Civil War anniversary events go forward despite lack of funds

[waltky]

How ironic, on the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War we have a black President...

Civil War anniversary events go forward despite lack of funds
10 April,`11 - States and communities across the country are coming together to commemorate the Civil War's sesquicentennial without federal funding or a national commission.

Efforts to provide federal funding for Civil War commemorations have thus far been unsuccessful. The Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission Act, a bill introduced by Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., died in committee last year. Andrew Wilson, Jackson's spokesman, says the congressman is working on updating the legislation and reintroducing the bill, which could provide grants for programs and activities.

In light of this economic challenge, the Civil War Trust, a non-profit dedicated to preserving battlefields, views connecting local, regional and state organizations not just as an opportunity, but as an obligation, says spokeswoman Mary Koik. The trust's website, Civil War Trust: Saving America's Civil War Battlefields, links sesquicentennial events going on across the country. "You can read all you want in a book, but for a lot of people, it never quite clicks until you see it," she says.

Programs and events are ratcheting up — and in some cases have already begun — ahead of the 150th anniversary of the firing on Fort Sumter in Charleston, S.C., on April 12, considered the first cannon fire of the war by historians. Charleston is planning a program that spans several days and includes lectures, re-enactments, movies, music and a solemn display of lights at the fort, says Robert Rosen, president of the Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie Historic Trust. That's despite receiving no funds from the state, Rosen says.

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[Big Black Dog]

Careful what you say... You could start that shit up all over again.

 

[Toome]

I don't see it as ironic. I see it showing that we've matured as a nation and did something that probably no one on both sides of the war ever imagined possible.

 

[The Gadfly]

I don't see it as ironic. I see it showing that we've matured as a nation and did something that probably no one on both sides of the war ever imagined possible.

I think there's some validity in that; we have, in some ways, made great progress in America. Since then, we've become a great nation that has spanned a continent; we've sent men to the moon, and brought them home, and we've probably come closer to realizing the dream of an America where all Americans have some measure of equality, than any of our ancestors back then would have thought possible.That's the good news.

On the other hand, we have created a popular culture filled with ignorance, vulgarity, and incivility that our ancestors would have found appalling, and 150 years after a war that tore the nation in two, we have managed to become a country as bitterly and spitefully divided, on many fronts, as America was then. The lines and the causes may be different, but our ancestors of that time would recognize the sentiments all too well.

So, I hope we spend some time in these next four years remembering that bitterest and bloodiest conflict in America's history. I hope we remember, not only what was won, but what was lost. I hope we reflect on what it cost, soberly and solemnly, and I hope we honor the valor and sacrifice on both sides, without glorifying it. I hope we remember, that for all that may have come of it, that war remains our greatest national tragedy. I hope we remember that, for if we do not, if we forget what happens when we arbitrate our differences by the sword, we might be tempted to do it again.

 

[waltky]

Granny says dis time around we gonna whup dem yankees...

Fort Sumter cannons sound again: the Civil War 150 years later
April 12, 2011 - Fort Sumter marked the start of the Civil War, with Confederates shelling it on April 12, 1861. Today, the cannon rolls still reverberate in a country that remains at peace, but torn by ideological divides.

On the morning of April 12, 1861, Charlestonians huddled on rooftops, listening to the man-made thunder directed at the federal outpost at Fort Sumter – the first blows of the Civil War. Since the inauguration of President Lincoln, who had vowed to end the western expansion of slavery while somehow preserving the union, tensions had been gaining strength – fueled by the abolitionist movement, slavery-related skirmishes in the western territories, and the Second Great Awakening (a religious revival movement). As a result of Fort Sumter, these pressures spilled over into a great national convulsion: The undermanned, undersupplied South carried out secession on the ground, and Lincoln, bolstered by a direct attack on federal troops, mustered forces to stop it.

While South Carolina politicians vowed that no more than a thimble of blood would be spilled at Fort Sumter – an accurate description, actually, as no one was hurt from the fusillade – the war dragged on for four years almost to the day. It left more than 620,000 Americans dead, the South in tatters, and the nation at a moment of rebirth. As modern-day Charlestonians – some dressed in Civil War garb, most in street clothes – solemnly celebrated the moment Tuesday with predawn music and the firing of cannon blanks, the country retains an uneasy peace, 150 years to the moment. Some Americans contend the war is still being fought. California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) said Monday the nation is facing a "regime crisis" and a "point of civil discord" of a magnitude not seen since before the Civil War.

But even putting political hyperbole aside, the Civil War does still very much inform the American experience. The emancipation of blacks is not quite resolved and the disagreements between Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln throw their long shadows across issues like health-care reform and entitlements. Moreover, the tea party, promoting small government, has risen to challenge the post-Civil War view of government as a superior, benevolent force of good. After the Civil War, "the older Jeffersonian tradition was suppressed by the new Lincolnian vision of a unitary nationalist regime, and it was never able to digest the Jeffersonian tradition," says Donald Livingston, a philosophy professor at Emory University in Atlanta. "But it's still there, suppressed, in the memory of Americans. What's interesting about the South is that it held onto the Jeffersonian tradition longer – which is why you can't understand America today without seeing this deep conflict between these two groups."

Indeed, 56 percent of Americans, according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center, believe the Civil War remains relevant. That's partly because of its overarching themes, but also because it remains a deeply personal conflict for many Americans: One out of 17 Americans – or about 18 million – can claim a direct line to someone who fought in the war. "It really wasn't that long ago," says Michael Hill, president of the League of the South, a Southern nationalist group in Killen, Ala. "The dislocations of the Civil War wrought so profoundly upon the entire national character that the influence cannot be measured short of two or three generations," Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner wrote in 1873, nearly a decade after the end of the war. It's now been five generations – Robert E. Lee V is today a high school football coach – and the events still wrench the American zeitgeist.

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[waltky]

Ever'body was-a kung-fu fightin'...

Historian Recounts Role of Chinese Americans Who Fought in US Civil War
April 20, 2011 - Many people would be surprised to know that there were some Asian faces in the crowds of white and black soldiers serving in the American Civil War.

The participation of Asians, and in particular Chinese Americans, comes into focus this month as the United States marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the war. It began in 1861 after the election of an anti-slavery president, Abraham Lincoln. Fearing the eventual abolition of slavery, eleven southern states bolted from the union, setting up the pro-slavery Confederate States of America. The rebels resisted military efforts by the North to bring them back into the union, sparking four years of war that left more than 600,000 people dead.

Even though there were only about 200 Chinese-Americans living in the eastern United States at the time, 58 of them fought in the Civil War. Because of their previous experiences at sea, many of them served in the U.S. Navy. Only one Chinese-American soldier was actually born on American soil. The rest had come to the U.S. through the Pacific slave trade, adoption by Americans, independent immigration or the influence of missionaries. Author Ruthanne Lum McCunn, an expert on Chinese-American history, says three Chinese-Americans rose to the rank of corporal in all-white units. “This might not seem like much but if you look at the way the armed services were operating at that time, it actually was significant,” she said.

Corporal Joseph Pierce, who as a child was brought to the United States from China by his adoptive father, fought in several major campaigns of the war including Antietam and Gettysburg. He was honored by having his picture displayed at the Gettysburg Museum. “It is also important to remember that not all the Chinese who fought in the Civil War fought for the Union,” McCunn said. “At least five have been identified as fighting for the Confederacy,” she pointed out.

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