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As a Southerner and native of the Shenandoah Valley, I offer reflections on the Civil War-era South… and sometimes a little more. But… expect the unexpected
Browsing All posts tagged under »slavery«
On the notion that emancipation would eventually come in a free and independent Southern Confederacy
With the title of this post in mind… this editorial comes from the Staunton Vindicator, December 14, 1860 (courtesy the Valley of the Shadow site). Now, I realize, as an editorial, it is, or may be, just one man’s opinion, but, there appear to be reflections of the attitudes of others. I’ve placed emphasis in […]
How all Northerners “then” weren’t really so out of touch with “being Southern”
November 14, 2010 by Robert Moore
It’s bad enough to hear some contemporary Southerners speak of Northerners as if it was still the time of the Civil War, but it’s even worse to hear Southerners speak of the people of the North from the time of the war, as if they could not, in the least bit, identify with the culture […]
Plumb Grove – home of Jonathan Nesbitt, Jr.
October 11, 2010 by Robert Moore
I’ve got some photos that I took a couple of weeks back while on my road trip to Four Locks and Clear Spring, and I thought that I might as well put them on here for everyone to enjoy. I didn’t include them in the tour that weekend because there is no known tie between […]
A Virginia slave in pursuit of freedom
June 3, 2010 by Robert Moore
I just finished reading something about John M. Washington, a slave who spent some time in Staunton, Virginia in the mid-1850s. To me, finding any account of a slave, for any amount of time in the Valley, is refreshing as it adds new dimensions to an understanding of what life was like here. Regretfully, I […]
Quick observations on Strother’s “recollections”
May 14, 2010 by Robert Moore
The first thing that strikes me about Strother’s recollections is that, even after the war, he refers to himself as a Virginian, not as a West Virginian. Does this have a purpose or is it simply a projection of who he was, what he was, at the time these events were unfolding? Obviously, he sees […]
Personal Recollections of the Civil War. By a Virginian (D.H. Strother). [Installment 2]
May 12, 2010 by Robert Moore
Picking-up from installment 1… … In the recent election for members of the Convention the people of Virginia have expressed their determination to remain in the Union by an overwhelming majority. Gloriously has the good old State vindicated her honorable traditions and the memory of those noble sons whose effigies fill the chief places in […]
A snowball effect: the continued propagation of bad history in Confederate History Month in Va.
April 21, 2010 by Robert Moore
It just continues to get worse. As Kevin pointed out in a post yesterday, the S.C.V. camp in Harrisonburg/Rockingham County placed a proclamation in the Harrisonburg Daily New Record. Rockingham isn’t my home county, but I do have ancestry (including one third great grandfather in Co. A of the 58th Virginia Militia, and several cousins […]
A Unionist Marylander voices his thoughts on slavery as the “ultimate cause” of the “strife”
April 19, 2010 by Robert Moore
… and this same Marylander believed that removing any discussion of emancipation was probably a good idea. Read the following from the January 8, 1862 edition of the Hagerstown Herald of Freedom and Torchlight: Our Union, vs. The Slavery Question MESSRS, EDITORS: – In this degenerate age, when rebellion stalks forth as a thief in […]
Virginia’s John S. Mosby speaks…
April 15, 2010 by Robert Moore
Something to think about… The South had always been solid for slavery and when the quarrel about it resulted in a conflict of arms, those who had approved the policy of disunion took the pro-slavery side. It was perfectly logical to fight for slavery, if it was right to own slaves. – John S. Mosby, […]
Passing thoughts on the “slave times” and “coming to the table”
February 1, 2010 by Robert Moore
In a discussion with a cyber friend off-blog today, I shared some of my thoughts about the idea of “Coming to the Table.” As I believe I have stated in another post here, sometime ago, I have no descended-through-the-generations stories of slaveholding relating to my family, but I have thoughts as a genealogist who has […]
Looking for manumissions… on the part of my family
January 11, 2010 by Robert Moore
A couple of months ago, I purchased a book that provides information about the African-American manumissions for Washington County, Maryland. The objective… to see if I had any family members who freed slaves in the 1850s and even as late as the early 1860s, in advance of the Emancipation Proclamation. Now, as I mentioned in […]
