The Civil War News & Views Open Discussion Forum - Archive

Hey Steve, both of you Steves...!

Hello to both of you Steves,
I agree with you both, so I won't mention "current" politics here. But I agree with you Steve Osborne in everything you say. We, the South, were fighting for the same principles that our forefathers did in the Revolutionary War; namely the right to local self government, to keep the government a part of the people and a tool of the people, not we being subjgated by the government and being its pawns for it to be able to take from us at will.

Actually that is the reason the South withdrew as the Declaration of Independence gave us the right to do. Lincoln crushed those rights, took away the States' rights and powers as well as the people's. When people in any given society or country act in accordance with the law and their rights as free men and then the government steps in and crushes those rights and actions and forces you to do its will and for all practical purposes subjugates you....! Let me put it this way. The South acted within the law, laws put down by courts and by the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Remember, the Dec. Of Ind. states that each State is, and of a right should be, free and independent States. It also gives the people and States the right, when the central government becomes too overbearing, intrusive, abusive or tyrannical, that the people and/or States have the moral and legal right to either break away peacefully and start their own government or overthrow the tyranical powers that be. The South withdrew from the Union as free men and States by legal, PEACEFUL means through their representatives, etc.. We (the South) only fired on Ft. Sumpter some time later because of Lincoln's lies when after promising to vacate Ft. Sumpter he sent ships with men and supplies in the dark of the night, true to his charactor. So we fired on it. That was his excuse to invade the Southern States and force them back into the union and subjugate its people. Besides, after the Southern states were gone for those few months before hostilities began, the North realized just how much money they losing by not having the South within its fold and its revenues, tarrifs, etc.. I think that is a large part of the reason the North wanted to force the South back into the Union (read the book by the Kennedy brothers, "Was the South Right?")

Speaking of Lincoln and his actions, look what he did to Maryland!! Suspended the Write of Habeas Corpus of course. And Maryland, a Southern State and supposedly free State with free men living in it was possibly going to vote for sucession, which is the right of a free people as put down in the Declaration of Independence, etc.. He suddenly sent troops through Maryland, declared martial law, arrested the Maryland legislature and put his pro-northern lackies in their place and appointed a military governor. All that was illegal! Tyranny and despotism pure and simple, at least in my opinion.

So, as I was saying, we withdrew peacefully and formed our own free and independent nation in hopes of being left alone. But we actually fought the war because we were invaded. For four years the Confederate States of America existed as a free and independent nation, with a duly elected government, legislatures, representatives, etc, with diplomats abroad, trade abroad, ports of call, a navy and an army. But our ports were blockaded to styfle our trade, we were attacked and invaded, our government and military crushed, whole cities and large areas of whole states layed waste to ashes, looted, pillaged, women, both black and white raped, etc., all this with the full knowledge of the Union government and commanders, who gave the orders. Sherman and Sheridan being the worst. You just about have to be a Southerner, born and raised by the old folks to really know the extent of the North's crimes. They would burn homes and when the defensless women and children tried to at least save some clothes the yankee scum would tear the clothes out of their hands and throw them into the fire. In Selma, Al., Gen Wilson's raiders tied old men to bed posts trying to force them to say where valuables were hidden and then burn the house down with him still tied to the bed. Heck,they burned sevarl city blocks in Selma while Wilson and his staff sipped wine on the varanda of the St. James Hotel. Where was a good sniper when you needed one?!? Another example of pure meanness is when Union soldiers in the west, Misouri, chased down a wagon train of fleeing Southern women and children and old folks (fr an article in Civil War times Ill.) and besides terrorizing them and ransacking and stealing their belongings, actually stole all the women's "cotton cards" (CW era sanitary napkins) out of pure meanness. I could go on and on. One branch of my own family lived in Columbia, S.C. and were robbed, looted, nearly killed and burned out. I could go on and on. We were defeated and ground under foot while we were down and for years after the war. We went from being free men and citizens of a free nation to being subjugated by an invader, plain and simple.

And it was the same power hungry war criminals that practiced near genocide on the Native Americans after the war, continuing their policies, etc.. If the South had've won the war, many of the so called yankee war heroes, Sheridan, Sherman, Custer, Turchin, Red Leg Senator Lane, etc, etc, would have been hung for war atrocities.

One more thing, I hope no one says that lame nonsense "Oh, well the South did it too!" Nonsense! Yes, the South did have a few rogue elements that committed crimes, such as Quantrill, Bloody Bill Anderson, etc.. But that was small fry compared to whole, organized armies, not regiments, brigades or even corps, but whole armies of the United States of America acting under orders to burn everything in sight while commanders looked the other way as whole sections of states were systematically looted, pillaged and robbed, women raped, then of course burned. Ask anyone in Georgia or the Carolinas about how Sherman had whole wagon trains of loot and booty going north, loaded down with everything from chandaliers to silverware and china! By the way, the reason Bloody Bill Anderson went beserk and started killing yankees so ruthlessly, earning him that nick name, was because in one of the Kansas troops' raids into Missouri his sister and others in his family was killed, I think burned to death in a house the yankees set fire to. And as far as Mo and Kansas go, that Lawrence, Kansas was a focal point for Kansas raiders, a headquarters and supply area and a launching point for their raids. That is why it was attacked and nearly destroyed by Col. Quantrill and them. No, there is no comparison between the honor and chivalry of the South and the north.
Well, forgive my long rant, Deo Vindice!!
David Edelen
Alabama

Messages In This Thread

My take on if the South had've won...
Re: My take on if the South had've won...
Re: My take on if the South had've won...
Hey Steve, both of you Steves...!