I’m a proud American. I’m American by birth, but Southern by the Grace of God. I love the South. I believe there’s not a better area of the United States of America to live in but down here under that ole’ Mason-Dixon Line. I was born in Arkansas. It’ll always be home, and I love that it was a rough and tumble frontier state back in the antebellum years. My family moved to Georgia for around a year, when I was about six years old. I still remember the red clay dirt and beautiful hills and forests. Even though I went through the trauma of losing an eye while we lived there, I remember the place fondly. We moved back to Arkansas soon after, and I was raised in the land of my birth. I loved it. It wasn’t until 2004 that I moved to Tennessee. It was also during a traumatic time of my life, but I’ve grown to love my adopted state very much over the past two decades. I still won’t wear orange, but I’ll root for the Titans. I’ll always be a Razorback and Red Wolves guy. Red is my color. I guess what I’m saying is that I love the South. I bleed sweet tea.
I fell in love with history and warfare when I was still in grade school. I would always read ahead in my history book, because I was curious about what had happened in the world, and the class seemed to slow down the narrative. I love biographies of people like Churchill, Patton, Eisenhower, Lincoln, General Lee and even Nathan Bedford Forrest. I read a book called “War Stories” that I’d bought at a discount store when I was probably twelve. It contained short stories about men at war from the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World War One and Two, and Korea. I was fascinated. I loved the strategy, the tactics, the historical significance and the tales of individuals suffering through unimaginable hardships with the fear of death looming over them. Yes, I may have glorified war, at least unknowingly, for many years. I imagined myself in the thick of a deadly fight with the enemy, just like you see in the movies. When you’re a kid playing war you just don’t understand that getting shot isn’t all “ugh! Ya got me!” then you spin around and fall down, only to resurrect yourself to fight again in round two. It’s no video game. Actually, when I played it, war was done with either dirt clods, or an appropriately gun-shaped stick. Few of us even had toy guns. We made do.
As I grew older, the history of the U.S. Civil War enthralled me. I mean, think about it. Combine the cavalry charges, the screaming Rebel yells, the colorful uniforms, and the whole “brother vs brother” thing, and what’s not for a Southern boy to love? I found that it was far enough into the past to seem unreal and bloodless. It had happened right here, in my own backyard, though, so I knew it was real. There just wasn’t anyone left alive that could tell me how “real” it was. So I read, and still read, everything about it I can get my hands on. Yes, I’m THAT old guy. I don’t golf that much, so Civil War it is. I have my own favorite generals and most interesting battles. I enjoy learning new facts about things that put my wife to sleep quickly. The whole idea of the “War between the States” gives me historical “goose bumps”. I just have one concern. My favorite people from that era are generally the Southern figures. I have always loved to root for the underdog, especially when they’re the “home team” and my Civil War interests have mostly led me to research the folks that lost. My ancestors. The Confederates. The Southerners. I feel an empathy for them that borders on the illogical. I tend to look at the war from their point of view. That doesn’t mean I agree with them. I don’t. I do, however, see the causes leading up to the Civil War differently than most mainstream people today. It worries me that I may get confused with another kind of Southern Heritage History Buff. The ones that most folks call racist.
It’s true that the Civil War was fought over slavery. It wasn’t just the moral issue, however. The entire culture and economy of the Southern States depended upon slavery to maintain its existence. Also, slavery was legal. It was the law of the land. When our founding fathers were crafting a constitution for our new union, they almost failed. The issue of slavery nearly fractured the original colonies into a much looser “confederation of states” that would have had a weaker central government than they settled on. They compromised. The Constitution never truly tackled the big issue of abolishing slavery, either right then, or in the future. They balked. And our great United States was born. It’s hard not to fault them, but it was a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation.
Many of our leaders owned slaves. Many did not. Again, it was perfectly legal back then. It was the Law of the Land. As our young country grew, and expanded, the European and English countries were banning slavery and the slave trade. The American South (and much of the North) held to the erroneous belief that the white race was superior to the black race. The economy of the South boomed due to the cotton trade. It made landowners rich to export the cotton to England, who industrialized the textile trade and got rich. The South neglected industrialization and was, basically, a one-crop kingpin. The Southern States refused to evolve with the times, economically or morally. Whether or not we would have eventually freed the slaves legislatively over time is a moot question. We fought a war over it, and we lost. States Rights aside, we were on the wrong side, morally, and we deserved to lose.
Being a Southern boy, I’m still proud of my home states of Arkansas and Tennessee. I find a perverse glee in my heritage. The fact that secession split the country in half, that we created our own nation for a short time and fought with valor and passion for nearly five years against all mathematical odds amazes me even today. The individual bravery, their passionate belief that their rights were being trampled, and their unwillingness to stand aside while a far-away federal government dictated to them how they should live is the thing legends are made of. Many of us feel the same way about the federal government in today’s United States. The parallels are obvious. Many of us do feel disenfranchised from our government today. Helpless to change our leadership, mainly because it’s the choice between ambivalent political machines and modern madmen. It’s not much of a choice. Neither is war. We, as a nation, need to find more compromises that don’t involve shutting down the government, or removing elected leaders because they tick off the wrong people. In many ways our political climate is running as hot as the pre- Civil War politics did. We need to find a better way.
All that being said, I still love the South. I make no apologies for slavery, because I believe it to be an evil that rightfully needed abolished. Those men whom I respect for their military prowess and personal courage and honor, I still respect. Just as I still respect our first President -George Washington- for not becoming a dictator, though he certainly had the opportunity. I also respect Thomas Jefferson, and his abilities as a diplomat and primary author of our Constitution. Both of these men, legally and within the conventions of their era, owned slaves. I certainly do not defend (or agree) with their participation in the slave trade. They are still great men of our Nation, and their time. Keep in mind even Father Abraham, progenitor of the three great religions, owned slaves. Yes, he was wrong too.
My favorite Civil War general, Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, was an Irish-born Arkansan who commanded the 15th Arkansas, in the Army of Tennessee. He gained a reputation for holding his ground when all others could not, for attacking with ferocity and intelligence, and treating his men with honor and respect. He fought beside Nathan Forest, Benjamin Cheatham and John Bell Hood from Shiloh, to Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Ringgold Gap, Georgia and on until his death at the head of an ill-fated frontal assault at Franklin, Tennessee. He never owned a slave. His military career had frozen after he drafted a proposal in November of 1863 suggesting slaves be freed to serve in the military. He did his duty with honor and fell in the service of his chosen country. In his mind, that country was Arkansas first, then the Confederacy. When General Govan mentioned, just before the assault on Franklin that few of them would return to Arkansas to tell of this battle, Cleburne said “Well, Govan, if we are to die, let us die like men.” So, he did. How can I not love a Southern boy like that?
God bless y’all.
Rolling Stones 