The Secret History Of The Photo At The Center Of The Black Confederate Myth:

The Secret History Of The Photo At The Center
Of The Black Confederate Myth

A 160-year-old tintype depicting Andrew Chandler and his slave Silas, both in Confederate uniform, has long been used as evidence that slaves willingly fought against the army that aimed to free them. Following the national backlash against Confederate iconography, Silas’s descendants seek to debunk this once and for all.

The cemetery in West Point, Mississippi, is filled with leaning, weary graves, gray monuments discolored by time.
“That’s the white graveyard,” Cyril Chandler, 66, said, gesturing with a scarred hand injured in a printing press accident decades ago. “This is the black one on the other side.”
Cyril then guided me to the small stone obelisk marking the grave of his great-grandfather, Silas Chandler, a former slave who went to war alongside his Confederate master and a man who in death has become a source of controversy he could never have imagined. The Confederate flag that once flew at his resting place is gone, as is the metal cross placed there by the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy in a 1994 ceremony to honor his “service,” complete with a 21-gun salute. According to the SCV, the cross was not an award for valor or bravery, but simply denoted that Silas was a Confederate soldier.

Silas Chandler’s headstone. Natalie Maynor
The ceremony was a reunion of sorts between the two Chandler families, white and black. Andrew Chandler Battaile Sr., a great-grandson of Silas’s master, said at the time that reconnecting with Bobbie Chandler, 83, Silas’s great-grandson, was “truly as if I had been reunited with a missing part of my family.” Although Bobbie and Cyril Chandler were both present, their other siblings refused to attend the event. They wanted no part of the ceremony, or the implication that Silas had served the Confederate cause willingly.
www.buzzfeed.com...

Not saying some Southern AAs did not volunteer in the Confederate armies after all some were slave owners themselves but many others may have had no choice they simply served as uniformed slaves.

I​f there are any isolated instances of slaves
taking up arms, it was as property, not as soldiers​.​
Bedford Forrest, the first national leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

But where Andrew Chandler’s descendants recall an intimate friendship that lasted for generations, and neo-Confederates see evidence of a post-racial Confederacy, Silas Chandler’s family sees a slave forced to serve a cause he did not believe in, not only in life but also in death. “They dressed him up like a monkey,” Sampson said, “and took him off to war.”

This point of contention was freshly brought up on a very recent thread in which I participated in

Bystanders break up bizarre scuffle between angry KKK members and black pro-Confederate activist
www.abovetopsecret.com...

A few Black southerners are beginning to stake out a claim for recognition of their ancestors participation on the Confederate side to the dismay and disbelief of many their neighbors this after all is where history and myth making clashed in modern American politics , I suggest you guys visit the link and read through it it's alot to take in but a good read.
www.buzzfeed.com...
Klik me^

There were many Black people who fought for the Confederacy at the start of the war. As the war progressed however the South did not pursue a policy of having Black soldiers whereas the North did in the wars latter years especially. Many historians feel had the South pursued an enlistment policy like the North did later in the war it would have helped keep their ranks up.


Nice thread OP, I'm sure there will be some folks along shortly to tell you your history is all wrong. Black folks fighting for the Confederacy does'nt fit in the whole freeing the slaves narrative.

a reply to: Cancerwarrior

But history is nuisance and is supposed to be given the nature of people, but yet Black folks fighting for the Confederacy does'nt fit in the whole freeing the slaves narrative. it does not fit in, for there were clear lines as to where the benefits lay in terms of group or personal freedom for AAs seeking to escape life as plantation slaves.

originally posted by: Spider879
a reply to: Cancerwarrior

But history is nuisance and is supposed to be given the nature of people, but yet Black folks fighting for the Confederacy does'nt fit in the whole freeing the slaves narrative. it does not fit in, for there were clear lines as to where the benefits lay in terms of group or personal freedom for AAs seeking to escape life as plantation slaves.

Possibly, rather than seeing it as an either or, it has to be understood (comprehended?) that the Confederates were fighting not just to preserve slavery, but more widely to preserve their way of life, slavery is used as a totem for that way of life I think, but in doing so it may exclude the reality of some slaves. For some African-Americans slavery may have been preferable, and for a variety of reasons, perhaps even simply because any change can be terrifying when you have known nothing else (and better the devil you know, right?), some will have been broken people too, unable to even think for themselves, while others, as you pointed out, profited from slavery themselves. There is loyalty too, to the hand that feeds you and does so with relative or comparative kindness. All sorts of complexity in any regime of oppression of a few over the many, there'd be far more uprisings if that wasn't the case.

I don't think over simplification, or a one size fits all explanation is ever particularly satisfying.

