UNION OR CONFEDERACY

The question I'm asking though is not about the location of the battlefields. The question is about why are 90% of the re-enactors from the South? Why isn't there this great desire among people from the North to re-enact a war that they won?

Is it a case of Southerners just can't accept the fact that their relatives lost? Why do some of us have to keep justifying the War?

Our relatives were on the wrong side morally, they lost, so let's move on.

 

Rock, I didn't find that to be true. Of course, on occasion there were more Southerners than Northerners when the re-enactments were of smaller batters. Large Northern re-enactment units didn't travel a long way for battles such as Corinth, but for Shiloh they were well manned. My sons says that for Gettysburg the Southerners were very much out manned. It was a hugh re-enactment. I have pictures somewhere. My son's unit, the 52nd. Tennessee, was not a very big unit (maybe 20 - 25 at the most.
Of course my son is no longer into re-enacting so I can't say anything about them now.

 

Thanks delly. I can see where travel time would be a factor for both sides of re-enactors. Maybe my cousin doesn't go up North enough to meet many.

Think it would be interesting to know what those percentages are though, nationwide.

 

You are basing your argument on your own prejudice without any basis or factual information. I would guess that there are many reenactment groups up north. If you take some time to do a quick search, I'm sure you would find that I am right.

Your opinion is that our relitives were on the wrong side, I, and many others would disagree with your opinion, but we are all entitled to our own opinions.

 

JGrubbs....I hope I'm misinterpeting your attitude. If you'll read my posts to delly, I am asking for for feedback and hardly see how that is basing anything on my own prejudice. My wife's family is from New England and it has been my experience in New England that 90% of the historical focus is on the Revolutionary War. The Civil War is rarely mentioned.

Just curious...if the South was on the right side of the War morally, then why did God allow us to lose?

 

The tone of your argument in the post above shows your prejudice to the Southerners and the reeneactors.

It only makes sense that the majority of the reenactors are located where the battles actually took place, which would explain the number of Civil War reenactors in the South and the number of Revolutionary War reenactors in the New England states.

God is not a puppet master, the right side doesn't always win. I could ask your question about many different topics...one could be why did God allow Bill Clinton to win in 1992 and again in 1996? Just because someone wins doesn't mean that God was on their side.

 

JGrubbs..I apologize, I thought you were talking about me being prejudice because I was asking delly the questions about the re-enactors. I still think though that Southern manhood doesn't allow many of us to put away the Civil War for various reasons.

As far as my prejudice, they are formed based on being a native-born Southerner with a Masters degree in history, ironically from a Southern University.

If the South had been on the right moral side of the war, I think God would have allowed them to win, just my opinion though as it is usually dangerous for mere mortals to try assume what God would do.


WWJD-Walk With Jesus Daily

 

RockRambler, just a little warning. You are opening a can of worms by putting forth your education and degree in history. There are many people here who also have many degrees in history and several here have written books and articles regarding the War.

It's still all about entertainment. Here we have a San Jacinto re-enactment every year, right outside of Houston where General Houston defeated Santa Ana and won Texas Independence. Many Mexican people are also involved in this re-enactment, even though the Mexican Army was defeated.

It's all about entertainment and finding your roots; putting yourself in that place. I would also suspect that participation is more prevalent among those who have never actually participated in battles or been in the military. For those of us who are not eligible to be in the military, it is the closest we will get to learning what it's like to "fight" for your country.

Please tell me, what is the difference in watching a play or a movie about war and participating in a fake one while entertaining others?

 

Thanks for the applied stereotype, but not all Southerners are uneducated.

One of the main forces behind all of it was Money.

Almost all production facilities were in the North, while the South was mainly agrarian, which required much more man-power (no tractors and such). On the big, wealthy plantations, this man-power came from slaves. Abolition threatened the plantation owners, since they would lose their work force, and thus their wealth.

Let it be noted, however, that not all plantations used slaves, and that not all slaves were mistreated in that many stayed with their masters and family after they were freed. But enough of the wealthy had slaves working their fields, and these owners knew that their way of life would be destroyed. And, much as it is today, the voice of the wealthy was heard loud and clear over the din of what was best for the country as a whole.

Had I been back in those days, I doubt I would have taken up arms. While I am very proud of my Southern heritage, including Dixie, the Confederacy, and all the rest, I could not stand for slavery.

In Christ,
Trotter

 

Heritage, not hatred. Having a pride about where you came from is not attempting to put an ethnic group down, contrary to the "political correctness" running rampant in our country.

Flying a Confederate flag or taking part in a Civil War re-enactment is a personal choice and a personal freedom. Last time I checked, this was still America, and the Bill of Rights were still in effect. With all of the hullabaloo that has went on about states being forced to remove any vestiges of the Confederate flag from their own. I sometimes wonder...

True, some wounds have not healed. Most any day i make reference to somebody being a "Yankee". Racism is still alive and well (on both sides). Segregation's shadow still haunts the shadows. But, in the end, we are all still Americans, and would gladly lay down our lives to protect our homeland together.

In Christ,
Trotter

 

Don't mean to be insensitive but on the positive side this does prove conclusively that Rednecks are better shots than Yankees!

 

I am a first gereration New Yorker, and both of my parents came from the south. Being an African American I would have fought with the Union army!. I know that Abraham Lincoln's main goal was for keeping the union together, and slavery was not his main objective, but it was abolished anyway. ----------My great grandmother was a slave as a girl and she did not leave a pretty description of it to my grandmother, she told stories of cruelty. I feel that slavery most likley would have come to an end in possibly another one hundred years on its own or another great bloodshed would have happened. I sometimes imagined [as a kid]that if slavery was not abolished I could be somewhere right now a slave and working for free!----When I asked my mother if slavery was not abolished would we be slaves?, my mother's answer would always be the same, "only GOD knows" --yes, I would have fought along with the union army. However let us all give thanks to our LORD JESUS CHRIST that we did not have to be involved in that horrific episode in our country's history ---but to always remain in service on the battlefields of our LORD'S-- yours in CHRIST--

 

Having the benefit of hindsight...which our ancestors unfortunately didn't have, I would like to think I would have fought for the South, being for the right to secede, but would have been able to convince them that the first thing we needed to do was free all the slaves. This would have kept slavery from being an issue.

 

Even though I was born in Michigan I am a Confederate all the way. I even named my first Born Robert Edward Lee (two middles names).

I have always been a big Civil War buff.

 

Was working on my paper earlier, and i realized something. i dont think i could have fought under Union leadership!!! i mean, who would you rather fight under, Lee and Jackson, both devout Christians, or Hooker, history's "most noted moral being?" (sarcasim, by the way)