Army Staff College History Professor On The War

Infantryman71: May 1, 2011 12:05 p.m.

Having taught graduate history for a number of years to mid-level and senior officers at the Army's staff college, I find that those who criticize the Confederacy and Confederates do so not out of reasonable convictions, but total ignorance. Many recent polls (USA Today, Pew, etc.) consistently show that most Americans (not "many" but "most") with a college education have only a nominal understanding of our own history.

This results in emotional arguments based on "sound bytes" of historical knowledge. As an example, one of the surveys asked what caused WWII and a large number of responses cite "the attack on Pearl Harbor". Really? That caused the war? What a simplistic and gross misunderstanding of history. The same can be applied to the Civil War when people claim that "slavery" was "the cause". If that is true, my examination of dozens of Union recruiting posters have yet to find one that encourages enlistment to free the slaves. They mostly state that men should join to "Save the Union" if they give a reason.

It is important to remember that not a single Confederate, including Jefferson Davis, was ever convicted of treason against the U.S. In fact, Chief Justice Taney warned Lincoln not to try the Confederates as the possibility of legal secession might well be validated. Taney was no pro-Confederate. He was a Lincoln appointee.

What I find fascinating is that the foreign officers I teach overwhelmingly consider the Confederates and their cause just and that of the Federal government unjust. They have no bias as we Americans do so their views as disinterested observers adds an interesting perspective to this argument. Consider what the commander of the Union Armies, General Grant, said: * I thought for a single minute that this war is being fought over slavery I would but turn in my sword and join the other side".

Wars are complex. Slavery was a contributing factor to the Civil War. Attributing the war's cause solely to slavery is intellectually dishonest and just plain ignorant. While the war was a terrible event, the people of the South sought remedy for a Federal government that they thought had over-stepped its bounds leaving no other remedy than by force-of-arms. The fact that they lost doesn't necessarily mean they were wrong as I tell my students in our Vietnam classes.

(*I have been unable to document this famous quote. BT)