Epitaph on headstone of Union soldier buried close to Philadelphia.

[littlecanoe]

This headstone is about an hour north of Philly.  In black ironic contrast it is interesting that the day after snapping this pic I was standing in the hallowed halls where the the freedoms of this nation were defined. 

Modern revisionism may redefine the causes of the war but at least one Union soldier thought that he was fighting against a rebellion.

lc

[Dee]

Should have said: I helped rape and pillage the Southern States, and their people, when they tried exercise their "states rights".

[reliquary]

Hey, LC....ya think that's where we got the nickname "Rebels"?   

[littlecanoe]

Mebbe' it's this guy that laid that monicker on us, eh?

lc

[subdjoe]

I believe that "War of the Rebellion" was the official name for quite a while.

[Dee]

Depending on one's geographical location maybe. Down here it was "The War of Northern Aggression".

[reliquary]

My ancestors of that period all wore gray.  A collateral relative walked all the way from Texas to Gettysburg with John Bell Hood.  I admit to being biased toward Dee's version. 
 
But it was, in any case, a rebellion against the established order.  From all I have read, Lincoln's main goal was to restore the Union, and freeing the slaves was a distant subset of that.

[Dee]

Lincoln wanted to help the northern textile owners steal the South's cotton, "at below market value", and the Southerners stood up for themselves.
After killin a million or so folks, and stealing what was left of their property, he succeeded.
Restore the union my hind leg. Lincoln was then, what Obama is now. A dividing Socialist. Worked then, and it'll work this time, because of greed, and ignorance of what is actually going on. Pretty words don't always mean a pretty outcome.
When the North once again comes riddin up to your porch, you will know exactly how your ancestors felt. Forget history? Repeat history.

[reliquary]

I still think that "Johnny State'srights" doesn't have the feel to it that "Johnny Reb" does, but Dee certainly makes a good point.

[ironglow]

"War of the rebellion"..probably what he called it at the time.  More than likely, he cared little about the politics..Lincoln was his president and Jeff Davis was prez of the "other guys".  Likely the ordinary "Billy Yank" & "Johnny Reb" were just doing their duty..like a million others in the ranks.
  Being a cemetery administrator, I can see the memorial stone tells a story..as most of them do.  Here is a young man 22-23 years of age when the war broke out..probably left his bride, just 1 year his senior.. to march off to war.  He survives a horrific war, to come home.  Looks like he wanted to forget the war..and start a family immediately..since their son Jacob was born within a year.  But alas..tragedy; little Jacob only lived 9 years. Nathaniel only lived to be 62..but Sarah preceded him in death by ten years.. Nate welcomed the new century a widower.
   Let's hope there were other children born, who could make Nate's last years a bit less lonely..

[littlecanoe]

 
But it was, in any case, a rebellion against the established order.  From all I have read, Lincoln's main goal was to restore the Union, and freeing the slaves was a distant subset of that.

For me much of the bitter pill is that the Union was not restored.  The Union was forever altered with or without the war.

Unfortunately, over a half million (not sure the exact number) lives were permanently altered by death.  What a heavy cost the desire for freedom exacts.

lc

[mechanic]

Depending on one's geographical location maybe. Down here it was "The War of Northern Aggression".

 

[AtlLaw]

Ya know Ben...     Maryland has as much right to be on that map as KY does and I don't think WV should be included at all!  I'm just sayin...

[mechanic]

This is the new south, or the second secesh.
 
Ben

[eastbank]

both sides thought it would be a short easy war and at first the south rode rough shod over the GAR,but after the north got rid of the poor army leaders and promoted better men,like grant things changed,he didn,t stop to regroup,but kept hammering lee and as it went on the northern resources and man power became to much for the south to resist. i think that not getting england to reconize the south was the death blow to the south and any fighting after that was just killing for no reason at all. i had seven relitives serve in the gar in the civil war,one being killed and three taken pow, my grandfather grew up with these men and said he never heard a bad word about the southren fighting men, but the three who were pow,s didn,t have kind word for there captures at the camps. eastbank.

