Today marks the 150th anniversary of Pickett's Charge, a disastrous infantry push by the Confederate army during the Battle of Gettysburg in which the traitorous forces of the CSA reached their furthest extent north- the High Water Mark of the Confederacy. The failure of Pickett's charge to dislodge the Union troops holding Cemetery Ridge marked the turn of the TiDoS tide, the last real hope for a feudalistic system to survive in a nation founded on Enlightenment principles.
Apologists for the Confederacy try to console themselves with the lie of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy, and have characterized their failed rebellion as the War of Northern Aggression (even though southerners fired the first shots). Make no mistake, though, this is one war in which the "bad guys" are clearly evident- to underscore how awful the Confederates were, their army seized free blacks and brought them back to the slave markets of the South during their foray into Pennsylvania.
The plantation system was a vestige of the feudal system which had no business surviving in a nation which had a foundational document which stated that all men are created equal. The institution of slavery, along with the extirpation of the native population, was a congenital defect which marred the nation, and from which the nation is still recovering. The Battle of Gettysburg, in which the failed Pickett's Charge spelled the ultimate doom of the Confederate war effort, was merely the beginning of the end of the ills of the Confederacy. Tragically, the struggle still continues, as the forces of patriarchal authoritarianism continue to fight to regain ground in former states of the Confederacy. The Civil War didn't really end in the South, it merely became a cold war, largely forgotten by northerners, many of us (like myself) the descendants of people who emigrated to the U.S. well after the end of the war. We ignore the continuing cold war being fought on our soil at our peril. Dammit, the Union one the war so handily, the Confederacy surrendered unconditionally- why are we still allowing manifestations of the Confederacy to pop up?
This post, which may seem a bit intemperate, was inspired by a call into the NPR show On Point in which a North Carolinian referred to the Confederate army as "we" and showed resentment that Pickett's Charge was not known as Pettigrew's Charge, as it is in North Carolina. If I could have smacked this guy through the airwaves, I would have done so- what kind of pathetic creepazoid not only identifies with an unjust, failed cause, but also with a poorly planned, poorly executed disaster of a military maneuver.
I refuse to be nice when that sort of idiocy is on display.
I read the linked article on pettigrew's (Pickett's) charge, and I am confused. The author kept making references to chivalry, glory and heroism. I would think such an occasion of coordinated butchery would mandate the use of different adjectives. The ones that come to mind would be nightmarish, horrifying, futile, slaughter.
ReplyDeleteThese numbskulls were still using 18th century tactics with 19th century weaponry and ordinance. And so what if Lee broke though at Gettysburg? His army would have been less than half strength and his supply line twice as long, making even an eventual truce dubious. The Confederacy was doomed from the start by its very nature of a governmental decentralized structure...states rights undermined the war effort to the extent of making Jefferson Davis little more than a figurehead.
ReplyDeleteThe party of Lincoln became the party of Jefferson Davis during the 60s, and it has continued. All out of political opportunism...the goal is to get enough people to vote against their class interests to keep the GOP in a position to favor the richest.
ReplyDelete=>But there are some crucial asymmetries, and it's these asymmetries that drive the ratchet effect.
One of the most important asymmetries is that while the Republicans can be as ferocious as they please on matters relating to culture -- sex, religion, and so on -- the Democrats are not prepared to be ferocious on the only possible counterweight to culture, which is... class. In fact, not only are the Democrats unwilling to be ferocious, they're unwilling to raise the topic at all. It's the Great Unmentionable of American politics.<=
~
a North Carolinian referred to the Confederate army as "we"
ReplyDeleteNC? Aren't they the ones legislating to (a) ban Sharia Law and (b) bring women's reproductive health under the purview of theocracy? In the same piece of legislation?