Posted on Aug 2, 2016
http://angrystaffofficer.com/2016/08/02/winning-the-civil-war-finally/
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"Winning the Civil War, Finally
August 2, 2016 / pptsapper
Today’s guest post comes from Barefoot Boomer. Boomer is a career Army officer and strategist. He is also a historian with an emphasis in American and German military history. The content and opinions of this article are the author’s only and do not reflect the opinions of the United States Army or the Department of Defense.
The Army says it leads from the front.
It needs to lead from the front, again, and this time finish what it started 170 years ago.
For most of its history, the Department of Defense, and the Army specifically, have been pulled forward on social issues by its civilian leadership. Desegregation, gender equality, and now Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) rights. And as our civilian leadership has pulled us forward we have helped pull the country forward. But there is one issue that the military has let lapse which has had dangerous, far-reaching effects on the country. That is its stance on the Civil War, its relationship with the Confederate Army, and the acceptance of the Confederate battle flag."
I know this will be a "Hot Potato" Topic but it is timely as we decide what type of Army we want moving forward? Should the Army change the names of bases and facilities named after Confederate Soldiers and Officers, and remove Confederate Battle History from official histories of US Army units, and renounce any association with the Confederate Battle Flag?
Do Symbols and names matter? Is it worth the angst and dissension that will inevitably come from White Southern Americans who's ancestors served in the Confederacy, who will undoubtedly see such efforts as an attack on their culture and history?
That black Americans Soldiers and other service-members suffered overt discrimination from Pro-southern, pro-Jim Crow Service members, and the communities in the South where many of these bases were located is a historical fact. My own family's history is as complicated as this issue. My Combat Pacific War Sailor grandfather Jess Lagos told us the story of how he beat a white sailor who ran from his gun during a Jap Kamikaze attack. After the attack his ship's White Southerner Captain from Texas, told him "no Mexican hits a white man on my ship, no matter the reason," and sentenced my grandfather to bread and water for 30 days for the incident.
On the other hand, my other maternal grandfather's battle buddy Earl O. Brake was a good ole country boy from Jefferson County, Alabama, who received the DSC (posthumously) for his actions on March 14th, 1945, when both men died repelling a Jap dawn banzai attack on their company's strong-point defensive position, F Company, 103rd INF, 43ID.
The Brake family from Jefferson County, Alabama never saw color in my mother's father, John V. Gallardo, a Naturalized US Citizen from Mexico, only a fellow Gold Star family, that like theirs, had made the ultimate sacrifice. We remain connected to this day, and the Brake's are Blood Brothers to our family because of what happened that day over 70 years ago. His family had been trying for over 60 years to get his award upgraded to the Medal of Honor. http://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient.php?recipientid=6498/recipient.php?recipientid=6498
I would not want the US Army to do anything that would make White Southern families like the Brake's of Alabama to ever feel that their post civil war sacrifices for their country were less, because their ancestors fought for the South.
So how do you gently de-emphasize the Pro-Confederate History of the current Army, without insulting the tremendous contributions of White Southerners to the defense of the Nation since the end of the Civil War. Is that even possible? Maybe the younger troops do not really care about this?
"Winning the Civil War, Finally
August 2, 2016 / pptsapper
Today’s guest post comes from Barefoot Boomer. Boomer is a career Army officer and strategist. He is also a historian with an emphasis in American and German military history. The content and opinions of this article are the author’s only and do not reflect the opinions of the United States Army or the Department of Defense.
The Army says it leads from the front.
It needs to lead from the front, again, and this time finish what it started 170 years ago.
For most of its history, the Department of Defense, and the Army specifically, have been pulled forward on social issues by its civilian leadership. Desegregation, gender equality, and now Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) rights. And as our civilian leadership has pulled us forward we have helped pull the country forward. But there is one issue that the military has let lapse which has had dangerous, far-reaching effects on the country. That is its stance on the Civil War, its relationship with the Confederate Army, and the acceptance of the Confederate battle flag."
I know this will be a "Hot Potato" Topic but it is timely as we decide what type of Army we want moving forward? Should the Army change the names of bases and facilities named after Confederate Soldiers and Officers, and remove Confederate Battle History from official histories of US Army units, and renounce any association with the Confederate Battle Flag?
Do Symbols and names matter? Is it worth the angst and dissension that will inevitably come from White Southern Americans who's ancestors served in the Confederacy, who will undoubtedly see such efforts as an attack on their culture and history?
