Somehow the date passed with no mention about its significance from any news network or blogger. Yesterday, April 9, was the 150th anniversary of Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox.
Could it be that concerns about race relations and political correctness prevented remembrance of this event in the nation's history?
Showing posts with label civil war. Show all posts
Showing posts with label civil war. Show all posts
Friday, April 10, 2015
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Civil War History
On this day in 1862 there was a little trouble in New Orleans.
Admiral Farragut was moving up the river and was about to capture the city. He sent a mesage to the Mayor to remove any Confederate flags and replace them with Union flags. The Mayor declined the request. Then, without orders from Farragut, the captian of the USS Pocahontas sent some marines to remove Confederate flags on the US Mint and replace them with Union flags. He warned that he would fire upon anyone trying to remove them. (Note that this was before the official surrender of the city) As could have been expected, the marines were heckled and one William Bruce Mumford removed the Union flag under cannon fire.
A few days later, Gen Benjamin Butler heard about the incident and had Mumford arrested and tried for treason before a military tribunal. He wasfound guilty and sentenced to hang. Butler issued the following notice:
William B. Mumford, a citizen of New Orleans, having been convicted before a military commission of treason and an overt act thereof, tearing down the United States flag from a public building of the United States, after said flag was placed there by Commander Farragut, of the United States navy: It is ordered that he be executed according to sentence of said military commission on Saturday, June 7, inst., between the hours of 8 a.m. and 12 a.m. under the directions of the provost-marshal of the District of New Orleans, and for so doing this shall be his sufficient warrant.
On June 7, Mumford was taken to the courtyard of the US Mint and hanged.
Admiral Farragut was moving up the river and was about to capture the city. He sent a mesage to the Mayor to remove any Confederate flags and replace them with Union flags. The Mayor declined the request. Then, without orders from Farragut, the captian of the USS Pocahontas sent some marines to remove Confederate flags on the US Mint and replace them with Union flags. He warned that he would fire upon anyone trying to remove them. (Note that this was before the official surrender of the city) As could have been expected, the marines were heckled and one William Bruce Mumford removed the Union flag under cannon fire.
A few days later, Gen Benjamin Butler heard about the incident and had Mumford arrested and tried for treason before a military tribunal. He wasfound guilty and sentenced to hang. Butler issued the following notice:
William B. Mumford, a citizen of New Orleans, having been convicted before a military commission of treason and an overt act thereof, tearing down the United States flag from a public building of the United States, after said flag was placed there by Commander Farragut, of the United States navy: It is ordered that he be executed according to sentence of said military commission on Saturday, June 7, inst., between the hours of 8 a.m. and 12 a.m. under the directions of the provost-marshal of the District of New Orleans, and for so doing this shall be his sufficient warrant.
On June 7, Mumford was taken to the courtyard of the US Mint and hanged.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Civil War History
On this day 150 years ago the Louisiana legislature passed the following ordinance by a vote of 113 to 17:
AN ORDINANCE to dissolve the union between the State of Louisiana and other States united with her under the compact entitled "The Constitution of the United States of America."
We, the people of the State of Louisiana, in convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That the ordinance passed by us in convention on the 22d day of November, in the year eighteen hundred and eleven, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America and the amendments of the said Constitution were adopted, and all laws and ordinances by which the State of Louisiana became a member of the Federal Union, be, and the same are hereby, repealed and abrogated; and that the union now subsisting between Louisiana and other States under the name of "The United States of America" is hereby dissolved.
We do further declare and ordain, That the State of Louisiana hereby resumes all rights and powers heretofore delegated to the Government of the United States of America; that her citizens are absolved from all allegiance to said Government; and that she is in full possession and exercise of all those rights of sovereignty which appertain to a free and independent State.
We do further declare and ordain, That all rights acquired and vested under the Constitution of the United States, or any act of Congress, or treaty, or under any law of this State, and not incompatible with this ordinance, shall remain in force and have the same effect as if this ordinance had not been passed.
Adopted in convention at Baton Rouge this 26th day of January, 1861.
There has been little official recognition of this historical event. But it is important to note that we are starting the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. Follow PE's friend Rico as he attends reenactments throughout the country.
AN ORDINANCE to dissolve the union between the State of Louisiana and other States united with her under the compact entitled "The Constitution of the United States of America."
We, the people of the State of Louisiana, in convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That the ordinance passed by us in convention on the 22d day of November, in the year eighteen hundred and eleven, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America and the amendments of the said Constitution were adopted, and all laws and ordinances by which the State of Louisiana became a member of the Federal Union, be, and the same are hereby, repealed and abrogated; and that the union now subsisting between Louisiana and other States under the name of "The United States of America" is hereby dissolved.
