Originally Posted by
firstmdes
I am not suggesting that we forget those who died or the events which took place. On the contrary, let's remember them and and honor them! You will see that in my earlier posts in this thread, I was praising the local SCV for assisting with the memorializing of a USCT veteran. This sort of thing is wonderful to see, but does not seem to happen very much!
My point about getting over it was that Lee, Longstreet, Mosby and countless others who actually fought the fights and bled the blood were ready to admit defeat and move on with their lives. I understand not all of that generation of soldiers were so ready to forgive and forget, but if many of them can do it, why can't we? Do you mean to tell me that the physical and mental destruction caused by the U.S. Civil War is too great to overcome 140+ years later? WWII vets can visit Germany as tourists and speak in friendly ways to former enemies, Vietnam vets can visit a still communist nation and shake hands with former Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers, but descendants of the old CSA cannot? Their ancestors fought a good fight and lost. Whatever their reasons for fighting, they admitted defeat. They did not take to the mountains and fight guerrilla war for generations after. They put down their weapons and took-up their lives as best they could.
Should we return to Antebellum American laws? Allow slavery, the six-year presidential term, the line-item veto and any other "states rights" that were perceived as important enough to fight over? Would this allow the wounds to heal...make everyone happy?
Oh,...and one more thing...there was "racial injustice" before Ft. Sumpter was fired on...it was called Slavery!
It is unfortunate that the race issue had to be brought into the discussion. Attempting to turn the war into a morality play about race is a relatively modern phenomenon. While slavery was one of many factors leading to secession and subsequently the war, it is inaccurate to portray the war in racial terms. There were any number of individuals that owned slaves-blacks, whites and Native Americans. In fact, Anthony Johnson a free black in Virginia is generally recognized as the Father of chattel slavery in the United States.
If the war was fought to achieve racial equality, there would have been no New York draft riots, Grant would have released his slaves prior to the passage of the 13th amendment and the gravestone of Private Brown would have read US, not USCT. Furthermore, Pvt. Brown would have received the same wages and equipment as his white counterparts. The US Colored Troops may have even been permitted to perform the task that they had so diligently trained to perform at the Battle of the Crater.
However, Burnside refused to allow them to lead, replacing the USCT with untrained white US troops.
"With the desperate situation in the crater, the racism of white Union soldiers became blatant. Knowing that the Confederates would give no quarter to black troops if taken prisoner, white soldiers feared that they would suffer the same if caught with black soldiers. They thus began to bayonet their own comrades in arms."
Terry from Occupied Baltimore
"As I stood upon the very scene of that conflict, I could not but contrast my position with his, forty-seven years before. The flag which he had then so proudly hailed, I saw waving at the same place over the victims of as vulgar and brutal a despotism as modern times have witnessed."
Francis Key Howard, Ft. McHenry 1861
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