That black Americans Soldiers and other service-members suffered overt discrimination from Pro-southern, pro-Jim Crow Service members, and the communities in the South where many of these bases were located is a historical fact. My own family's history is as complicated as this issue. My Combat Pacific War Sailor grandfather Jess Lagos told us the story of how he beat a white sailor who ran from his gun during a Jap Kamikaze attack. After the attack his ship's White Southerner Captain from Texas, told him "no Mexican hits a white man on my ship, no matter the reason," and sentenced my grandfather to bread and water for 30 days for the incident.
On the other hand, my other maternal grandfather's battle buddy Earl O. Brake was a good ole country boy from Jefferson County, Alabama, who received the DSC (posthumously) for his actions on March 14th, 1945, when both men died repelling a Jap dawn banzai attack on their company's strong-point defensive position, F Company, 103rd INF, 43ID.
The Brake family from Jefferson County, Alabama never saw color in my mother's father, John V. Gallardo, a Naturalized US Citizen from Mexico, only a fellow Gold Star family, that like theirs, had made the ultimate sacrifice. We remain connected to this day, and the Brake's are Blood Brothers to our family because of what happened that day over 70 years ago. His family had been trying for over 60 years to get his award upgraded to the Medal of Honor. http://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient.php?recipientid=6498/recipient.php?recipientid=6498
I would not want the US Army to do anything that would make White Southern families like the Brake's of Alabama to ever feel that their post civil war sacrifices for their country were less, because their ancestors fought for the South.
So how do you gently de-emphasize the Pro-Confederate History of the current Army, without insulting the tremendous contributions of White Southerners to the defense of the Nation since the end of the Civil War. Is that even possible? Maybe the younger troops do not really care about this?
http://angrystaffofficer.com/2016/08/02/winning-the-civil-war-finally/
Posted from t.co
Confederate Flag
Civil War
Discrimination
Slavery
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 3
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http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/confederate-flag-fans-critics-gather-s-statehouse-article-1.2287700
It's been going on a really, really long time...weeding out all instances of it would also doubtless take a long time as well...however, that being said, this if nothing else, at least see!ed relevant, I'd thought, you know?
It's been going on a really, really long time...weeding out all instances of it would also doubtless take a long time as well...however, that being said, this if nothing else, at least see!ed relevant, I'd thought, you know?
South Carolina removes Confederate flag as crowd cheers
More than 1,000 Confederate flag critics and supporters gathered at the South Carolina statehouse Friday to watch it come down for good.
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Some interesting material here peppered with mistakes. A key element of Reconstruction was the fact that Union troops remained in "occupied" states to insure compliance with the terms of surrender. Both Presidents Johnson and Grant maintained them there. It was the Compromise of 1877 that saw the end of Reconstruction, when the Democrats withdrew their nominee, Samuel Tilden, and allowed Rutherford Hayes to be named the winner of the Presidency in exchange for a promise that federal troops would be removed from the South. This effectively ended Reconstruction and brought on the days of Jim Crowe. Secondly, I frequently have found myself in contentious debate with people who argue that the Civil War was not fought to end slavery. Interestingly, my sparring partners weren't southerners. They are Democrats who wish to deny the fact that Republicans led the abolitionist movement, so they can vilify the GOP. Thirdly, I find the claim that southerners have written the bulk of Civil War history to be interesting. Isn't the writing of history the purview of the victors? Now I've read a lot of Civil War history during the past 60 years. That's a lot of time and I've consumed just about everything I could lay my hands on including diaries and letters. As for source material, it seems that far more was generated by the north where literacy rates were higher, and more survived in the North inasmuch as much of the South was destroyed. I can't claim to know whether the majority of authors came from one side or the other, but I suspect that it's pretty evenly divided. If anything, I would expect Southerners to be reluctant to "reminisce" inasmuch as they were the losers. As to the authors recommendations, well, that's another story...
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Capt Lance Gallardo
Sir, I think the South "won" the post-civil war propaganda war with the "Lost Cause" mythology, in part with propagandist Pro-Southern Cause movies like "Birth of a Nation" by DW Griffiths and gushers like "Gone With the Wind." Since the Northerner's won the Civil War, it seems like they were less interested in "re-fighting" the Civil War in the subsequent decades over the History Books primarily being school text books which are published in Texas.
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These 5 states still use Confederate symbols in their flags
A racially-motivated massacre of black churchgoers last week has reignited debate about states promoting the Confederate flag and other Civil War symbols.
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