Teaching Civil War History

Civil War commemorative events here in the Old Dominion will soon be upon us. The public discussion over the War has been kickstarted by two recent events. First, Governor Bob McDonnell proclaimed April as a month to celebrate the Confederacy without any mention of slavery. Next came the the distribution of a fourth-grade history textbook which denies that the Confederate cause was pro-slavery, by asserting that thousands of African-American soldiers volunteered to bear arms for the South.

The Governor wisely retracted his official proclamation and some school districts are planning to use the classroom to correct the textbook errors. But pro-Confederate Virginians have been blogging and opining in support of their own version of history.

Consider the idea of African-Americans freely joining the Confederate armies in large numbers. As the war dragged on, the Confederate Congress repeatedly debated whether to allow blacks to enlist. Jefferson Davis and other Confederate leaders shot down the idea, until desperation ruled in March 1865 and they decided to form companies of slave soldiers.

If you are a Confederate in 2010 and you hold dear the idea that thousands of black soldiers freely joined the Confederate army throughout the War, then you are also holding dear the idea that Jefferson Davis was clueless about the army he was leading for four years. In actual fact, Davis was an effective military leader. Pro-Confederates today should not disparage his reputation.

When the Union started to enlist African-American volunteers to fight the South, Jefferson Davis issued an order that any black soldier in uniform would be executed if captured, and any black soldier out of uniform but bearing arms would be enslaved.

Which means that if you hold dear the idea that black soldiers were common in the Confederate army, you are also holding dear the idea that Jefferson Davis lacked consistency in his principles and backed the wanton use of force. In actual fact, whatever one might think of his principles, Davis was a leader marked by steadfast principle. Pro-Confederates should not be revising history to portray him otherwise.

But the broader issue is whether the Civil War was about slavery. Confederates of today say either that it was not, or that slavery was a minor issue in the conflict. A leading voice for this Confederate claim is Commander Richard T. Hines, who leads Unit #305 in Virginia. In at least two essays, one in August and another in November, Commander Hines has argued that slavery did not cause the Civil War, and that "it is quite easy to revere Confederate history without being pro-slavery."

Perhaps the disagreement here is over the verb choice by Commander Hines. He espouses reverence for the Confederacy, and expects nothing less from the government of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

I yield to no one in my admiration for the dashing style and military genius of a Confederate like Jeb Stuart. With his famous ostrich feather cap, the man had style. But to detach the cause for which Stuart fought from slavery would be like sticking one's head in the sand.

Nearly everyone can respect the military sacrifices of the Confederacy. But revere its history? Ignore the fact that the Confederate Constitution explicitly ruled out any laws impeding the rights of whites to enslave blacks, while the United States Constitution acknowledged the existence of slavery but did not make it a holy grail?

Commander Hines, you and other Confederates ask too much of us.

I am not quite sure when I became convinced that absent slavery, there would not have been a Civil War. Or when I became convinced that the seven states which seceded first and formed the Confederacy were primarily motivated by their desire to protect their rights as slaveowners. Or that the Confederacy was as much about a vision of racial relations between whites and blacks as it was a vision of relations between a state and a federal government.

One opportunity to become convinced was in 1996. Richmond had put up a statue commemorating an African-American on Monument Avenue. It did not displace any of the numerous monuments to Confederate leaders. But Confederates turned out to protest.

One Confederate paraded with his battle flag and called the statue "a sharp stick in the eye of those who honor the Confederate heritage."

Surely the Commander Hines who writes in 2010 that slavery and racism were not part of the Confederate heritage would disagree with the Confederate protester in 1996.

And well he might, but the 1996 protester who explicitly linked the Confederacy to racial conflict was Commander Richard T. Hines himself.

Commander Hines is displaying a lack of consistency in his principles. I have a hunch Jefferson Davis would not approve.