A friend recently told me: “I immigrated to the U.S. at middle school age. Before I was here, I had a very superficial understanding of the American civil war, but it was mostly around slavery. Once I am here, the first thing the teacher said was the war was about states’ rights and cultural differences between north and south of the Mason-Dixon Line. And I went to school in a blue state in the 80s and 90s.”
I didn’t see Milledgeville in your telling of Sherman’s march to the sea (i.e., Savannah, which Grant was said to have asked Sherman to give him for Christmas 😉). It was the state capital until after the war. My roots are sunk pretty deep there. I was born there, left for college in 1970, and never went back. Precious little of what you’ve shared here was included in any of the Georgia history we were fed in school. Most of it was folklore, such as Sherman’s men pouring molasses down the pipes of the organ of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. No such thing happened, though they were quartered on the capital square, where the church is still located. My antecedents from that time were planters, surname of Thomas. A story handed down through the years was that they buried the family silver in the back yard to keep it out of Union hands. What was left of said silver, a box of tableware, was in my possession for a short time after my first marriage. My husband, whose mother was also from Milledgeville, persuaded me to give it to my brother, who still lives in Georgia, rather than keep it with us in Buffalo, NY.
Thanks for another intriguing and interesting piece, Tom. I am really enjoying these lessons.
Wow, this is so good, and a needed lesson that our schools do not teach (and never will, if the other side has anything to say about it). I have read a couple of fascinating articles about the relationships in the American Civil War and how they mimic those of the English Civil War of the 17th century. From an essay reviewing Kevin Phillips' book, "The Cousins War: Religion, Politics and the Triumph of Anglo-America" (by Julian Brazier).....
Phillips is quite clear as to whom he believes deserved to win in each case:
"On the one side, in each war, were commerce, industry . . . reformist
evangelical religion, and the proselytizing middle class. On the other side was
landed agriculture, with its feudal remnants and hierarchical religion and its
greater ratios of horsemen, soldiers, and cavaliers. At a certain point in each
nation's history, it was a necessity . . . for the former to push aside the latter."
The American Civil War seems in principle to have been an extension of the English Civil War between the Cavaliers and the Roundheads - the landed gentry vs the farmers, shopkeepers and small business people. Perhaps if we had dealt with these problems in the 19th century, we would not be doomed to be fighting still "between the Cavaliers and the Roundheads....."
Thank you for this most excellent contribution to our historical knowledge. I am saving this piece, and the others in the series (but then I save all your stuff anyway.....) Keep pressing on.....
“Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.”
Utter hubris. Self-delusional. Based on Biblical principles. The horror.
And of course after the war, Stephens was one of the first to say it had nothing to do with slavery and was a "war between the states" over "different values." He was a real "piece of work" as they say.
Yes, Stephens was absolutely a piece of work. He lied, and he knew he was lying about slavery. I do agree that the two sides had different values. Like Camilla, I shed tears of joy when Barack Obama was elected. I had hopes that we were finally going to move past hate and racism. I was flat out wrong!
Your assessment is the absolute truth. I’m a southerner from an “old family”, and I’ve known this since my youth. Stephens’ speech makes my stomach turn. I wept tears of joy when Barack Obama was inaugurated.
To be fair, dodging the draft was fairly common in the Union side, too. If you had the money, you could buy a deferment by paying someone else to take your place with that “fee for services”. Of course, nothing would stop that replacement from skipping out either. A lot of the Union Army of the Potomac were immigrants, conscripts pressed into service, fresh off the boat as it were. Germans, Scandinavians, Italians, Irish, most of whom couldn’t speak or read English.
as I recall, Grover Cleveland got into some hot water during (I think) his first presidential campaign because he'd bought his way out of the draft. I believe it cost three hundred bucks which, back then, was actual money.
I had the good fortune to have a Korean War vet as a history teacher. Our textbooks contained only generalities about the Civil War, as most high school texts at the time did. But our teacher was great at pointing out the military strategies of both sides--to the extent they are known. He was especially interested in General Sherman and his march to the sea and told us some of what you included here. (Later a classmate was moved to name her new tomkitten General Sherman.)
Thanks for once again letting us know the details and especially for calling the confederates the insurrectionists that they were.
it bugs the shit out of me that Jubal (the handsome boy in my picture) had his first, unsuccessful home on a farm near Roanoke, VA where he was named after (this is what those idiots told me proudly) Jubal Early, who was actually one of the authors of the original Lost Cause myth. since I don't believe in changing the names of animals (especially after two years), I kept it (and it's simple and pops the way a fog's name should pop). but when I tell people on the street his name, for some reason I feel compelled to tell them where his name comes from and how embarrassing it is. it would give all of us a lot less grief if I just kept my mouth shut, right?
What TL Mills said. So interesting that growing cotton and tobacco for export was the priority rather than food for the war effort. I suppose the small farmers were supposed to provide that out of devotion to the cause of the slaveholders.
Another problem that bedeviled the Confederacy was the refusal of many of the southern states to provide support for the war effort, in that they refused to levy extra taxes or pay to supply the Confederate government with needed equipment and supplies. Each state was able to decide for itself the level of support for the war - a weakness of any confederation.
I've said Scots-Irish for so long, anything else seems foreign. I do very much appreciate the history lessons and the clarification. I learn so much from Substack writers and commenters.
Wonderful! I was in high school first in Pacific Grove, CA and then in Annapolis, MD. In neither high school was there a hint of these interesting facts.
None of that was taught in my high school history classes, and I was in high school in California back when public schools were pretty darn decent.
I couldn't help but see a strong resemblance to today's wealthy GOPers and wealthy southern plantation owners.
They're exactly the same. Both totally engaged in "yesterday's economy" and desperate to kill tomorrows' since they will not be on top there.
