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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 filed under »CW “forgetfulness”«
Civil War Monuments and the beauty of their flexibility in interpretation
There’s been lots discussed lately about the need to keep Civil War monuments standing, and I wholeheartedly agree. Despite what some say, they should not come down. They serve a purpose, and there are unique qualities in each… not only from an art perspective, but also for the fact that some provide interpretation (or make […]
“I don’t think there were really that many”
July 13, 2012 by Robert Moore
Not so much a matter of content delivery this morning, and more about a thought that’s been lingering with me for a bit… About a month ago, a friend of mine attended a reenactment, here in the Valley (the Cross Keys/Port Republic event held on… the Cedar Creek battlefield). When he had an opportunity to talk […]
50 Most Powerful Images of the Civil War…. hmmm; methinks some are missing
February 6, 2012 by Robert Moore
The Atlantic put out a series of images from the Civil War that they consider among the most powerful. Certainly, I agree with some, but I think their list also falls short. In fact, there are several images that are pre-war, and as far as the actual time of the war goes, I think others […]
“they’re not strangers… and they stay as they lay…”
September 13, 2011 by Robert Moore
There’s something that struck me long ago, while watching Last of the Mohicans (the newest version), but not necessarily in relation to that time period. Specifically, I’m talking about the marking or remarking of graves of Civil War soldiers. We see it often, in instances where folks, today, wish to mark the graves of people […]
Confederate oppression… there seems to be a trend here…
August 10, 2011 by Robert Moore
Just sayin’… …for all the talk in Civil War “memory” about how wicked and oppressive the men in blue were, there seems to be convenient forgetfulness when it comes to how wicked and oppressive the men in gray could be. What is it that is said? For one finger pointing outward, indicating blame, there are […]
USCT, 54th & 55th Massachusetts men in Mercersburg, Pa
May 11, 2011 by Robert Moore
My first tour stops for the day…
Enter… the Confederate army of occupation
April 28, 2011 by Robert Moore
It’s difficult for some Southerners to see it that way, but, in fact, that is the way that some Southerners felt in 1861. As Craig points out in his post, from April 26, some folks and communities are starting to take note of the fact that not everyone in Virginia embraced the Confederacy. That’s recognition […]
“They call me a traitor now”
April 23, 2011 by Robert Moore
This poem (and, no, not written by the same author, whose poem I posted on April 21… and not to fret, I’ll be telling you more about the author of that poem, soon) comes from the Memphis Bulletin (as reprinted in the Staunton Spectator. You remember… the Unionist paper in that town…) April 23, 1861. […]
Wise pushes Virginia over the edge
April 17, 2011 by Robert Moore
Morning of April 17, 1861… On the floor of the Virginia Convention, ex-Governor Wise put on quite a show. After drawing a horse pistol from his bosom and laying it on the table in front of him, he (according to a delegate present) “proceeded to harangue the body in the most violent and denunciatory manner. […]
… because of Lincoln’s call for troops…
April 15, 2011 by Robert Moore
A thought… How many folks say that their ancestors joined the Confederate army because Lincoln made the call for 75,000 troops? Just curious, but, how many of those ancestors actually enlisted in the spring and early summer of 1861? Also, while the idea of coercion did stir the blood (and/or concern) of many a Southerner… […]
“Submission is Ruin.”
April 10, 2011 by Robert Moore
I’ll let a pro-secession paper in Virginia speak for itself… Nothing could be more preposterous, nothing more stupid, than the dogma that slavery is a curse to the country. On the contrary, the heaviest calamity that could befall any slave State on this continent, the greatest curse that an angry Providence could inflict upon the […]
Where were the rights of the people under the new Confederacy?
April 7, 2011 by Robert Moore
No right to choose constitutions and laws is to be extended to the people. Their masters, the politicians, in the Southern Confederacy, did not even allow them to vote for President and Vice President. These secession politicians are afraid of the vote of the people. The restraints thrown upon their ambition for office and the […]
Maryland is “Southron”, ya’ll… and therefore, Confederate!(???)
April 3, 2011 by Robert Moore
Oh, goodness… what do we have here? Obviously, the video has a number of issues, but I’m just going to stick to the “Southern = Confederate” issue rearing its ugly head, yet once again. There is no doubt that Maryland does indeed qualify as a Southern state… and therefore… her residents at the time of […]
An observation – Civil War in Virginia Month… chirp, chirp chirp…
April 2, 2011 by Robert Moore
Today IS April 2, and that chirping would be the sound of crickets in the absence of a proclamation, as yet, by Governor Bob McDonnell. Yet, despite the proposed redirection toward a “Civil War in Virginia Month” (formerly known as Confederate History Month/CHM), the CHM recognition continues by many who are inclined to continue in […]
Cenantua Name Change
April 1, 2011 by Craig Swain
Just more of an administrative announcement here. Concurrent with a buyout of Cenantua’s Blog, we will begin changing the scope and of course the name of this blog. Craig Swain, who has been itching to post more on his vast collection of Mark Twain, Delta Blues, and River Boat notes, has purchased the “cenantua.wordpress.com” namespace […]
“Secession Intollerance”
April 1, 2011 by Robert Moore
The Staunton Spectator (March 26, 1861) reflects on a piece from the Petersburg Intelligencer: The intolerance of the immediate Secessionists, is without precedent in Virginia history. All men must think as they think, and act as they act, or suffer the penalty of being denounced as traitors to Virginia and Virginia’s institutions. As for ourselves, […]
That hideous Yankee tariff!
