150 Years After It Began

By Zach Foster

Author of On the Confederate Flag

One hundred and fifty years after the Civil War began, the issue still comes up sore in many hearts and even brings emotional pain to the author as he sits and writes this piece, fully conscious of the sobering truth that America is politically divided in a most unhealthy way.  Few citizens fully understand and appreciate the magnitude that no war—not even World War II—has killed so many Americans, both soldier and civilian, neither has any war—not even the Vietnam War—so painfully divided public opinion to the point where factions of the same people literally hate each other.

It was on this day, one hundred and fifty years ago in 1861 that the fighting officially began.  Seven out of eleven Confederate states had already seceded and this would be the day when the political pissing contest between North and South would erupt into combat.  No one on either side died during the bombardment of Fort Sumter, but this day of combat would quickly be followed by skirmishes in Alexandria and elsewhere around the Mason-Dixon line.  These skirmishes would be followed by hard combat at Manassas, initiating a trend of battles in which thousands would die at a time and in short amounts of time—a trend only seen again in American history in the two world wars.  The fighting has been over since 1865, but the war still lives on in people’s hearts.

What is the legacy of the war?  The Union was preserved and continues to live on. Lincoln’s war aims were met, but the legacy does not simply end with the preservation of the Stars and Stripes’ jurisdiction.  Yes, the slaves were freed—both Northern and Southern slaves.  Still, the Great Emancipation was hampered by government mistakes.  The war was won, but greedy or disinterested politicians lost the peace.  When Lincoln died, his vision of “malice towards none, charity towards all” died with him.  The emancipated slaves who didn’t make it North were ignored by the Federal government and by society.  Furthermore, the brutal occupation of the South and the punitive policies inflicted on Southern veterans and government officials—based not on Lincoln’s goals but on the agendas of radicals in Congress—initiated a repression which further crippled the Southern people, as well as draining the Federal coffers.  Much of the Southern rural poverty which lasted over a century was caused by the wartime destruction of the means of production and economic self-sufficiency, then aggravated by political repression and military occupation, paired with exploitation by those described as “carpetbaggers.”

After a sleazy backroom deal brought an immediate end to the occupation and Reconstruction, after the carpetbaggers had already made their fortunes and gone home, a repressed and brutalized new ruling class looked to take it out on the only candidates for scapegoating left in the South—the blacks—and inflicted upon them economic and political repression—less-than-second-class citizenship—which was to continue for over a century, contributing also to the disproportionate representation of race in poverty.  Does this mean that exclusively Southern whites are to blame for poverty and injustice?  No.  What it means is that ALL sides and parties directly contributed to the many problems, some of which are still being faced today.

Part 2: What have we learned?