they must be affiliated with the KKK or something. Nowadays, many Southern cities won't allow Confederate reenactors to take part in parades or festivals.
People, it is ILLEGAL to fly a Confederate flag in the World's largest Confederate Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia, even during a grave dedication or a memorial ceremony!!! A Confederate soldier can't have even one of those little 3" flags on his grave. They have law enforcement posted in the cemetery to ARREST anyone who displays anything with a Confederate flag on it while in a Confederate cemetery!!!
Call it Bitterness if you want to. I call it frustration at how Southerners were treated back then, and how we are still being treated today, even after 150 years. Bitter? No, I'm not bitter. I'm tired of being beaten back down every time I turn around because of pilitical incorrectness.
SouthernByGrace
DEO VINDICE