March 31, 2011 by Robert Moore
… and yet… A Southern gentleman who resides in Augusta, Ga., writes thus:–“If the South were merely let alone for six months, we would probably try at the next general election to get back. The new tariff will open both eyes and pockets; 3 to 4 cents per pound on cheese, 4 to 5 cents […]
John B. Baldwin on the threatened right(s?) of Virginians
March 31, 2011 by Robert Moore
From the Virginia Convention, Thursday, March 21, 1861… we catch Mr. Baldwin in the middle of his presentation to the members of the Convention (as documented by someone present)… She [Augusta County] was identified with every interest of the Commonwealth; and if there were extremes of opinion or prejudice in one quarter or another, Augusta […]
Protect slavery or face “degredation and ruin.”
March 29, 2011 by Robert Moore
Looking back 150 years ago, from the Shenandoah Valley… this comes from the Staunton Vindicator, March 29, 1861… The question is not “Union”. That is irretrievably, hopelessly broken up. No compromise of right–no palliation of wrong, or denunciation of its resistance, can restore its fallen columns. Nor can past glory reconcile to a future of degradation. The only […]
Were Virginia’s Confederate Reserves a smokescreen of deception?
March 23, 2011 by Robert Moore
I’m really jumping the gun here, because I should be holding this story in reserve (sure, why not… pun intended) until 2014… marking the 150th anniversary of the establishment of Virginia’s Confederate reserve units. Still, I brought it up the other day (in “WYSIWYG Confederates?”) , so I figured that I would pick-up from where […]
WYSIWYG Confederates?
March 20, 2011 by Robert Moore
Pardon the silence for the last week. A few unavoidable matters over the past week set posting back a bit, but let me see if I can get things moving once again… What are WYSIWYG Confederates? Well, in Web development, WYSIWYG is an acronym for “What you see is what you get”, and, in some […]
“The victor gets to write the history …”
March 2, 2011 by Craig Swain
So explain this: Why is it “Stonewall Jackson taught us what the pause that refreshes really was”? Why not have a painting of Uncle Billy giving the boys a pause somewhere near Atlanta (the home of Coca-Cola, BTW) in between barn burnings? After all the victor gets to write the history….
… and as for Marylanders and 1861…
February 26, 2011 by Robert Moore
Having asked for input regarding who should be Virginia’s person of the year for 1861, I felt that I also had to ask the same for Maryland. This time, however, Robert E. Lee is not an option, creating what is, I think, a more challenging question to answer. Who stands out as “Person of the […]
Moving beyond the factoids of the Civil War
February 7, 2011 by Robert Moore
I look for them everyday… factoids that pop-up on Twitter. There are a number of folks who post daily, providing us with blow-by-blow details about events as they happened 150 years ago. Some of these folks provide factoids such as “so-and-so (someone significant in the Civil War) was born this day”, or “this happened today”… […]
Newspapers that reveal something new to popular memory of the Civil War… perhaps…
February 6, 2011 by Robert Moore
Once again (as can be seen in my post from Friday), I’ve been perusing the Valley of the Shadow site. My focus in that post on Friday was on the two papers in Staunton, Virginia, at this particular time (the first week of February), 150 years ago. One of those papers happened to support secession, […]
Virginia newspapers “doing harm” to sentiments of disunion
February 4, 2011 by Robert Moore
As Ron Baumgarten pointed out in his post the other day over at “All Not So Quiet on the Potomac”, today marks the 150th anniversary of Virginians voting for delegates to the Virginia Convention of 1861. By the time of the vote, seven states from the deep South had seceded; Texas being the most recent, […]
Recent reenactments and the media
January 23, 2011 by Robert Moore
We’ve seen a couple reenactments lately, and they haven’t been reenactments of battles. The slave auction reenactment, I think, was high impact. It continues to make an impression on YouTube, but honestly, there are a couple of videos available, and the best is one (=>see a post from a few days ago, in which I […]
On Georgia’s secession, 150 years ago yesterday…
January 20, 2011 by Robert Moore
As the anniversary of each state’s vote to secede goes by, I see a tweet or two announcing the fact, but little discussion about the same. Occasionally, a newspaper article or editorial appears in a state newspaper’s online edition. Pretty much, it seems at times as if the states seceded… and that was it. They […]
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