I’ve suggested before that how Americans remember their Civil War can no longer be so easily drawn along strict regional boundaries. Consider the video below. On May 15th, 2011, members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Archibald Gracie Camp and the United Daughters of the Confederacy, as well as other members of New York City’s Southern Community gathered at The French Church in Manhattan for a Memorial Service honoring the Confederate Dead, 150 years after the Civil War. Dr. Michael S. Kogan delivered this sermon on the causes of the War and the legacy of the Southern Soldier.
New York City’s Southern Community
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I have declined meeting with the Archibald Gracie Camp SCV, although he was the one confederate in the attic in my northern family tree (3rd-Great Uncle). Died at Perserburg after a well placed shell took him down along with two others in the trenches on Dec 2, 1864.
Marc, this is what Billy is referring to: http://jamestown.wgrz.com/content/new-york-town-belonged-confederate-states-america
Patrick,
Thanks so much for including this link. I’ve never heard of this story before.
Thanks Patrick. This is certainly a curious story, and very thin ground for any claim that the Confederacy existed until 1946.
“They voted in Dec 1945 and they vote failed again, but in Jan 26, 1946, the persons living in Town-Line, NY officially re-joined the Union, some 26 days after the last two southern states (Mississippi & Alabama), officially joined. By rejoining this made Town-line, NY the last stronghold of the Confederacy.”
Very strange claim here, since Mississippi was readmitted to the Union in 1870, and Alabama in 1868. I doubt very seriously that the federal government viewed Town-Line as not being part of the United States, but as part of the CSA, until 1946.
“Technically,” i.e. legally, the Confederacy never existed. As an actually governing entity, it existed until the spring of 1865. But I’m curious, what particular “technicality” are you referring to?
Obviously, there is a lot of cognitive dissonance regarding the “big issues” that he represents. There are smaller details in what he says that make me question his grasp of the war. He talks of ragged confederates charging at Malvern hill. I suspect the confederate army was still well-clothed in July, 1862. He mentions Sherman’s statement about making Georgia howl (1864?) and follows that with reference to Lee’s invasion of PA and men wanting to take revenge, in 1863. Conveniently, no mention of ransoming northern cities. Hardly worth getting worked up about somebody factually ignorant like this, but I sort of ask myself the question, “Is he the best they’ve got?”
While NYC is something of an exception, it is interesting as a Southern expatriate who lives in a rural area in the northeast to see how, indeed, which side of the Mason-Dixon line one lives on doesn’t count much toward Confederate sympathy. Rather, it seems to be a rural vs. urban divide (As it was during the War when New Orleans was the Agrarian South’s only representative in the USA’s 25 most populous cities).
When I first moved up here, I was a bit baffled and off-put (As much as I love the Starry Cross) by the number of Battle Flags I saw on pick up trucks and waving from farm flag poles. I’ve always chocked it up to the fact that tv and movies tend to always give rednecks and tough farmers a Southern accent. Who can paint a caricature of a Yankee Farmer anymore? So people who pride themselves on being backwoodsy and unpolished rally round the banner. Certainly I would be much more comfortable carrying the Battle Flag down Main Street in my current town than I would in Atlanta.
Thanks for the comment, Patrick. I also don’t think you can discount the political element. Those people who are troubled by what they perceive as a bloated and dangerous federal government identify with a vague notion that the Confederate government represented a commitment to states rights.
For sure. It’s completely anecdotal, of course, but it seems like where I’m at, the Battle Flag and the Don’t Tread on Me are interchangeable, except the former is more provocative, which has an appeal. Since in any appealingly rural Northeastern town, you have a New York City weekender element, which locals despise.
Of course there are numerous stories of Democrat-heavy towns in my neck of the woods that raised the Confederate Flag during the War and got run over by Federals immediately, but since most Americans have since moved West, I doubt there’s any element of those groups remaining.
The ‘Confederacy’ technically lasted just 1 month shy of a full 85 years,
ending in January 1946 – in New York
…With the irony being, of course, that the Confederate government was more coercive toward the individual citizen and non-citizen in many ways.
I love the fact that members of these groups proudly wear more medals than any Confederate soldier ever did.
Will,
Perhaps the fact that Confederate soldiers had NO MEDALS may have been a minor point as to why current SCV members display a wider variety?
I have no doubt that what you say is true. 🙂
Glad to hear it my friend! No medals during the war. However the UDC did create the Cross of Honor after the war, and gave them out thru ?1902?
Very nice. Every M&M / Lost Cause / Evil North meme is touched on, in less than 14 minutes. Bravo, Doctor.