This site is not a hate site. Nor is it a pro-slavery site. I wish to make these two points from the very beginning. I am by birth a Northerner. My recent ancestors hail from the Yankee state of Pennsylvania. My earlier ancestors resided in the Confederate states of Georgia, Kentucky, Virginia and Maryland. Part of my family remained, and still remains in the south, while my immediate line immigrated northward.
In studying my ancestors, I’ve picked up a fair amount of history. While I claim to be no expert on American History, I’d like to think I have a pretty fair knowledge of how my ancestors fit into the general picture of American history, and thus feel qualified to speak on this subject.
Some of my family owned slaves, some freed their slaves and some even left the south over the moral issue of slavery. I think my family is a fairly representative barometer of the social mores of the times, both pro and con. Like millions of other Americans of the time, some of my family owned slaves, some detested the peculiar institution and some didn’t seem to care either way. I am proud of my family’s heritage, both Northern and Southern.
The O’Neal Family has been in America since the mid 1600’s. Family members have participated in the building of this great country and fought in every single war over the last 350 years. They lived their lives and conformed to the common thinking of the times.
And I’m proud of them all. During the Civil War members of the O’Neal family fought and died on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line.
This site has been developed to honor one of my ancestors and her commitment to a cause she believed in and ultimately gave her life for. The fact that I am proud of her and her accomplishments for the Confederacy does not mean that I am a bigot or condone slavery. It simply means that I am proud of her. I’m proud of her accomplishments. I’m proud of her heritage. I’m proud of her commitment. If readers misconstrue this pride, then I’d be remiss not to suggest that the ultimate problem probably lies with them and their misunderstanding of my pride and heritage, not with me.
Being born and raised in the north, I was taught northern dogma. i.e. that Southerners are bigots, backward, yokels, rednecks, etc. I learned that southerners consider northerners to be slovenly, unsophisticated, uneducated dullards. As I grew and matured I learned the reasons for these stereotypes and the falsity of the claims on both sides.
I also learned that while many people generally hold these stereotypes as truisms, they also hold similar stereotypes about the time from 1861 to 1865. Of course I’m speaking about the
Call it what you may…….
Most people can’t even agree on the name of the war, let alone the reasons it was fought for. Today, the prevailing attitude is that the war was fought over slavery. That the northern population felt that slavery was wrong and was compelled to do something about it. That in a moment of light and vision, they happened to notice a great inhumanity toward mankind taking place, and that it was their responsibility to correct the situation. To commit their lives, livelihoods, resources and money to this just and noble cause.
But why do people believe this? Because it’s what we’ve been taught. And who taught us? Why, of course, the winners of the war. The “facts” we’re taught in school were written with northern doctrine, with northern spin.
Way back in 1861, Confederate General Patrick R. Cleburne stated most eloquently, when speaking on the matter of surrender“. It means the history of this heroic struggle will be written by the enemy; that our youth will be trained by Northern schoolteachers; will learn from Northern school books their version of the war; will be impressed by the influences of history and education to regard our gallant dead as traitors, and our maimed veterans as fit objects for derision....”
And his prophetic words have come to pass. We’ve grown up being told in school that this was a civil war. And most northerners believe this falsehood because it fits so well with their preconceived notions of the south. But even the northern terminology is flawed. By definition a civil war is one in which the citizens, or CIVILians rise up to overthrow their own government.
The south did not rise up to overthrow the government. They simply exercised their constitutional right to secede from the Union. They felt the tariffs and restrictions being imposed on their trade products by northern politicians were an insult, and further, would doom their agricultural pursuits and exports to failure.
I believe that this war was waged over financial and political indifferences between the northern, industrial based states and the southern, agricultural based states. Period.
If the war was indeed fought over the issue of slavery, why did President Lincoln write the Emancipation Proclamation in which he proposed to set free all the slaves in the seceded states, while allowing slavery to remain intact in northern and western states which sided with the union cause?
How do you incite the common population to fight for a goal that will benefit only a few rich and powerful men’s financial and political purposes? Simply put; you don’t. You need a cause, a moral outrage, a vendetta to wage a war. You need an ideal. You need something that men can sink their psyches into. Something that would stir the emotions of men to leave their homes and their families; To lay down their very lives.
The moral issue of slavery was certainly an issue that northerners could rally behind. And the right to secede from a Union they felt was trampling their constitutional rights and causing economic ruin was something the southern states could rally behind.
And rally they did. We all know the outcome. But to place the entire blame for the bloodiest battle in American history entirely on the south and portray the north as shining points of light is WRONG!
And now I think it’s high time we began teaching our children the true facts. The REAL reasons for the war. To stop the mistruths that prohibits southerners from showing their true southern pride. To move on and allow them to celebrate their heritage with pride. To give confederate soldiers their proper place in the history books. To show their true spirit of patriotism. To return their honor as true fighting men and free willed Americans and defenders of the constitution of the United States of America.
I think it’s the right thing to do………..