Fascinating subject

a reply to: Spider879

slaves willingly

I have a LOT I would like to say but I'll simply say that is an oxymoron.

And if he did so "willingly" I can only imagine it is due to the same psychosis which makes the abused love their abuser. Trauma, stress, and dehumanization are a toxic cocktail to mental health. That enigmatic smile and those eyes are very telling.

a reply to: Anaana

For some African-Americans slavery may have been preferable, and for a variety of reasons, perhaps even simply because any change can be terrifying when you have known nothing else (and better the devil you know, right?), some will have been broken people too, unable to even think for themselves, while others, as you pointed out, profited from slavery themselves. There is loyalty too, to the hand that feeds you and does so with relative or comparative kindness. All sorts of complexity in any regime of oppression of a few over the many, there'd be far more uprisings if that wasn't the case. I don't think over simplification, or a one size fits all explanation is ever particularly satisfying.

Absolutely!

The environment of slavery involved lots of intimate relationships between whites and their property. I say property because that term was the only way whites reconcile in their Christian values the atrocious, heinous practice of owning another human being for monetary gain. The amount of physical, emotional, and spiritual terrorism required to hold a race of human beings in slavery creates nothing less than hell on earth. Breeding plantations by far are some of the most disgusting, dehumanizing aspect of the institution. Sex slavery on top of slavery. To be a woman and have your WOMB become a slave for Master! Birthing so many children that you will NEVER know. I cant imagine as woman that condition. To be a well endowed man and have your worth reduced to your virility as you have sex with girls and women and basically raping them on command! How can a "civilized" man who says he is God fearing command such actions? Cognitive Dissonance (see Dr. Joy deGruy). The mental defect the white power structure utilized in order to be able to look themselves in the mirror and not see a monster.

Slaves were terrified into subjugation, then after several generations of conditioning, accept their condition, and find humanity in their masters. These are relationships between two human beings in a power structure being human. The slaves (especially in the "big house") washed, dressed, nursed babies, counseled, and had sex with their Masters. Of course some form of favoritism and loyalty developed. These two in the photo were probably raised as playmates until Silas got big enough to go to the field where he served master but retained friendship with him.

You say its fascinating....I say its horrifying. As a human being and as a Black woman born and raised in Charleston SC. I cant count the times I've spit on slave market and the daughters of the confederate doors.

a reply to: Spider879

History has produced a term African Americans have used to describe blacks who were loyal collaborators with the whites in exchange for privileges granted for informing and such.

An uncle Tom is a black person who places his loyalty with his white associates especially in work situations when the boss is white and some employees who are black feel that one of them are more loyal to the white man than his own people, racially speaking.

This is a term originating in slavery. It is no surprise to me that African slaves fought for the confederacy. The war was not actually about slavery but secession. Freeing the slaves was a recruiting method for any slave fighting for the north would be granted freedom. This strategy was a success and Lincoln delivered on his promise. But it isn't as noble as we have been told.


"All men are created equal."

"Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."


So it can only be that the slave owners did not consider Africans human (men).

Shouldn't it be all humans are created equal? Were women not created equal? I know it is a general term to refer to mankind as man or men, but that shows how patriarchal the world in general is. Also, at that time, racially hierarchical. That Africans had no rights under the declaration of independence as interpreted then is a serious blemish on the "enlightened" founding fathers who almost all owned slaves.

Taxation is so evil that it starts a revolution but slavery is accepted as if it is not evil at all.

And the bible was used as justification.

originally posted by: Istaywoke77
a reply to: Anaana

For some African-Americans slavery may have been preferable, and for a variety of reasons, perhaps even simply because any change can be terrifying when you have known nothing else (and better the devil you know, right?), some will have been broken people too, unable to even think for themselves, while others, as you pointed out, profited from slavery themselves. There is loyalty too, to the hand that feeds you and does so with relative or comparative kindness. All sorts of complexity in any regime of oppression of a few over the many, there'd be far more uprisings if that wasn't the case. I don't think over simplification, or a one size fits all explanation is ever particularly satisfying.

Absolutely!

The environment of slavery involved lots of intimate relationships between whites and their property. I say property because that term was the only way whites reconcile in their Christian values the atrocious, heinous practice of owning another human being for monetary gain. The amount of physical, emotional, and spiritual terrorism required to hold a race of human beings in slavery creates nothing less than hell on earth. Breeding plantations by far are some of the most disgusting, dehumanizing aspect of the institution. Sex slavery on top of slavery. To be a woman and have your WOMB become a slave for Master! Birthing so many children that you will NEVER know. I cant imagine as woman that condition. To be a well endowed man and have your worth reduced to your virility as you have sex with girls and women and basically raping them on command! How can a "civilized" man who says he is God fearing command such actions? Cognitive Dissonance (see Dr. Joy deGruy). The mental defect the white power structure utilized in order to be able to look themselves in the mirror and not see a monster.

