There were as many reasons for taking up arms on both sides of the conflict as there were men (and women, for a few did) who did so.
This is true, but of course the war cannot be ultimately defined by the manifold desires of men who had little control over whether it would be fought. When the Confederate butternut put his life on the line, he did so to further the aims of those who had power to prosecute the war. Those aims included the preservation of slavery. That is why dishonor even today is associated with the Confederacy.
We may honor the bravery of the men who fought on both sides of the Civil War, but as Americans we will not forget that Confederates fought for aims that were directly antithetical to American belief.
The leaders of the Confederacy literally claimed that the Declaration of Independence "was wrong" and they went to war to try and uphold their point-of-view. When they did that, they literally attacked America at her roots, denying the basis for our nation's existence.
Have you ever read a Confederate soldier's diary? I have read hundreds and I assure you, there is no ideology in any of them, only the sad longing for home and loved ones...
And this is to be expected because, as James Macpherson writes, ideology was simply assumed. The battlefield is no place to rant about ideology when tomorrow you may die. Many Americans think the upcoming war against Iraq will be about oil. Even should a soldier support the idea of gaining access to oil by war, we ought not expect him to write home from the field about war-oil prospects. We certainly should expect he will write to his loved ones about how much he misses them.
Soldiers fight to support their leaders. But they also fight for a multitude of other reasons. This is why no reputable historian will seek to ultimately define the ideology behind any war, least of which the Civil War, by reading the diaries of men who are but the tools of powerful men.
The war must be defined based on the people with political power to start and continue it. There is where we will find ideology. And as far as the Civil War was concerned, at the heart of the South's ideology was the issue of slavery.
This subject arose last evening when Bush was criticized for laying a wreath on a Confederate soldier's grave on Memorial Day and I defended him, saying that the Confederate war dead deserved the same honor as bestowed upon the Union dead.
I am afraid reason will compel us to reject this tidbit out-of-hand. Confederate soldiers obviously do not deserve the same respect and honor as Union soldiers. After all, the Confederates were fighting in support of a government that aimed to literally define certain humans into non-humans. American soldiers never fought for such a thing and so there is no logic supporting that any American should honor Confederates to the same extent as we honor the Union fighters. Certainly blacks have no moral obligation to honor anything Confederate. Yet they do honor the Union as well they should.
The fact is, American belief was preserved and has passed to us today through the Union, and not the Confederacy. The Confederacy actually fought against our Union. That reason alone clearly marks the Confederacy (and those who fought for it) as unworthy of the honor we give to the Union and her soldiers.
I believe that slavery was and is wrong and that those who defended it were ultimately wrong as well, but it is too easy for us to judge men of previous generations through the lens of modern sensibilities.
It is not through mere modern sensibility that I judge them. Very many men of 1860 argued for, fought and lost their lives because they understood the truth of human freedom. Others did not give as much as this, but they nevertheless did not defend slavery as the South did. Many Southerners themselves fought against slavery in 1860, not today but in 1860 and earlier. They understood the nature of human freedom when other Southerners were busy claiming such a thing did not exist. Both were not correct in 1860 and neither are they both correct today. One of them was wrong then and yet is wrong. I judge based upon the truth that existed for all even back in 1860. The South could not or would not see that truth. It was in error.
I believe that the soldiers who fought on both sides, right or wrong, deserve honor and respect.
Indeed they do, but we must acknowledge that some, by fighting for the South, fought to support an anti-human philosophy. And for that, they should obviously not receive the honor of Union troops. Indeed those of us for whom the freedom philosophy is important will always feel uncomfortable about things Confederate.
Contrariwise the American Flag, the symbol of the Union, will always fly with far greater glory for us than the Confederate Flag. The reason for this is, that despite America's long history of slavery, America nevertheless was on record with ideals that demanded freedom for everyone - and she never claimed those ideals were wrong. That fact allowed other Americans to literally hold before America her own beliefs, this, to help her free the slaves and thereby helping her to calibrate to her stated convictions regarding the natural rights of men-- all men, black and white. America admitted her error toward the slaves, changed to uphold her beliefs, and slavery literally ended in America under the American Flag.
This all happened over the loud and violent protests of the South and its Confederate Flag. That is why the Confederate Flag is dishonored. We may honor soldiers on both sides of the Civil War. Many had great attributes, that showed themselves especially in battle. But we cannot make light of the fact that some of those soldiers effectively fought and died for anti-American ideals. |
