The
charge is often made by Northern historians that Southern graduates of
United States military academies were indebted to the federal government
for their education and displayed ingratitude in drawing their swords
against that government. Below, Admiral Raphael Semmes takes issue with
this assertion.
Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
"Unsurpassed Valor, Courage and Devotion to Liberty"
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"
Robert E. Lee Guilty of Ingratitude?
“Another
charge, with as little foundation, has been made against myself, and
other officers of the Army and Navy, who resigned their commissions and
came South. It has been said that we were in the condition of eleves of
the Federal Government, inasmuch as we received our education at the
military schools, and that we were guilty of ingratitude to that
Government, when we withdrew from its service.
This
slander has no doubt had its effect, with the ignorant masses, but it
can scarcely have been entertained by any one who has a just conception
of the nature of our federal system of government. It loses sight of the
fact, that the States are the creators, and the Federal Government the
creature; that not only the military schools, but the Federal Government
itself belongs to the States.
Whence came the fund for the establishment of these schools? From the States. In what proportion did the States contribute it?
[Senator
Thomas Hart] Benton answered this question . . . when he was discussing
the effect of the [protectionist tariffs benefitting the North] under
which the South had so long been depleted. He has told us, that four
States alone, Virginia, the two Carolinas and Georgia, defrayed
three-fourths of the expenses of the General Government; and taking the
whole South into view, this proportion had even increased since his day,
up to the breaking out of the war.
Of
every appropriation, then, that was made by Congress for the support of
the military schools, three-fourths of the money belonged to the
Southern States. Did these States send three-fourths of the students to
these schools?
Of
course not – this would have been something like justice to them; but
justice to the Southern States was no part of the scheme of the Federal
Government. With the exception of a few cadets, and midshipman “at
large,” whom the President was authorized to appoint – the intention
being that that he should appoint the sons of deceased officers of the
Army and Navy, but the fact being that he generally gave the appointment
to his political friends – the appointments to these schools were made
from the several States, in proportion to population, and as a matter of
course, the North got the lion’s share.
But
supposing the States to have been equally represented in those schools,
what would have been the result? Why, simply that the South not only
educated her own boys, but educated three-fourths of the Northern boys,
to boot. Virginia, for instance, at the same time she sent Robert E.
Lee to West Point, to be educated, put in the public treasury not only
money enough to pay for his education, and maintenance of three
Massachusetts boys!
How ungrateful of Lee, afterward, being thus a charity scholar of the north, to draw his sword against her.”
(Memories of Service Afloat, Raphael Semmes, LSU Press, 1996/original 1868, pp. 79-80)
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