News to me! Thank you. Looking forward to the next installments.
I didn’t see Milledgeville in your telling of Sherman’s march to the sea (i.e., Savannah, which Grant was said to have asked Sherman to give him for Christmas 😉). It was the state capital until after the war. My roots are sunk pretty deep there. I was born there, left for college in 1970, and never went back. Precious little of what you’ve shared here was included in any of the Georgia history we were fed in school. Most of it was folklore, such as Sherman’s men pouring molasses down the pipes of the organ of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. No such thing happened, though they were quartered on the capital square, where the church is still located. My antecedents from that time were planters, surname of Thomas. A story handed down through the years was that they buried the family silver in the back yard to keep it out of Union hands. What was left of said silver, a box of tableware, was in my possession for a short time after my first marriage. My husband, whose mother was also from Milledgeville, persuaded me to give it to my brother, who still lives in Georgia, rather than keep it with us in Buffalo, NY.
Thanks for another intriguing and interesting piece, Tom. I am really enjoying these lessons.
Thank you for sharing your story about the family silver. I enjoyed reading your perspective as a Georgia native.
Wow, this is so good, and a needed lesson that our schools do not teach (and never will, if the other side has anything to say about it). I have read a couple of fascinating articles about the relationships in the American Civil War and how they mimic those of the English Civil War of the 17th century. From an essay reviewing Kevin Phillips' book, "The Cousins War: Religion, Politics and the Triumph of Anglo-America" (by Julian Brazier).....
Phillips is quite clear as to whom he believes deserved to win in each case:
"On the one side, in each war, were commerce, industry . . . reformist
evangelical religion, and the proselytizing middle class. On the other side was
landed agriculture, with its feudal remnants and hierarchical religion and its
greater ratios of horsemen, soldiers, and cavaliers. At a certain point in each
nation's history, it was a necessity . . . for the former to push aside the latter."
The American Civil War seems in principle to have been an extension of the English Civil War between the Cavaliers and the Roundheads - the landed gentry vs the farmers, shopkeepers and small business people. Perhaps if we had dealt with these problems in the 19th century, we would not be doomed to be fighting still "between the Cavaliers and the Roundheads....."
Thank you for this most excellent contribution to our historical knowledge. I am saving this piece, and the others in the series (but then I save all your stuff anyway.....) Keep pressing on.....
“Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.”
Utter hubris. Self-delusional. Based on Biblical principles. The horror.
And of course after the war, Stephens was one of the first to say it had nothing to do with slavery and was a "war between the states" over "different values." He was a real "piece of work" as they say.
Yes, Stephens was absolutely a piece of work. He lied, and he knew he was lying about slavery. I do agree that the two sides had different values. Like Camilla, I shed tears of joy when Barack Obama was elected. I had hopes that we were finally going to move past hate and racism. I was flat out wrong!
So were we all.
Your assessment is the absolute truth. I’m a southerner from an “old family”, and I’ve known this since my youth. Stephens’ speech makes my stomach turn. I wept tears of joy when Barack Obama was inaugurated.
Thanks for this report, TC. More history I never knew.
There’s History and then there’s Hist O Ry
Great stuff
To be fair, dodging the draft was fairly common in the Union side, too. If you had the money, you could buy a deferment by paying someone else to take your place with that “fee for services”. Of course, nothing would stop that replacement from skipping out either. A lot of the Union Army of the Potomac were immigrants, conscripts pressed into service, fresh off the boat as it were. Germans, Scandinavians, Italians, Irish, most of whom couldn’t speak or read English.
as I recall, Grover Cleveland got into some hot water during (I think) his first presidential campaign because he'd bought his way out of the draft. I believe it cost three hundred bucks which, back then, was actual money.
I had the good fortune to have a Korean War vet as a history teacher. Our textbooks contained only generalities about the Civil War, as most high school texts at the time did. But our teacher was great at pointing out the military strategies of both sides--to the extent they are known. He was especially interested in General Sherman and his march to the sea and told us some of what you included here. (Later a classmate was moved to name her new tomkitten General Sherman.)
Thanks for once again letting us know the details and especially for calling the confederates the insurrectionists that they were.
Thanks TC. I'm a voracious reader, so some of this history-which I have a great
fondness for- I knew. You fleshed
out other details for me. READ people! While you're still allowed
to. 😉
This excellent essay proves once more that Charlie Pierce is right - history is so cool.....
it bugs the shit out of me that Jubal (the handsome boy in my picture) had his first, unsuccessful home on a farm near Roanoke, VA where he was named after (this is what those idiots told me proudly) Jubal Early, who was actually one of the authors of the original Lost Cause myth. since I don't believe in changing the names of animals (especially after two years), I kept it (and it's simple and pops the way a fog's name should pop). but when I tell people on the street his name, for some reason I feel compelled to tell them where his name comes from and how embarrassing it is. it would give all of us a lot less grief if I just kept my mouth shut, right?
Probably. :-)
Wow, Tom...thank you very much for that excellent history lesson--none of which I ever read or heard about. Looking forward to your next installments!
What TL Mills said. So interesting that growing cotton and tobacco for export was the priority rather than food for the war effort. I suppose the small farmers were supposed to provide that out of devotion to the cause of the slaveholders.
Another problem that bedeviled the Confederacy was the refusal of many of the southern states to provide support for the war effort, in that they refused to levy extra taxes or pay to supply the Confederate government with needed equipment and supplies. Each state was able to decide for itself the level of support for the war - a weakness of any confederation.
I've said Scots-Irish for so long, anything else seems foreign. I do very much appreciate the history lessons and the clarification. I learn so much from Substack writers and commenters.
Wonderful! I was in high school first in Pacific Grove, CA and then in Annapolis, MD. In neither high school was there a hint of these interesting facts.
Thanks TC.