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Originally posted by Oldtimer2
Yes I believe the Confederate flag is guilty by association,whenever you see those toothless klansman together there is usually a Confederate flag in the picture,interesting group,when one leaves the IQ of the rest actually goes up
Originally posted by CuriousSkeptic
I seriously don't understand how the Confederate Flag got associated with racism. Damn ignorant Yankees.
Originally posted by Ant4AU
reply to post by slimpickens93
Star for you slim for posting those pics. It goes to show that people just want to vilify symbols and ideals so they just jump on one side and forget that there is another. There will always be good and bad tied together. There is no such thing as clear cut good pr bad. The world is gray and that’s where we live.
Originally posted by Ant4AU
reply to post by civilized mammal
If the war was truley about slavery as many of you claim. Then you realize the we here in the south do not like to let go of what people think we should let go of. So there is your answer.
Originally posted by sciencenewby
if thousands joined the army to fight the south they mustve had some good reason to risk their lives.
correct me if im wrong.
(on a side note they may have done it for fresh food and water and wages? but that doesnt seem like a good enough reason to go into one of the deadliest wars of the era)
Black Confederate loyalty was pervasive and real. American historians failed to recognize this loyalty. "By the summer of 1861 Southern blacks who supported and allied themselves with the Confederacy were looking to volunteer" [22]. Despite the Confederate government's refusal to admit blacks in the army, six Southern states did so otherwise, mostly consisting of state militias. Eyewitness accounts by officers in the Federal army offer some evidence of African American participation on the battlefields for the South. Records show that New York officers on patrol reported they were attacked near New Market, Virginia, by Confederate cavalry and a group of 700-armed blacks on December 22, 1861. The Northerners killed six of the blacks before retreating; officers later swore out affidavits that they were attacked by blacks and later complained: "If they fight with Negroes, why should we not fight with them too?"
Why would blacks support, and possibly want to fight for, the Confederacy? One is money. The pay rate for the laborers was greater than that of the white soldier's pay rate. The black laborers were paid 30 dollars a month while the Confederate soldiers made only 11 dollars. By volunteering their service to the South these blacks earned enough money for themselves and their families back home. Blacks, both free and slave, were able to make more money by trading whiskey, food, horses and other possessions they might steal through their foraging missions. There is a story of a servant who was captured by the Yankees, stole two horses, and got back to his Confederate line. When he got back he sold one horse for fifty dollars and kept the other one for himself.
It is often forgotten that while slavery was among the major causes of the Civil War, its abolition was not the original goal of the North. President Lincoln sated he didn't want to interfere with slavery in the states where it already existed. Many Federal soldiers felt the same way, proclaiming if the war was one turned into a fight for abolitionism they would stop fighting. Faced with this attitude from the North black Southerners had no reason but to be loyal to their homes. "The slaves had nothing to gain form a Union victory, and free black men might actually stand to lose such rights and property they already had"
Originally posted by civilized mammalI dunno...
Symbols stand for something. That's why VERY few people today run about waving a hammer & sickle flag or a swastika (unless you happen to be Hindu). Face it, the confederate flag was associated with racism and slavery. These were the 'ideals' which the confederate army sought to protect militarily. I'm baffled as to why some die hards still need this insignia, and why there is no alternative symbol for the South.