We do further declare and ordain, That the State of Louisiana hereby resumes all rights and powers heretofore delegated to the Government of the United States of America; that her citizens are absolved from all allegiance to said Government; and that she is in full possession and exercise of all those rights of sovereignty which appertain to a free and independent State.
We do further declare and ordain, That all rights acquired and vested under the Constitution of the United States, or any act of Congress, or treaty, or under any law of this State, and not incompatible with this ordinance, shall remain in force and have the same effect as if this ordinance had not been passed.
Adopted in convention at Baton Rouge this 26th day of January, 1861.
There has been little official recognition of this historical event. But it is important to note that we are starting the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. Follow PE's friend Rico as he attends reenactments throughout the country.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Confederate Memorial Day
A group of academics sent a letter to President Obama requesting that he not, as had been the tradition since Woodrow Wilson, send a wreath to the Confederate Soldiers Memorial on Memorial Day. Somehow, they decided that Confederate Soldiers were not deserving of a memorial. That got me to thinking about the men who made up Bobby Lee’s Army.
The Confederate soldiers were not slave owners. That should be obvious to the casual observer who looks at old photos. They were poor farmers themselves. They had little hope of ever attaining a status in life where they could afford slaves. Therefore, they had no dog in the fight to preserve slavery. They must have taken up arms for other reasons.
A major difference between the mindset of people today and the average person during the Civil War was the idea of loyalty to your State versus the Country. The Civil War changed that focus from loyalty to your State to loyalty to Country, but before the war, a person’s loyalty was to his state. Hence, Robert E Lee opted to defend the State of Virginia rather than accept a high position in the Union Army.
Most of the leaders of the Confederacy had relatives that had fought in the Revolutionary War. Independence was not a remote concept to them. They had family that had fought for it. Robert E Lee’s father was Light Horse Harry Lee, a hero of the revolution. Jefferson Davis’ father fought in the war in Georgia. They grew up with living proof of the concept that if you do not agree with your government, it is your right, and even duty, to change it.
And that brings us to the real reason that the Confederate soldier fought. It wasn’t a fight over slavery. Slavery by itself couldn’t make a bunch of poor Southern farmers take up arms against the government. The reason for the Civil War was an issue over states rights and who had the right to tell a state what it could and could not do. And that just happened to be the issue of slavery.
The Confederate soldier believed that their state had sovereign rights. When faced with a federal government they felt was usurping their right to self determination, they followed the lessons of their fathers and decided that a change in government was necessary. In their mind, they were fighting for their freedom. Therefore, they were fighting for the same ideals that made America a land of freedom and liberty. They deserve recognition as much as any soldier-patriot and the movement to disavow them is wrong.
The Confederate soldiers were not slave owners. That should be obvious to the casual observer who looks at old photos. They were poor farmers themselves. They had little hope of ever attaining a status in life where they could afford slaves. Therefore, they had no dog in the fight to preserve slavery. They must have taken up arms for other reasons.
A major difference between the mindset of people today and the average person during the Civil War was the idea of loyalty to your State versus the Country. The Civil War changed that focus from loyalty to your State to loyalty to Country, but before the war, a person’s loyalty was to his state. Hence, Robert E Lee opted to defend the State of Virginia rather than accept a high position in the Union Army.
Most of the leaders of the Confederacy had relatives that had fought in the Revolutionary War. Independence was not a remote concept to them. They had family that had fought for it. Robert E Lee’s father was Light Horse Harry Lee, a hero of the revolution. Jefferson Davis’ father fought in the war in Georgia. They grew up with living proof of the concept that if you do not agree with your government, it is your right, and even duty, to change it.
And that brings us to the real reason that the Confederate soldier fought. It wasn’t a fight over slavery. Slavery by itself couldn’t make a bunch of poor Southern farmers take up arms against the government. The reason for the Civil War was an issue over states rights and who had the right to tell a state what it could and could not do. And that just happened to be the issue of slavery.
The Confederate soldier believed that their state had sovereign rights. When faced with a federal government they felt was usurping their right to self determination, they followed the lessons of their fathers and decided that a change in government was necessary. In their mind, they were fighting for their freedom. Therefore, they were fighting for the same ideals that made America a land of freedom and liberty. They deserve recognition as much as any soldier-patriot and the movement to disavow them is wrong.
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