Somewhere in my diminished amount of free time lately, I’ve spent some time investigating the realized/actual memory of Southerners at the time of WW1 and even during the Spanish-American War, and all I can say at this point is that it baffles me when it comes to some, today, who suggest that their comments/”position” are/is reflective of some sort of continuing legacy of ill feeling to the “Union” beyond the Civil War. Sure, there may have been some/a few with lingering animosity, but the voice… you might say, the official voice of Confederate veterans… isn’t in harmony with this contemporary “imagined memory” of how Confederate veterans, and Southerners in general felt some 53… even only 40 years after the war. The enthusiasm to prove their loyalty under the US flag during the two wars says something altogether different. All that one has to do is look in old issues of Confederate Veteran magazine… old minutes from veteran conventions from the time… to realize that their modern “imagined memory” may not be in harmony with their ancestry in years beyond the war of 61-65. I’d also encourage reading Gaines M. Foster’s Ghosts of the Confederacy: Defeat, the Lost Cause, and the Emergence of the New South (1987). In an upcoming post, I’ll include a bit about what Foster said about those who felt themselves amongst “oppressed Southerners” in the postwar South and how their cries against fighting under the flag of the old adversary stacked up against the voices of many Confederate veterans.
Imagined “memory” vs. Realized/actual memory
Posted on August 18, 2010 by Robert Moore
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Richard
August 18, 2010
Many of the photos I have seen of veteran reunions include both the Rebel Flag and American Flag. WW1 seems like the forgotten war. In both NC and SC I have seen only 3 WW1 monuments.
Example
Sylva, NC
Robert Moore
August 19, 2010
Yes, I have seen photos of the dual flag displays from that time and believe I have one of a troop send-off dinner in 1917
I’ll look for it and post it soon.
Richard Williams
August 18, 2010
“The enthusiasm to prove their loyalty under the US flag during the two wars says something altogether different.”
I would agree wholeheartedly. I don’t have the resources or info at my fingertips, but I’ve read quite a few articles and papers on that subject. I also seem to recall some research regarding various medals (Medal of Honor?), and how over-represented the South was in the receiving of medals during the two wars.
Robert Moore
August 19, 2010
I’ve heard these things, but have never seen actual statistics. The focal point of my WWI project is on the 29th Division/The Blue-Gray Division., and within that unit, I’ve seen a fairly even display of valor between Northerners and Southerners alike… but no stats to distinguish men separately.”Blue-Gray” in name, but they were Army drab all alike.
Robert Moore
August 19, 2010
I meant to say, “I’ve heard these things as well.”
Dick Stanley
August 19, 2010
Oh, now, I think you should be “inclusive” enough to recognize the informal “voice” of the people, as well as the “official” one. What official voice was ever candid?
Robert Moore
August 19, 2010
Your comment could actually lead to a couple more discussions about organized veteran remembrance and those vets who did not affiliate. Yet, being the organization that concerned itself most with remembering the “Cause”, if others were equally concerned about it and lingering “Northern oppression”, then why did they continue to disassociate with an organization with such a focus? I’d argue thar disassociatiin may be more reflective of a desire to leave the past in the past.
Robert Moore
August 19, 2010
Pardon the spelling. .. thick fingers on cell phone keys!
Mike Simons
August 23, 2010
Robert
Grandma says IP Lynch (My CW family member) didn’t celebrate the 4th or salute the US flag at all till the day he died which was March 14 1933.
On my mother’s side my GG the Grandson of CW vets served with pride earning a Purple Heart. He was a patriotic as any man I have ever met. I believe the feelings about the CW and the Union during that time from the Spanish American war through 1918 was a varied as they are today.
Robert Moore
August 23, 2010
Was your unreconstructed ancestor in the UCV? The purple heart recipients… WW1 or WW2?
Mike Simons
August 24, 2010
I don’t know Robert; Although my Grandmother took care of him when he died the Lynch side of the family took his personal effects. I have not found any record of a UVC chapter in Monroe County Arkansas. All I have on IP are Grandma’s stories and what I got from the Arkansas and SC historical commissions and book on the Kershaw Brigade written at the turn of the last century. Sorry the Purple heart winner was my WW 1 vet WR Richardson on my mothers side.