Chamberlain, however, appears to be a morally upright and worthwhile character.
Too bad he was on the wrong side.
Chamberlain's words in 1901. I was always impressed with the way he honored General Gordon. And General Gordon's action (as well as the actions of his steed) alway brings a tear to my eye. Only the honors that can be paid between two old enemies. Those between fighting men.
"Come, shall we go and kill us venison? And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools, Being native burghers of this desert city, Should in their own confines with forked heads Have their round haunches gored."
There are two words that define that war - Union and Confederacy.
Look those two up and give it a thunk. That war is still playing out, the "elite moneyed folk" overbearing the people who grow food and build the infrastructures, race be damned. Hence the "elites" who are running D.C.
I guess, to each his own. After spending time at Fort Bragg, I figured that I'd seen all of NC that I ever wanted to see, although the Asheville area is rather nice.
In the decades leading up to the War of Secession cotton production became to increasingly dominate the economy of the South, enormous acreages being turned over to its production.
Unfortunately, the perceived necessity for slaves to do the actual labor of producing this crop had the effect of further entrenching the institution of "African slavery" (to use a Southern term) as an indispensable component of Southern society, to the extent that slaves actually outnumbered the free population in South Carolina and Mississippi, and rivaled it in others.
As I said in that other thread, the South's dependence upon cotton exports was comparable to the Saudis' dependence upon oil exports today. ALL of the de-facto Southern Aristocracy, and ALL of its leaders owed their fortunes to slave-produced cotton.
The idea of secession was nothing new in '61, it had been bandied about for decades, and national politics had been for at least that long all about accommodating the disparate goals of North and South with respect to the expansion of that slavery.
In their own words, a primary concern of the Southern States at the time of secession was that population growth and demographic shifts would reach a point wherein the Northern States might legally impose abolition upon the South.
No accident then that the Confederate Constitution when it was written specifically enshrined and protected the institution of chattel slavery in perpetuity.
Birdwatcher
"...if the gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we would take great care in their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them." Canasatego 1744
It was Jerry "Mad Dog" Shriver (SFC E-7)who said: "No, no, I've got them right where I want them -- surrounded from the inside." http://www.macvsog.cc/1969.htm
Actually, that "last time in history" is a bit of hyperbole, if you skip to 2:25.
I'm trying to recall the book years ago where I read an account of an elderly Confederate Veteran many years after the war at a reunion at Fredericksburg. His quote went along the lines of "Many people today are still fighting that war, those of us who were actually in it are just glad its over."
"...if the gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we would take great care in their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them." Canasatego 1744
The Civil War, or the War Between the States if you like, resulted from the suspicion that the North meant to use the power of the Union to destroy the sovereignty of the Southern states. Whether or not that suspicion was justified, the war itself produced that very result. The South was subjugated and occupied like a conquered country. Its institutions were profoundly remade by the federal government; the United States of America was taking on the character of an extensive, and highly centralized, empire. Similar processes were under way in Europe, as small states were consolidated into large ones, setting the stage for the tyrannies and gigantic wars of the twentieth century.