It's Coming

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the War of Northern Aggression and what it means to us today. I have read several books, mainly about the Missouri/Kansas border war that preceded the War for Southern Independence.
   In the Border War violence was rampant on both sides. Murder, theft and terror were hallmarks of the day. Action, re-action, reprisals were frequent.
By the time the entire nation erupted into a war promulgated by Abraham Lincoln and his cronies, the emotions of the day were running very hot. Battles, skirmishes, raids and naval actions, all pitting Americans against former Americans. I say former as the Southern states involved had invoked Constitutional Rights and legally seceded from the Union. So, all participants from the South were Confederates. Which is ironic as the United States was formed as a confederation of States.
   From the start the Confederates had decided to fight under the time honored practice known as the Just War Doctrine. In contrast, the Lincoln apparatchik extolled the concept of Total War, which is well known today. Total War pits soldier and armies against women, children, livestock, infrastructure, property and the very means to sustain life. Even when faced with atrocities committed by the North, specifically, Sherman and his bummers, General David Hunter and General Philip Sheridan, the South with a few exceptions, fought under the Just War Doctrine.

All the while bullets and shot were flying, Good Ol' Abe was hard at work issuing orders directly to military leaders, completely bypassing the chain of command.  He violated the first, second, fourth and fifth amendments. In fact he personally ordered the arrest of hundreds of pro-south, pro-secession editors and had them imprisoned. He ordered newspaper offices destroyed and even had some folks "disappeared". He even went as far as to order the arrest of one Supreme Court Justice. Habeas corpus was suspended and no fence sitter or secession supporter was safe from this evil man.

When it comes to the issue of prisoner of war camps, horrors abounded on both sides. Astounding death rates, disease and torture were all present. The Northern camps did this willingly or on orders from Washington. The South however had little choice in the matter. Take the infamous Andersonville into perspective. The guards themselves lived on the same rations as the prisoners did, had the same death rate of the prisoners. Conditions were unimaginable. To top it off, the North had destroyed all agriculture so there was little to no food. The North refused to accept any released prisoners, even sending thousands BACK to that hell hole, all calculated to play into the hand of the remaining press, all Lincoln supporters.
When you look at HONEST history, you will see systematic conditions of evil on the part of the North from the President to his Cabinet, to many military leaders to the common soldier.

We then come to modern times. suspension of Constitutional rights is the norm. States Rights are basically dead. The President(s) act independently without Congressional involvement. The Government "allows" us First Amendment zones at the things we are protesting. We have foreign troops in this country training to disarm civilians. We have a police force that is increasingly militarized and much evidence shows they are going wild, beating, shooting, torturing and killing people over nothing. We get no response from our legislators. We have government departments that HATE the American people. We are imprisoned and killed over tax issues, We have had many military leaders fired in the last couple of years and replaced with the Presidents cronies. It is rumored that they were replaced because they refused to say yes to the question of whether they would order troops to fire on US citizens. The list of wrongs perpetrated on us, our families and friend goes on and on.
The venerable, honorable battle flag or any that may relate to it is looked at as a racist banner, even though it was patterned after the St. Andrews and St. Patrick's crosses. It stood for honor, law, respect and defiance. Most do not know that many thousands possibly as many as a million blacks WILLINGLY fought for that flag, side by side with their white brethren.
Today were are at a precipice waiting for that certain trigger that will once again pit brother against brother. And it seems that we have a Government that is willing to enact Total War on a group of people that only want to exercise their God given rights to create a government they can live with.

SOURCES:

The Un-Civil War

searavenpress.com

Three years with Quantrill

Civil War on the Western Border, 1854-1865

Civil War on the Missouri Kansas Border

War Crimes Against Southern Civilians

Gray Ghosts of The Confederacy

Blood On the Streets.

all of these books are available on amazon.com and searavenpress.com has a wide assortment of books all pertaining to the War of Northern Aggression.

A Walk In the Past

Today my step-father took me on a short driving tour of a Civil War battle field/site here in Kansas City called the Battle of Westport. We looked at several monuments and bronze placards that told the story of this fight. It is a really interesting site but needs to be developed a little further. For instance on of the markers, complete with a period correct Napolean cannon is on the grounds of the Kansas City Water Department. We walked on the grounds wear my state bretheren, on both sides shed their blood. It was a very thought provoking trip. After the battlefield we went to a nearby cemetery that has a section dedicated to the Confederate soldiers of many states that gave their lives in this battle. Here are some of the very interesting head stones I looked at today.

 The three pictures above are the Confederate memorial to all the soldiers that died at the Battle of Westport. It is topped by the stone rebel. The whole thing is over 20 feet tall.

 Yes, General Joe Shelby is buried here too. With his family around him.

 Somebody has a long memory. And a little bit of a grudge too.

 One of our honorable state leaders.

 This is the back side of Waldo Johnsons monument. It's a massive piece.

 These flags adorn the markers of all the soldiers graves. We found a few tombstones the someone had tried to chip away the Confederate flag. Truly sad.

These gents rode with my, lets see, my great, great possibly three times great uncle. The design at top center of the stones is also found on the top center of Quantrills tombstone in Higginsville. I'm going to try and find out what it means.

All in all it was a very moving day for me. Walking the grounds where people of my ilk fought and died and then looking at the graves of many of them brought many thoughts to my mind.

More info here and here. This a very good site with a ton of pictures.

Family Ties

Here's how my family rolls, I have historical cousins that rode with...Quantrill. Yep, THAT William Quantrill, one of the original bad boys of terrorism, murder and mayhem back in the 60's. The 1860's that is.
Here's the Wiki on him.

Here's one of his tombstones, this one in the Confederate Cemetery in Higginsville Missouri. This grave contains recovered stolen bones!



His group was responsible for the sacking of Lawrence Kansas and other towns and farms. He copied the tactics of the Native Americans and introduced guerilla warfare to the Civil War or rather the War of Northern Aggression. Two of his disciples are rather well know, Frank and Jesse James.

Here is another write up about this particular devil.

I don't agree with all of Bill's actions but we can learn from his tactics.
 After 5 years of warfare on the Missouri/Kansas border before the actual start of the War, Kansas and Missourians were well versed the fine art of death.
For more information on the interstate warfare that went on during 1854 to 1865 period find a copy of Jay Monaghan's book " Civil War on the Western Border 1854 to 1865". Read this book and see how many names you recognize, men that cut their military teeth on the Missouri/Kansas border war.



Here are some links to the Confederate Cemetery and Memorial in Missouri.

http://www.civilwaralbum.com/misc4/higginsville1.htm

http://mostateparks.com/park/confederate-memorial-state-historic-site

http://lafayette.mogenweb.org/cemetery/higgconf.html

http://higginsvillechamber.org/memorial.aspx

Here is a nice article.. http://www.richmond-dailynews.com/2013/05/higginsvilles-confederate-home-cemetery-has-strong-ray-ties/
Indecently this is the only state park in Missouri where it is legal to fly the Confederate Flag officially and that only came around a few years ago.