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.
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