These ideas have been connected for so long, that it seems most people assume they are all synonymous.
Of course, this isn't surprising to hear from social justice "warriors" or the fascists who identify as "antifa," but the extreme alt-right has been happy to contribute to the idea by waving confederate flags and throwing obnoxious nazi salutes as they proclaim utter nonsense about racial superiority.
The more surprising source of hatred for Confederate generals include those on the right. I was surprised to hear several individuals on the right proclaim the following ideas:
- Confederate soldiers and generals were nothing but traitors, in spite of their service to the United States before and after the civil war
- Even if many whites in the south did not own slaves, southerners were willing to fight and die so that slavery would still exist
- The south was noble in the revolutionary war, evil in the civil war, then noble again in the world wars
- The north represented the pinnacle of morality in the civil war, and their soldiers were willing to fight and die because of their great love of blacks
History books published in New York, Boston, or other northern state all seem to agree that the civil war was a conflict between good and evil, and a great many people (even intelligent people) seem to take the account of the victors as a complete, objective, and unbiased source of truth.
It seems to me that the truth should be more obvious. Certainly slavery was a terrible sin, and those who engaged in it, supported it, or excused it, were completely wrong. The politicians who defined the laws of the Confederate States of America were certainly among the morally bankrupt self-serving fools who gifted their opponents in the north with the guise of morality... but to assume that every person in the south or who supported the south was equally guilty is as stupid as saying "everyone who disagrees with my political views is literally Hitler."
In fact, General Lee had a copy of Les Miserables by Victor Hugo given to all his generals, because he believed that it symbolized the Southern cause. In other words, he did not believe it was to preserve slavery. Perhaps more than what transpired before and during the war, was the character he demonstrated after the war. He advocated for the healing of the union, and on one occasion told a woman "Madam, don't bring up your sons to detest the United States government. Recollect that we form one country now. Abandon all these local animosities, and make your sons Americans."
Lee's letters express his efforts to be humble, obedient, and to adhere to his Christian faith.
Additionally, a southern perspective of the political climate that led to the civil war provides a bit more depth than the northern account of moral piety:
"The ardour, the fury, the stubbornness, the injustice of the abolitionists, provided the same ardour, the same fury, the same stubbornness, and the same injustice among their adversaries. Did the North appeal to the Bible and to authority of the Scriptures? The South did likewise. Did the school of Mr. Sumner, the chief of the abolitionist party, cite acts of cruelty in the slave states? The partisans of the South recalled to it the condition of the free negroes in the North, where they were treated as a pestilence, absolutely forbidden to ride in a wagon or omnibus, to go into a church, temple, or theatre, or to rest in a cemetery reserved exclusively for the use of the white race. In Illinois, the foot of a negro could not tread upon the soil of the state. He exposed himself to be whipped and led back to the frontier. In other states, if he married a white he was soundly thrashed. The North forgot too readily, in attacking slavery, that it had long been pariticeps criminis. Only from the day when a considerable party in the free states believed it would be able to make use of the fact as a powerful lever against its associate, now become its rival - only from that day did it bethink itself to be shocked at the profound immorality." (The Life and Campaigns of Robert E. Lee, Edward Lee Childe)The truth in the civil war is no different than the truth today. There are good and evil elements in every faction, and in every person. Certainly slavery was a terrible evil that should never have been embraced by any state in America, but it was definitely not the only evil that existed. It is ironic that those who proclaim the righteousness of their anger against the evils of the American South would espouse the same sort of collectivist bigotry that they believe fueled their anger. There is faith, kindness, and goodness in the south, contrary to what New York based writers seem to think.
While I can hardly blame anyone for being disgusted at some sheet-wearing clansman waving the Confederate flag (as this race-based collectivist nonsense repulses me), I suggest that they do not have a monopoly on this or other confederate emblems. For some, it truly does represent racist stupidity and hateful dogma, but for others, it represents fried catfish, collard greens, corn bread, pulled pork, humidity, football, southern hospitality, churches on every corner, and any number of other positive aspects of life in the American south.
Finally, as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I have another perspective of the confederate flag... My personal heritage does not include a large number of southerners... most of my American ancestors lived in the north. Many traveled across the plains as pioneers in the mid 1800s, before the civil war. While they were loyal Americans, and opposed to slavery, they had been neglected by the United States government as they were wrongly driven from their homes in Missouri and in Illinois. The federal government only took an interest in the Mormons when they believed us to be a threat. President Buchanan sent an army to occupy the Salt Lake Valley in an unwarranted demonstration of power and control. Even a thousand miles outside the United States, it seemed our people were not safe from persecution... but suddenly, something happened that drew the army back east... Something that allowed the pioneers to take root, and to build permanent homes... That something was a group of men attacking Fort Sumter on April 12th 1861 under the Confederate flag.
While I am not aware of a single Confederate soldier who believed they were fighting so that Mormons would be free to exercise their religion, when I look at the flag of the south, or any number of Confederate monuments, that is what I see.
I make no attempt to excuse the evils that did and do exist in the south... but I would suggest that there was and is goodness there as well... and that perhaps understanding different perspectives might be better at reducing the injustices and ill feelings that judges a person by their geography, heritage, or skin color.