The Border State Representatives Respond to Lincoln’s Appeal
January 4, 2010 by Robert Moore
The following is a response to the appeal made by Lincoln (in this blog post from December) prior to the Emancipation Proclamation. It appeared on the same page, immediately following the President’s appeal, in the July 30, 1862 edition of the Hagerstown Herald of Freedom of Torch Light. Reply of the Majority. The following paper […]
Lincoln appeals (again) to the border states
December 19, 2009 by Robert Moore
Following-up from my post yesterday about Maryland’s independent efforts in emancipating slaves in Maryland… this is the piece that I promised would follow. The following is from the July 30, 1862 edition of the Hagerstown Herald of Freedom and Torch Light: The President’s Appeal to the Border States The Representatives and Senators of the Border […]
Clarification about the decline in slave numbers in Washington County, Maryland
October 21, 2009 by Robert Moore
I realized that I should probably clarify something in my post from the other day, that the decline of slave numbers in Washington County should not be thought of in terms of attributable to manumissions alone. It should not be misconstrued as some “Utopia” for slaves, as there were some who continued to escape North […]
John Minor Botts shares some thoughts on John Brown’s raid… and a little more
October 19, 2009 by Robert Moore
I’ll get back to my thread of posts on Southern Unionism in western Maryland (which began here), but today, considering the 150th anniversary events surrounding John Brown’s raid over the past weekend, I want to post something rooted in thoughts of the raid. Actually, while scrolling through the old CW-era Hagerstown newspapers this weekend, I […]
Were “Black Republican Proclivities” at play in Clear Spring?
October 14, 2009 by Robert Moore
Before I start with the article, I thought that I should point out… the Hagerstown Mail was a pro-secession publication, unlike Hagerstown’s Herald of Freedom and Torch Light. Apparently, the Mail, seeing all the talk (examples here and here) of strong Unionism in Clear Spring, thought that the town’s strong leanings toward Union might be influenced by […]
More thoughts on Mercersburg and the Confederate seizing of whites and blacks
May 28, 2009 by Robert Moore
This is something that I have thought about since I first saw the marker at Mercersburg… We know that white civilians (residents of the town) were seized in Mercersburg in October 1862 and sent South to POW camps. However, does anyone else find it interesting that the blacks seized in Mercersburg in 1863 (during the Gettysburg […]
Defining Southern Heritage in Civil War Remembrance
February 15, 2009 by Robert Moore
If modern Confederate remembrance does not come close to accurately capturing the true definition of Southern heritage in the Civil War era, what does? I’ll be posting on this in the coming week. In the meantime, hat-tip to Kevin at Civil War Memory for making us aware of a YouTube clip, and a “well-done” to […]
A white man remembers slavery in the Shenandoah Valley
February 3, 2009 by Robert Moore
I was wondering if I could interest the present generation by giving them a little of the history of antebellum days of slavery and how some things were done in by-gone days – things that I know did really happen. Now all I shall tell of will be done without doing violence to the truth […]
Are we limited in our perspectives in the Civil War blogosphere?
January 26, 2009 by Robert Moore
After reading a comment made in one of my posts from few days ago, I realized something; something that I had really not thought of before. I think it is revealing in terms of how the Web can erase racial barriers. Nonetheless, of all of those who blog in the Civil War blogosphere, who among […]
What’s it like to be the descendant of a slaveholder?
January 21, 2009 by Robert Moore
It’s interesting how people bond to ancestry and certain aspects of history related to ancestors. However, how often have you heard someone talk about their slaveholding ancestor? There are all sorts of descendant organizations, but is there an organization for the descendants of slaveholders? I’d be surprised if there was, and I certainly can’t imagine anyone […]
In search of plantation culture in the 1860 census
January 16, 2009 by Robert Moore
Maybe I should have added “where it was and where it wasn’t” to the title of this post. Anyway, I give you the following numbers to consider… State # of slaveholders in 1860 % of owners with only 1 slave % of owners with only 2 slaves % of owners with only 3 slaves % […]
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December 12, 2010 by Robert Moore
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