Slaves were terrified into subjugation, then after several generations of conditioning, accept their condition, and find humanity in their masters. These are relationships between two human beings in a power structure being human. The slaves (especially in the "big house") washed, dressed, nursed babies, counseled, and had sex with their Masters. Of course some form of favoritism and loyalty developed. These two in the photo were probably raised as playmates until Silas got big enough to go to the field where he served master but retained friendship with him.

You say its fascinating....I say its horrifying. As a human being and as a Black woman born and raised in Charleston SC. I cant count the times I've spit on slave market and the daughters of the confederate doors.

Would you liken it to a more severe, generational Stockholm syndrome?

I am not trying to sound like I understand what it is like to know the terror your ancestors felt but I have seen both Roots and they were excellent movies that leave you in a state of awe after viewing like Schindler's list.

So I ponder the feeling of being captured, sold, chained by your neck in a boat to spend months at sea in what I imagine is the way they broke their spirit so that they would be traumatized for life and compliant.

It gives me the chills just thinking about it. The Holocaust was terrible but brief compared to slavery which has no catchy term like Holocaust to describe that I know of.

The great regression (of morality)?

The unenlightenment?

a reply to: TefarimCanin

Nicely said!

Yes there were lots. Many a slave revolt was halted due to the cowardly Uncle Toms or as the "Boondocks" would classify them, Uncle Ruckus. The character from Django played by Samuel Jackson is a perfect example. Nat Turner would have succeeded had an Uncle Tom not run off warning the masters. . These Uncle Ruckuses still exist today.

This country was founded on hypocrisy, lies, and white supremacy. Most of the founding Fathers owned slaves and created mulatto children who weren't considered whole people while deciding that all men are created equal.

The founding fathers all proclaimed to hate slavery. T Jefferson, said it was a "hideous blot" on America.. yet he owned over 100 slaves, was in love with his house "girl", fathered many children, and still manged to co-sign with the below provision in the original constitution. Its truly COGNITIVE DISSONANCE at work:

"Article I, Section. 2 [Slaves count as 3/5 persons]
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons [i.e., slaves].

Christianity and religion was always used as justification for the right to own people. And the religion was used to pacify the slaves as it is now. I've said it before and Ill say it again: Why would your master who thinks you aren't even a human being, nothing more than beast of burden, feel compelled to sanctify your soul? He doesn't believe his property has one.

The condition of racism and oppression is never the blight of the oppressed. This is why "reverse racism" is such a asinine ideal. Racism and the mental defect that allowed white men full of manifest destiny and pseudo-superiority to pillage and industrialize human life, is a condition of the white power structure that must be fixed/healed/eradicated if we, as a country, are going to evolve past this sickness or racism and oppression. Racism is the white power structure's scarlet letter that must fixed. The oppressed are powerless to fight that illness.

a reply to: TefarimCanin

Would you liken it to a more severe, generational Stockholm syndrome? I am not trying to sound like I understand what it is like to know the terror your ancestors felt but I have seen both Roots and they were excellent movies that leave you in a state of awe after viewing like Schindler's list. So I ponder the feeling of being captured, sold, chained by your neck in a boat to spend months at sea in what I imagine is the way they broke their spirit so that they would be traumatized for life and compliant. It gives me the chills just thinking about it. The Holocaust was terrible but brief compared to slavery which has no catchy term like Holocaust to describe that I know of. The great regression (of morality)?

Your empathy and intelligence is appreciated!

Yes I would certainly liken it to Stockholm syndrome. Dr. DeGruy has created the term: it Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome to describe how the conditions of slavery affect the black community today. The Masters would meet to discuss the best techniques to break the slaves. And they found that if you break the mother, she will do all the work of conditioning, as she is the nurturer, and she will teach the new conditioning to the children. That my friend, is true evil manifested.

There has been no event in history that compares to the middle passage and then the subjugation of a race for over 400 years. The Holocaust was brief and one man orchestrated it. Slavery was generational and orchestrated by a power structure that continues to try and oppress the survivors'. Millions of Africans made it to the New Land but millions were thrown to sea. The ones that did make it, lived chained together, in each others excrement, vomit, urine, and death for months sometimes years. Imagine being snatched up by men you may have never seen before, not knowing what will become of you, being put into the hot bowels of a ship for what must have felt like eternity, just to show up to a land where you will toil until you die.

