“Vicksburg has fallen—no doubt of it. I am heart sick. Whether in our struggle for independence we sink or swim, this I regard as no longer my country. If we should finally succeed, in addition to a debt, which if repudiated will stamp us with eternal disgrace—if recognized will paralyze the energies of our people during many years—then will be returned upon us a body of men, familiar with blood, their habits of industry destroyed—their moral education lost, their sensibilities blunted, moral lepers are a curse to any community. This I regard as the most favorable termination possible. And I would not that my children should have such associates. On the other hand, if we are overrun, our state will for years be the theatre of guerrilla warfare, and should we finally be subjugated a system of oppression, which will put to the blush the English atrocities in India. And I want not that my children should be slaves.—Ergo—this is no longer my country—and henceforth my thoughts & energies shall be directed towards finding a suitable asylum, and the means of reaching it.”

He never left Gonzales County, although acquaintances became Confederados in Brazil.

You touched on many of the vital questions of this complicated issue. I didn’t like being reminded that how we understand history is through our wars — ouch! but it’s a cold dose of reality and I’m left wondering, will we ever learn?

Thanks for a great program on Veteran’s Day. This is the first time I’ve heard your show (on 94.9 FM KUOW Seattle public radio) and I was very impressed. I so appreciated Ed Ayer’s interview method with the member of the Sons of the Confederacy. It was a great interview, but when the Son’s of the Confederacy fellow tried to claim that the civil war was not about slavery, that was just too much. It is frustrating on radio (especially public radio) when the reporter or interviewer does not challenge false statements or propoganda made by the interviewee. I thought Mr. Ayers handled the situation very deftly. He remained respectful, but he made sure the listeners were not given misinformation about history. He then gave the interviewee another chance to address the issue and in the end I think he was able to tell his side of the story.

Thank you for your intelligent program. I intend to do more listening.

Port Townsend, WA

” THE FT. HOOD TRAGEDY BELONGS TO US ALL
Edward Tick, Ph.D.

I have had the great honor of working with our fine and dedicated troops at Ft. Hood. I have spent time with the clergy, behavioral staff, officers and troops. I was deeply impressed and moved by their degree of commitment, sincerity, love of country and service, and willingness to sacrifice.

I am also heartbroken to admit that I saw massive numbers and degrees of visible and invisible wounds at Ft. Hood. Countless troops with every wound from missing body parts to extreme Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. Countless recycling of these wounded for further deployments where troops are needed. Untold frustration and despair among our dedicated clergy and behavioral staff in trying to treat more legions of wounded than anyone can possibly adequately help.

I do not know the psychiatrist who committed these killings. But I do know that we are asking our troops to perform incredibly difficult and demanding missions — both abroad and at home — that exceed our human ability to digest, integrate and respond to. Ft. Hood is a massive sanctuary of the wounded. Many behavioral staff confided to me, sometimes numbed out and sometimes with secret tears, that they are in despair over the degree of wounding and numbers of wounded and are strained beyond human capacity to try to effectively treat them.

Our hearts should go out to every one of the victims of this tragedy, including the killer. A person must be under unbearable strain to snap as he did. He must have already been in an inner hell created by all the stories he heard and horror he witnessed. One does not have to be a combat veteran to be a combat victim. Now his private hell has spread its fires to our nation.

We must hear this tragedy as a wake up call to our nation. There is a stress point beyond which all people break, from which they cannot return. As a nation we must stop pushing our troops and their caregivers so far and expect performance beyond what is humanly possible. Every one, including the psychiatrist, is a tragic victim here. We must not do more violence by demonizing one person or his religion. Rather, let our broken hearts open and realize that all our troops and their caregivers are carrying more pain than is tolerable, more demand than can be answered.

Please — let your broken hearts open to every victim. Judge not. Realize we are asking too much from too few and giving them too little help, too little support, too little to work with. This tragedy is all of our making. It is up to all of us to respond and help our nation and its overwrought troops everywhere to heal. ”
# # #

It’s pretty easy to see how this belief came into being; after losing the heck out of the war, no one wanted to admit it was fought in defense of the Peculiar Institution. But the facts suggest it was.

The issue of the spread of slavery into new states as they joined the union sundered the 1860 Democratic National Convention in Charlston. That scism resulted in two Democratic candidates running against Lincoln, which got Abraham Lincoln elected as a plurality president, which in turn caused the South Carolina secession.

Also, the vice president of the CSA, Alexander Stevens, publicly identified the slavery as the cornerstone of the CSA in a widely published speech. Finally, in letters and diaries written by CSA soldiers, white racial supremacy was repeatedly identified as the reason they were willing to fight and die. The CSA has a lot of good guys in it, but a lot of what they believe is pure horse hockey.

Great show! Keep up the good work!