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I for one am appreciative of any ancestors who fought to preserve the Union and to stamp out the evil of slavery. The world is a better place for the Union forces.
Most if not almost all soldiers in the confederate army were poor white farmers who owned no slaves. Only rich plantation owners and large business owners had slaves and if the slaves were owned by the large business owners they mainly worked as maids and secretaries. Most soldiers in the south were not fighting to preserve slavery in the south, but rather obtain freedom from the union.
You should take a second and look at the war through the confederate side and see it was more a revolutionary war than a war for slavery. Besides if the South had won, slavery would have eventually ended as the south moved away from agriculture.
Oh forgot to say who I am related to. Well my Great Grandfather from my mothers side was a soldier in the Wermacht during WW2. He was drafted and Germany made it really hard to avoid the draft, I think you had to become a high catholic priest or nun to get voided by the draft. He died at the very end of WW2 near Holland after D-Day, but luckily the rest of my family(including my grandmother) lived in Baden Baden and that city wasn't bombed by allied forces.
Ironically my great uncle on my fathers side was in the US navy during WW2 but in the Pacific.
Last edited by MattClyde; 03-06-2011 at 12:05 PM..
My father's family originally came from Scotland. They lived along the lowland borders with England and made their living by waylaying and robbing travelers. They were among those known as "rievers." In other words, crime families.
My maternal grandmother, on the other hand, had a great uncle, brother to her grandfather, who sired the Younger brothers, cousin's to the James brothers. The daughter of Cole Younger gave birth to the Dalton gang.
Along the way, we had others who were murderer's and horse thiefs. We also had a number of preachers, one of whom burned down his own church to keep someone else from pastoring it and another who dynamited his own well to prevent the town from taking it over.
In the state of Alabama, their maximum security prison is indirectly named for the family. It stands in a town named for us.
im not ashamed, im more annoyed that I have Jewish ancestry. It seems everyday during politics class I have to hear how I stole land or how we didnt steal land partaining to Israel.....History shows they didnt really steal it but niether the Israelis or Jordanians (palestinians) are guilt free and have room to talk. Im tired of listening to and debating it, I wasnt even alive when any of this happened and All Jews arent in favor of some of what Israels govt does. its tiresome.
Most if not almost all soldiers in the confederate army were poor white farmers who owned no slaves. Only rich plantation owners and large business owners had slaves and if the slaves were owned by the large business owners they mainly worked as maids and secretaries. Most soldiers in the south were not fighting to preserve slavery in the south, but rather obtain freedom from the union.
You should take a second and look at the war through the confederate side and see it was more a revolutionary war than a war for slavery. Besides if the South had won, slavery would have eventually ended as the south moved away from agriculture.
Oh forgot to say who I am related to. Well my Great Grandfather from my mothers side was a soldier in the Wermacht during WW2. He was drafted and Germany made it really hard to avoid the draft, I think you had to become a high catholic priest or nun to get voided by the draft. He died at the very end of WW2 near Holland after D-Day, but luckily the rest of my family(including my grandmother) lived in Baden Baden and that city wasn't bombed by allied forces.
Ironically my great uncle on my fathers side was in the US navy during WW2 but in the Pacific.
I always enjoy the irony of people who think the South was the wrong side in the Civil War, while thinking that the Colonials were the right side in the Revolutionary War. They were both in the same position, politically, trying to break free from a government they saw as oppressing their rights. Slavery was a minor issue of the Civil War, though it's abolishment was no doubt its greatest legacy.
It's a great lesson that history is written by the winners, and everything gets skewed in their favor.
My maternal grandmother, on the other hand, had a great uncle, brother to her grandfather, who sired the Younger brothers, cousin's to the James brothers. The daughter of Cole Younger gave birth to the Dalton gang.
Along the way, we had others who were murderer's and horse thiefs. We also had a number of preachers,
Now the mention of the Younger Brothers caught my eye. My dad's grandfather may have ridden with them. The old man told my dad a buch of stories when he was 6,7 years old about the Younger Bros. The old guy had disappeared for several years. Came home a changed man and scared of his own shadow apparently. He told my dad he had a price on his head. But I've never been able to determine how much is true.
My dad did a bit of investigation but was stymied as he said his grandfather told him he'd use a lot of aliases. Besides, he said the stories were so good he'd hate to think the old man was lying.
Oh... We're also Scottish and the family is full of horse thieves. We may be related.
Most if not almost all soldiers in the confederate army were poor white farmers who owned no slaves. Only rich plantation owners and large business owners had slaves
You apparently haven't studied your Southern genealogy very carefully. Nearly all of my ancestors, most who came here as indentured servants and weren't particularly wealthy had at least a slave or two. Just read a few wills from the early 19th century South and you'll soon see what I'm talking about. This myth of the slaveless small farmer is just that.
Most of the boys who fought for the South did so because they were expected to by their families and community. They were not fighting for some ideal of an independent South. Your history is revisionist at best.
Contrary to what some would like to believe there really was no honor in that betrayal of our country. I'm just happy that's one family shame I don't have to bear.
I'm not ashamed of any ancestors. There's no reason to be ashamed of things you can't control.
Every family has had issues. I have ancestors who were major alcoholics, owned slaves, belonged to the KKK, etc. One had to be locked up in a mental institution for trying to kill her children.
I don't think any of that reflects on me. It is what it is.
Slavery was a minor issue of the Civil War, though it's abolishment was no doubt its greatest legacy.
More revisionism. Slavery was the issue that led to the Southern Rebellion. Would suggest you read the secession debates that went on in Southern state legislatures. Lincoln's first inaugural address is also pretty definitive of the situation at the time:
One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute.
I have a grandmother who freely admitted going to a Klan meeting. About 1922 in Ohio. She was invited to a "social event" so she went. Said she was there about 10 minutes when she realised it was the Klan. I asked her if she stayed and she said "Yes. To be polite."
Manners mattered back then. She never went back, but once we found that out we used to tease her about it. Endlessly. Especially since she'd taught integrated classroom since 1918. Those particular members of the Klan must not have been particularly bright.
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