The Civil War - It's Common Denominator

The Civil War



The article on Friday, March 11, by Steve Huffman titled “Pair pay tribute to Civil War’s 150th anniversary”, was interesting, to say the least. On Friday, Casey Becknell and Jamie Funkhouser, part of the members of the Confederate Veterans of Davidson Guards Camp 1851, stood on the square in downtown Lexington, North Carolina, dressed as Confederates, each as if they had “just stepped from a long-ago battlefield.” They said “young people know very little about the Civil War, and what they know is generally incorrect.” Indeed, it seems entirely possible that there are contrarian aspects of why America fought the Civil War. Shelby Foote, born in Mississippi and long-time resident of Memphis and internationally renowned novelist and historian of the American Civil War, wrote on the subject of “states rights”, “northern aggression” and “slavery”. He won the Helmerich Award and the Dos Passos Prize and ultimately compiled the most comprehensive literary works on the Civil War.



During a lecture, Shelby Foote was asked “what he considered was the most common denominator of the thousands of battles fought during the Civil War.” His immediate response was “slavery”. “The term states rights”, according to Shelby Foote, was”made popular as a slogan often usurped by racists during the civil rights era.” Steve Huffman’s article quoted Mr. Becknell and Mr. Funkhouser saying “Those opposed, they don't know their history.” Evidence preponderates itself, when there is more proof on one side than the other. The historical interpretation of the Civil War should be the objective presentation of archival relevance of facts presented. There is far more archival proof that the Civil War had more to do with slavery, than with the rights of the southern states. Factual and documented proof, along with substantiated historical and personal representation on the subject of slavery and the Civil War lead to one conclusion. That conclusion is that white supremacy or white privilege propelled the southern support of slavery.



The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King said “to see injustices and do nothing to change it, condones it.” Mr. Becknell and Mr. Funkhouser cannot rewrite history as if slavery was no more than a minor occurrence or annoyance. It would be an injustice to ignore our slave heritage and history from the Old South. If one hundred fifty years ago, the same two Confederate soldiers were at the same location in Lexington, it is quite possible slaves would be on sale at the steps of the courthouse. The question of whether southerners owned 6% or 20% of the slaves is irrelevant. African Americans were considered property and not human. Slaves were sold as property and taken away from their families, their children and their wives often never to see them again. I agree with the two men from Davidson Guards Camp 1851 on the issue of parity. Indeed, our young children have only been told part of the story.