[mechanic]

I'm always saddened at the loss of good men on both sides.  Truthfully, based on the constitution and the federation of states the South did have the right to withdraw from the union.  And truthfully, slavery as an institution should have ended with the adoption of the constitution.
 
Given the propensity to only count casulties as those on the battlefield, it is impossible to know how many died as a result of that war, but it was a great many more than actually counted.
 
What a waste of human life, wealth and property. 
 
I fear we learned little from it.
 
Ben

[Rustyinfla]

   Searching my family tree I found that I had a G,G, uncle that fought with the Maryland 4th Confederate light Artillery known as "The Baltimore Battery." I have to admit I never was proud to be from Maryland until I read the history of the Baltimore Battery.

[ironfoot]

It was a rebellion to perpetuate slavery.
 
Lincoln's anti slavery views were well known as result of the Lincoln/Douglas debates and Lincoln's Coopers Union speech. Lincoln was elected on an anti-slavery Republican platform. Lincoln was elected President of the whole country, not just the North. The South would not abide by the results of the presidential election, and engaged in armed revolt.  The North fought to preserve the Union and representative democracy. The South fought to perpetuate it's significant investment in "property" in  the form of human slaves.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln%E2%80%93Douglas_debates_of_1858

http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/cooper.htm

http://www.cprr.org/Museum/Ephemera/Republican_Platform_1860.html

http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres31.html

http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres32.html

http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/reasons.html

http://americancivilwar.com/documents/index.html

http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm

http://www.filibustercartoons.com/CSA.htm

Lincoln's last speech:

http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/last.htm

"For the first time in a public setting, Lincoln expressed his support for black suffrage. This statement incensed John Wilkes Booth, a member of the audience, who vowed, "That is the last speech he will make." A white supremacist and Confederate activist, Booth made good on his threat three days later."

[SHOOTALL]

Ya know Ben...     Maryland has as much right to be on that map as KY does and I don't think WV should be included at all!  I'm just sayin...

You got it right . most don't have a clue where the Mason-Dixon line is or that WVa pulled away from Va. and claimed to be netural but sided with the invaders .

[Gary G]

Well it was a rebellion; a rebellion against central government control. Central control has never worked over the long term. That, you are witnessing at present. It is now estimated that 700,000 lives were lost in Lincolns War to retain power, thus a curse on humanity in the loss of productive lives and local control of government.

[ironfoot]

Lincoln saved representative democracy.
The South fought to save it's investment in slaves.
Lincoln and the northern army freed over 3 million slaves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_Proclamation
 

[SHOOTALL]

The South tried to leave in an effort to not be forced to pay for the war of 1812 . Slavery was on the way out anyway. If old abe was to free slaves why did he wait so long ? and why did he not free the ones in the north at the same time not waiting to well after the war was over ? It was all political BS .
the war was over states rights , ponder this question why did the north insist that Black slaves were not full people ? ansewer so the South would not have political power and stop being forced into paying for the war of 1812 . The north minipulated the slaves more than the South then claimed to save them .

[mechanic]

Most of the slaves who were brought here were brought on "northern" ships...covertly.  Slavery should have ended with the constitution, and didn't but Lincoln's idea was to give them their own territory, much like the indian tribes, and move them there.  They were not accorded full humanity, not even by the North until many decades after Lincoln's death.
 
He signed the emancipation proclamation as a war tactic, not because of his concern over the slaves.
 
Ben

[SHOOTALL]

Most of the slaves who were brought here were brought on "northern" ships...covertly.  Slavery should have ended with the constitution,yes but with education so they could become good citizens instead many became share cropers or factory workers (later) with no benifits , at least the slave holder had an investment worth protecting. and didn't but Lincoln's idea was to give them their own territory, much like the indian tribes, and move them thereor ship them back to where they came from which may have ment death to them.  They were not accorded full humanity, not even by the North until many decades after Lincoln's death.in some places not 100% yet
 
He signed the emancipation proclamation as a war tactic, not because of his concern over the slaves.
 