Olaudah Equiano, an African captured as a boy who later wrote an autobiography, recalled . . .
"When I looked round the ship too and saw a large furnace of copper boiling, and a mulititude of black people of every description chained together, every one of their countenances expressing dejection and sorrow, I no longer doubted of my fate and quite overpowered with horrow and anguish, I fell motionless on the deck and fainted. . . . I asked if we were not to be eaten by those white men with horrible looks, red faces and long hair?"

Im proud to have the blood of survivors pumping through my veins. And it is very emotional when I think about what my 8x great-grandmother and great-grandfather must have endured. Yet I only need to look to my grandmother to hear the slaves stories retold to us as children.

May i suggest some movies/ shows which do a good job of showing the condition of the institution:
Uncle Toms Revenge- its labeled a black exploitation film which was banned in the US and has a NR due to the graphic nature.
UndergroundWGN channel. Does a wonderful job of showing the relationships between master, slave, lovers, children, power, conditions, and evil

It doesn't surprise me that some blacks would fight for the confederacy. The confederates were not known to treat captured black Northern soldiers too kindly. However, the North was just as racist, so let's not act like they were really fighting to help out black folks. The industrial north was against slavery for economic reasons not because they had any love for black people. While the North had outlawed slavery as an institution, they certainly didn't see blacks as equals.

Every culture, country, and people have things they have done in the past that would be shameful. Always find it funny that we as blacks seem to think slavery stopped at white people. We always want to ignore how we sold our own ancestors into slavery back in Africa. It wasn't like we all sitting around a village singing kumbaya with the tribes we brutalized. Same goes for the American Indians.

a reply to: Istaywoke77

I have to bring this up because I first saw Foxy Brown last year and you mentioned blaxploitation films which, wasn't she the queen of ( Pam Grier) the genre?(She is STILL a beautiful woman)

I first heard about those movies because I bought the first Outlast album the week it came out and they rap about Dolomite and a Rudy Ray Moore. But I have only seen Foxy.

But the xploitation in the word blaxploitation is on the money. The actors did not get paid fairly considering the popularity of the genre.

But pride in heritage and ancestry is important.. I am very proud that I am a descendant of the common folk of Rome and Tuscany. I don't know why, maybe because of the evil deeds of the powers of Italy and Rome make me proud to be a simple villager.

I envision a Pax Romana for the world so the more wealthy nations can make a social security system for the poor nations through international cooperation that involves the religions working together like a council of equals chosen by consensus.

Thanks for your compliment I will look into your suggested topics.

originally posted by: Istaywoke77
a reply to: TefarimCanin

Nicely said!

Yes there were lots. Many a slave revolt was halted due to the cowardly Uncle Toms or as the "Boondocks" would classify them, Uncle Ruckus. The character from Django played by Samuel Jackson is a perfect example. Nat Turner would have succeeded had an Uncle Tom not run off warning the masters. . These Uncle Ruckuses still exist today.

This country was founded on hypocrisy, lies, and white supremacy. Most of the founding Fathers owned slaves and created mulatto children who weren't considered whole people while deciding that all men are created equal.

The founding fathers all proclaimed to hate slavery. T Jefferson, said it was a "hideous blot" on America.. yet he owned over 100 slaves, was in love with his house "girl", fathered many children, and still manged to co-sign with the below provision in the original constitution. Its truly COGNITIVE DISSONANCE at work:

"Article I, Section. 2 [Slaves count as 3/5 persons]
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons [i.e., slaves].

Christianity and religion was always used as justification for the right to own people. And the religion was used to pacify the slaves as it is now. I've said it before and Ill say it again: Why would your master who thinks you aren't even a human being, nothing more than beast of burden, feel compelled to sanctify your soul? He doesn't believe his property has one.

The condition of racism and oppression is never the blight of the oppressed. This is why "reverse racism" is such a asinine ideal. Racism and the mental defect that allowed white men full of manifest destiny and pseudo-superiority to pillage and industrialize human life, is a condition of the white power structure that must be fixed/healed/eradicated if we, as a country, are going to evolve past this sickness or racism and oppression. Racism is the white power structure's scarlet letter that must fixed. The oppressed are powerless to fight that illness.

Reverse racism is an asinine phrase. I love Christoph Woltz character in Django! He is one of the best actors in the world.


I have been following the epidemic of police shooting unarmed men. I have heard of more instances of unarmed black men getting shot and have seen a full clip emptied on a few occasions. The police are never charged and when charged never convicted despite overwhelming evidence.

It has happened so much I think that it is not a coincidence but a measure of inducing fear like the police states have over their citizens.

