The Island at the Center of the World-The epic story of Dutch Manhattan and the forgotten colony that shaped America by Russell Shorto (Pages 641-643)

"Through all of the events of this story, in a council room in Fort Amsterdam and in an administrative office above the gate, the successive secretaries of the Manhattan-based Colony of New Netherland did what all secretaries do: took notes and filed records. Lots were sold, houses were built, pigs were stolen, knives were drawn, liquor was taxed, property was damaged. The quill scratched it way softly across the sheets of imported rag paper. The directors issued their decrees and the leaders of the colonists their complaints. Letter streamed out—to Curacao, Virginia, Boston, Amsterdam. The quill dipped into the ink pot, then addressed the paper again, filling row after row with the oddly curling Dutch script of the period."

"What happened to these records after Richard Nicolls’s troops took possession of them can be summed up in a truism: history is written by the winners. There was probably an element of spite involved in the failure of the English to incorporate the records of the Dutch colony into the first American histories. The bad blood between the two rival nations only intensified with the three wars fought during the course of the century. The title of one of the many screeds published in England is enough to remind one of the ludicrous level of animosity: The Dutch-mens Pedigree, Or, A relation Showing How They Were First Bred and Descended from a Horse-Turd Which Was Enclosed in a Butter-Box. Another indication of English antipathy toward the Dutch, which America took in with its mother’s milk, so to speak, is the tally of “Dutch” phrases in the language: “Dutch treat,” “Dutch courage,” “double Dutch,” a Dutch bargain,” “going Dutch,” Dutch Comfort” – all of them derogatory and all coming right out of the seventeenth century."

"While the records of other early settlements were being preserved and accessed to create the story of American beginnings, those of the non-English colony were kicked around, fought over, forgotten. Their fitful passage through the next three centuries is an ironically dramatic reflection of how the colony itself has been ignored—Zelig-like, this archive would be connected to some of the major events and figures in American history."

Readers: Please substitute the words Confederate States of America for the words “Fort Amsterdam”, “Manhattan-Based Colony of New Netherland”, “streamed out to Curacao, Virginia, Boston, Amsterdam”. Substitute United States of America for the words “English”. Substitute the word “Rebel phrases” for Dutch phrases”. Substitute the words Union Soldiers for "Richard Nicholls's troops"

When the word substitutions are made does this statement not reflect the reasons that the complete story of the contributions and struggles of the Confederacy are not part of the American history story from 1860 thru 1870?

I would have made the word substitutions, but wanted to cite exactly the words used by the writer of The Island at the Center of the World so that there would not be critical comments for making out of context quotations.

I apologize if this subject is "off topic" but after all it does concern United States history.