Ben

[ironfoot]

Bullfeathers...The South seceded when Lincoln was elected on an anti-slavery Republican platform:
 http://www.cprr.org/Museum/Ephemera/Republican_Platform_1860.html
 
Lincoln didn't end slavery right away for the same reason recent Republican Presidents did not end abortion, the Constitution prevented such action.
Lincoln believed he could deprive the enemy of property during war, hence the legality of the Emancipation Proclamation.
A later Constitutional Amendment ended slavery throughout the country.
Lincoln struggled with how to deal with freed slaves, including the possibility of emmigration, but decided against it.
At the end of the war he said in a speech that slaves who served in the Northern army should be granted the right to vote.
Booth heard that and resolved to kill Lincoln.

[mechanic]

Better go back and read your history books Ironfoot.  Most of what you said is correct, except for the chronology.  Yes, slavery was a big issue in the CW.  What many miss, is that it was not the only issue. 
 
The politics of that day are sorta like today...not so cut and dried.  If you read some of Lincoln's own writing before the war, you will find he was not as anti slavery as many wish.
 
Ben

[SHOOTALL]

Bullfeathers...The South seceded when Lincoln was elected on an anti-slavery Republican platform:
 http://www.cprr.org/Museum/Ephemera/Republican_Platform_1860.html
 
Lincoln didn't end slavery right away for the same reason recent Republican Presidents did not end abortion, the Constitution prevented such action.how so ?
Lincoln believed he could deprive the enemy of property during war, hence the legality of the Emancipation Proclamation.
A later Constitutional Amendment ended slavery throughout the country.then please explain why he waited until either England or France or both were almost ready to enter the war on the side of the South ? He was playing to world opinion with out regard to American law , he would not have invaded the South if he were worried about laws.
Lincoln struggled with how to deal with freed slaves, including the possibility of emmigration, but decided against it.
At the end of the war he said in a speech that slaves who served in the Northern army should be granted the right to vote.
Booth heard that and resolved to kill Lincoln.Speculation really

[eastbank]

booth was no friend of the south. his act destroyed all the plans lincoln had to bring the south back into the union, with his act he made reconstucion harder and longer then lincoln planned. his plan was to let the army go home and not charge any southern officials with anything,as it was only one southern officer was charged and hung(capt. wirtz of andersonville fame), and i,m not convinced he was guilty of all the charges leveled against him. he was wounded at seven pines and put in charge of andersonville as he was not fit for combat and may have not been fit to run the prison. my three relitives who were pow,s were not at andersonville and tho things were hard,the guards didn,t live much better. eastbank.

[Dee]

Had "heavy handed Lincoln" not violated the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and had he not "violated states rights" there would have never been any need for "reconstruction".  Had Lincoln not been doing the "industrialized north's bidding" and trying to "dictate" to the southern growers what they would accept (from the northern factories) for their textiles, there would have never been a war, or a secession for that matter. Lincoln was the FIRST OBAMA (Marxist) president, and ignored the agreement (IN WRITING) that every state had when it joined the United States, and that agreement was that it could WITHDRAW, at any time it wished.
Folks want to pin this war on slavery when it had almost nothing to do with slavery. One of the biggest slave markets was in D.C. itself. These same people ignore the WRITTEN FACTS OF HISTORY, that less than 5% of the south owned slaves, and the number was shrinking rapidly, and that the south paid in excess of 70% of all taxes paid to the government at that time. In ignoreing these "facts" is to defend something that was, and is, indefensible, out of ignorance of history.
These same folks whom hate Obama, who is trying to do the same thing Lincoln did in the 1860s. IGNORE HISTORY, AND YOU ARE "CONDEMNED" TO REPEAT IT! Welcome back boys! Their doin it again in D.C. Just like Lincoln did. DIVIDE AND CONQUER!

[ironfoot]

The South seceded when Lincoln was elected on an anti-slavery Republican platform:
 http://www.cprr.org/Museum/Ephemera/Republican_Platform_1860.html
 http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/reasons.html