The guy fighting for the confederacy obviously cracked up

No pun intended

a reply to: Istaywoke77

Fascinating was perhaps a callous choice of words, I apologise unreservedly for any offense or discomfort I may have caused, it is though a deeply interesting subject of discussion, and particularly in terms of the period between the end of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and the end of slavery in the US. Slavery though, obviously, doesn't begin and end in the US, it has it's roots in antiquity and it continues today, particularly in relation to sex trafficking. We are only too well aware of the horrors associated with slavery and other forms of economic exploitation, considering that some slaves or at least former slaves in the South may have felt politically and economically aligned with the Confederate cause than they did to the Yankee one, does in no way detract from the overall "rightness" of abolition.

I appreciate that for you and others this is a highly emotive subject, and I respect that greatly, but personally while I agree that generation after generation of brutalisation does in part explain compliance, and why a slave may have "chosen" to fight for the Confederacy or not to rise up against their masters, I feel it falls short of telling the whole story. And I don't mean that some "masters" were good or better than others and may have inspired loyalty, just that sometimes, humans are able to find contentment and balance even under the most extreme of conditions. That when your world view is forceably narrowed you find what you need to cling onto and you hold onto that for dear life. I wasn't implying that that was "wrong" or "right" for that matter, or not understandable given the circumstances, I was just saying that it is interesting, and extraordinary.

Also, you raise rape, and I was thinking about that after I logged off this morning, not rape by the masters, or on instruction of the masters, but rape by one slave of another, the literature of US slavery is rife with it, that and domestic violence. We can say it is an expression of disempowerment and pity the rapist, see him as a victim of the system, but the victim therefore has two masters while he only has one. His power though lesser than the master is still power that he wouldn't have without slavery, isn't it?

There are clearly defined areas of black and white, right and wrong, but surviving under extreme conditions seldom permits such clear boundaries, and I find that it is those interactions that take place in the gray areas that are often most indicative of the individual conflicts of interest and where humanity is at it's most extraordinary.

a reply to: Anaana

Since im working.. but not working I'll be brief LOL!

I appreciate your empathy and thoughtfulness. I was not offended by your fascination. I completely understand. And it is and still is an extraordinary. I was simply stating my feelings juxtaposed with your feelings.

"There are clearly defined areas of black and white, right and wrong, but surviving under extreme conditions seldom permits such clear boundaries, and I find that it is those interactions that take place in the gray areas that are often most indicative of the individual conflicts of interest and where humanity is at it's most extraordinary. "

Im glad you worded it that way.. the grey area. It is absolutely the area in which those survivors tread.

The value/power of women has always been subjugated by men. Yes absolutely male slaves raped and battered female slaves, and the "habit" of domestic violence in the black family/community dynamic still exists today for the reason you stated. Downtrodden, emasculated man relieves his frustration on his "property" (woman and child). Malcolm X stated it best " "The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman, the most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman." Indeed she has two master, Her Man and the "Man".

originally posted by: TefarimCanin
a reply to: Istaywoke77

I have to bring this up because I first saw Foxy Brown last year and you mentioned blaxploitation films which, wasn't she the queen of ( Pam Grier) the genre?(She is STILL a beautiful woman)



I swear Pam Grier does NOT age.. she looks great!

And you should be proud of your culture! Everyone should! Be proud of your Clan as my granny would say!

I just wish more ppl would understand loving me does not mean hating you!

PEACE my friend!

originally posted by: Istaywoke77

originally posted by: TefarimCanin
a reply to: Istaywoke77

I have to bring this up because I first saw Foxy Brown last year and you mentioned blaxploitation films which, wasn't she the queen of ( Pam Grier) the genre?(She is STILL a beautiful woman)



I swear Pam Grier does NOT age.. she looks great!

And you should be proud of your culture! Everyone should! Be proud of your Clan as my granny would say!

I just wish more ppl would understand loving me does not mean hating you!

PEACE my friend!

Peace and blessings.

originally posted by: Istaywoke77
The value/power of women has always been subjugated by men. Yes absolutely male slaves raped and battered female slaves, and the "habit" of domestic violence in the black family/community dynamic still exists today for the reason you stated. Downtrodden, emasculated man relieves his frustration on his "property" (woman and child). Malcolm X stated it best " "The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman, the most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman." Indeed she has two master, Her Man and the "Man".

The only thing that I would add to that is that it is not just America, everywhere around the world the same applies. The Women's Liberation movement is as relevant today as it ever was, in the UK we have ours, we are equal in the eyes of the law (even if there remain social barriers, concerted and collective effort can break those down), that though should never be the end of it, not until we all have it.

Many thanks, it is an insightful pleasure talking to you.