S.C. to make “Juenteenth” official?

The State.com posted this article yesterday about a bill to officially recognize “Juneteenth” in that state and making S.C. the 28th state to officially recognize the celebration of emancipation.

Why has S.C. not approved this celebration before…could it be controversy?  Controversy over the celebration? No, but a flag the flies on the statehouse lawn.  And it is my guess that this official adoption of Juneteenth will not sit well with those neo-confederates who long for a rebel memorial day or a Lee/Jackson celebration.

If you want to know if I am right or wrong on this assesement just read the last two paragraphs of the article. 

While five other states, including Alabama and North Carolina, have passed measures expressing regret or otherwise apologizing for slavery, those proposals have not gained much traction here.

“I don’t think that’s something we should do,” said House Speaker Bobby Harrell, a Charleston Republican and co-sponsor of the bill that would recognize “Juneteenth.”

Why can they not apologize for slavery?  True, it will not get one black man a job or take one person of welfare or properly educate one child, but it would go very far in dealing with the underlying issues that have made getting Juneteenth accepted in S.C. a ten year process.

Or, maybe, just mabye, those in S.C. who do know some real history feel that apologizing for slavery would throw the neo-confederates arguments on the causes of the war right back in their face.  Maybe an apology from S.C. would finally open the eyes of so many historically deficient southerners that the War of the Rebellion was really over slavery and that the words of S.C.’s statemen really do tell the truth of the cause of the war.

We can only hope!

Gone with the Wind #1…but Frankly, I don’t give a damn!

A Harris Interactive Poll announced on the 21st that Gone with the Wind was the favorite movie of all time.  I believe that Rhett Butler should have walked up to Ms. O’Hara during the opening scene where she is being “courted” by the two or three young men and told her right then and there that he frankly did not give and damn!  This would have made the movie so much more enjoyable and much shorter!

Why after 70 years this peice of “lost cause” crap is still number one is beyond me.   I have seen it once and that is time I will never get back.  But then again the poll only polled 2,279 people during the dates of Feb. 15-22, 2008. 

Oh well, maybe, someday someone will again make a good Civil War movie like Glory and not like GWtW or God’s and Generals.

Poor History…More Black Confederates!

Read this peice from the Crossville Chronicle: the Newspaper of Record in Cumberland Co.  Tennessee.

Here is the concluding paragraph of the article:

“The intent of this article is not to give a complete history of the Black Confederate, but to peak your interest enough in this “politically incorrect” history to urge you to research for yourself. Too long has our national history ignored the service and sacrifices of these forgotten soldiers whose contributions to our country’s history is not only valid but worthy. Dr. Martin Luther King once said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” This certainly extends to the honorable service of the Black Confederate soldiers, sailors, and marines of the War Between the States.”

I have take the liberty to highlight the words “politically incorrect” in order to show that by using these words the author is trying to state that there must be some collective effort on the part of real history to cover up this story of Black Confederates

The one problem I have with these newspaper articles is that they are able to get away with making historical claims without presenting documentation.  The authors claim that 26 black confederates are named on the rebel burial ground at Camp Morton…how do they know?…where is the evidence?  Can we take the research of the SCV and UDC to be accurate or is their work agenda driven?

Before Black Confederates can go from Myth to History…there really needs to be a history to tell and I think articles like this one tell Poor History!

Reenacting Treason!

Here we have the descendants of Howell Cobb and Jefferson Davis reenacting Davis’ swearing in as the President of the Confederacy.  Now I am sure there are those who will have much to say about the title…Treason, you say?  Yep, I believe it was treason as did many contemporary Ameicans. 

This goes to show that we Americans will reenact just about anything.  I wonder what kind of neo-confederate turnout would be expected if blacks wanted to reenact the end of the Selma to Montgomery March?  I am sure the Internet would be full of calls for a good olde down south “Flagg’n”!

Here is the link to the story.

Northern Illinois University

Our prayers are with the victims and the families of the NIU campus in Dekalb, Illinois.

The sad story here.

More Black Confederate Myth Making

Here is a photo that accompanied the article.

 

If you look at the photo in the context of the article you will see a mention of the Library of Congress…assuming that the photo is from there and the “caption”: “Not all the African Americans involved in the Civil War served as teamsters or manual laborers”

Now here is the stretch they make at the get go…thanks to Kevin over at Civil War Memory for showing the way in tearing down this myth…what in this picture tells us anything more than that they were with the army.  None of them are armed are wearing weapon related gear.  Heck, one seems to be wearing an apron.  Also, there is not a distinction of wheather or not this is a group of “confederates” or Union “soldiers”. 

Let’s hope there are better articles during this month than this one to better portray the real accomplishments of African Americans in this country.

Addition 2-13-08

This article has been sitting on my mind for a day or two and today I decided to try and find an online source for the picture in hopes of finding a caption that would put the picture in a historical context.  I figured it would be difficult, but in the end it took about five minutes searching the Library of Congress site.  Here is a link to the page the photo is found on and the photo itself.  I can only imagine the author of the article did the exact same thing that I did, saw the men in uniforms and thought that these must be “Black Confederates”!  Here is the caption and bib. information from the L. of C.

“Negro Teamsters” (title on print). Title from Milhollen and Mugridge: “Bermuda Hundred, Va. African-American teamsters near the signal tower.” Seven black men standing in front of wagon, wood structures in background. (Same image, published as a stereograph with caption “A Group of ‘Contrabands,’” found in LOT 4172-A (Stereograph File) — see entry above.)
Reproduction number: LC-DIG-cwpb-02004 (b&w copy scan of glass negative)
Call number: LC-B811-2594A (glass negative); LOT 4172-B (photographic print)

Now call me stupid, but is there anything in this citation that leads one to believe that these men were anything but teamsters or manual laborers?  Granted, the author did allude to this in the photo caption, but the picture does lead one to believe in “black soldiers” for the South.

Happy Birthday Abraham Lincoln

Happy Birthday Uncle Billy & Mom

Born Feb. 8, 1820

Mom was born Feb. 8, 1946, and the odd thing is that when I was a kid and we would drive to Florida for vaction, mom would comment on how it was too bad they did not build homes like the old plantation houses anymore and that is was a shame so many were burnt during the war.  I always thought it was ironic that she shares a birthday with the man who led the army responsible for burning a few of those homes.

Well, Happy Birthday to both of you!

Peoria’s Civil War Monument

Ancestors: 60th Illinois & 106th Illinois

The other day I was looking through a Google search for Civil War CDV’s and I came across three from the 60th Illinois that I had not seen before.  My great-great-Grandfather, John Farmer, on my Dad’s side fought with the 60th mainly in Tennessee, Georgia and the Carolinas which included the battles for Atlanta and the March to the Sea. On the back of his official records from the National Archives it lists him as one of those lost on the Steamer Gen. Lyon in March of 1865.  There were survivors of the sinking and it appears that he was one and the Archives got it wrong.  How do I know you ask?  Well, he and my g-g-Grandmother had my great-Grandma after the war and that means he must have survived. On Mom’s side, great-great Grandpa fought in the 106th Illinois mainly in Eastern Tennessee and Arkansas.  His real name was Ignatius Schaaf, but he fought under the name of Henry Fisher.  The National Archives records list Ignatius/Henry as the same person.  I have no idea why the name change, he is not listed as a substitute for the state of Illinois.

I have seen very few images of either regiment.  So, this is a call to anyone who may have images or know of images out there that might be of interest.  I would love to see them and get a digital copy of them.  Thanks in advance!!