Vol. 37
IN THIS ISSUE: Essay | Now Read This | Listen Up | Take Action | Final Frame
There’s been a somewhat surprising amount of Civil War talk in American politics as of late. It’s not new, but Nikki Haley’s recent failure to name slavery as the foundational cause of the war, and the subsequent comments by just about every other candidate, definitely seem to have reinvigorated the national conversation.
The long and short of it is that a whole lot of people (especially those on the right) continue to refuse to believe that the war was fought primarily over the entrenched, vicious system of chattel slavery in this country. There are many reasons for this, not least of which is a dogged determination never to truly reckon with or make honest reparations for the wide-ranging and long-lasting impacts of slavery and white supremacy in this country. But another big reason is the parasitic persistence of something called the Lost Cause myth.
You see, after the Confederacy lost the Civil War, its die-hard sympathizers very quickly set out to win the peace. One way they did this was by fighting tooth and nail against the efforts of Reconstruction. Another effective tactic was the wholesale rewriting of history to fit their white supremacist worldview, by developing and spreading a completely ahistorical vision of both the pre-war South and the reasons for seceding and fighting a war that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and destroyed entire cities and landscapes.
They claimed that slavery “wasn’t all that bad,” that Black people were “better off” before the war, and that hey, slavery wasn’t even really the thing the southern states fought for–it was to defend against unlawful overstepping by the federal government, to protect “state’s rights” and their “way of life.” That was the great cause of the Confederacy, and can’t everyone get behind rebelling against a tyrannical government trying to tell you what to do?!
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
(Never mind that one of the main the state’s rights they were explicitly fighting over was the right to keep slaves, or that the so-called tyrannical overreach of the federal government was a series of fairly mild efforts to prevent slavery from expanding into new Western territories and states, and thus giving undue power to slave states at the federal level)
This effort at Lost Cause mythologizing was not limited to die-hard ex-Confederates, either. There were plenty of people in the North, after all, who held deeply racist beliefs and were (and are) all-too ready to side with the rebels. Enter “reconciliation,” a movement that took hold within decades of the end of the war and that centered on white people’s desire to put the admittedly incredibly traumatizing war behind them and find common ground on which to move into the bright, industrialized future. Never mind that very little of that reconciliation and forward-thinking involved or included Black people (or anyone who wasn’t white, for that matter).
The wild thing (or perhaps not, if you’ve been paying attention) is that this false narrative about the causes of the Civil War and what happened afterward is still pervasive, even 160 years later.
According to a July 2023 YouGov poll, 56% of Americans say the war was primarily fought over slavery. That’s…not nearly enough. Break it down by political affiliation and the picture gets even more telling: “More Democrats (62%) than Republicans (53%) cite slavery as the main issue; slightly more Black Americans (61%) than white Americans (56%) cite slavery.”
It’s all there in the Articles of Secession for the various Confederate states, though. Slavery, and the belief that white people were inherently superior, were the driving force behind the Confederacy.
When I was a pretend soldier
My days as a Civil War reenactor exposed me to more Confederate sympathizing and Lost Cause mythology than your average Yankee growing up in the Upper Midwest.
Being a nerdy, adventurous kid who liked playing dress-up, camping, acting, and history, the Civil War reenacting boom of the 1990s was almost inevitably something I was going to dive into. I remember seeing the 1989 film, “Glory,” and being obsessed by the story. My best friend at the time had an older brother who reenacted, and I coveted his dashing Union blue greatcoat and uniform. So when another friend’s dad decided to start a reenacting group a few years later, I jumped at the chance to join.
Of course, I was entirely uninterested in dressing and acting as a “girl.” Hoop skirts and bonnets held zero appeal. A blue wool soldier’s uniform, though? Hell yeah. I was already perfectly adept at pretending to be a little “boy” - plenty of people mistook me for one on a regular basis. So in the fifth grade, I saved my pennies, badgered my parents, and put together my own uniform and gear. I doggedly learned marching and rifle drills, and spent most summer weekends camping out in open fields across northern Illinois, taking on the role of one of the many very young people and women/girls/otherwise-identified folks who did in fact serve in the armies of the Civil War (the youngest known soldier wounded in the war was just 12 and there are hundreds of documented cases of girls/women/probably-trans-people serving, too).
I met a lot of…interesting…adults with varying ideas about the war, its causes, and the ethics of reenacting culture generally¹. During my few years with the 8th Illinois Co. E dismounted cavalry, I had my eyes opened to the very existence of the Lost Cause myth and the fact that it endured, all those years later. Several times, grown men scolded me for not understanding the “real” reasons for the war (i.e. that now-familiar refrain of “state’s rights!” and/or “Northern aggression!”), and that the Confederate flag being flown outside of reenactments was simply a sign of pride for one’s heritage, “not hate.”
Even at 12 I knew in my gut that this was all bullshit. I didn’t have the nuanced understanding of why and how these ideas spread, or even a real sense of the racism and white supremacy that pervaded the reenacting world. I had a very simple, very strong conviction that slavery was evil and racism was wrong, at very least, and that’s the baseline from which my precocious, smart-assed self operated. Sometimes it won me admiration from the adults, sometimes I got a talking to. Mostly, though, it meant that I continually ran up against these still-widespread, often disparate ideas about the place of the Civil War in our collective memory. It was, in short, an education that I’m grateful for, even if I do now have much more complicated feelings about historical reenactment as a hobby (particularly as a white person).
I want to add an important sorta-kinda postscript on this, too: One of the other important things I learned during my time as a reenactor (and my time since as a Civil War buff) was that the situation in the country leading up to, during, and after the war was a whole hell of a lot more complex than we’re ever taught in school. That is to say that President Lincoln and Union leadership didn’t have any intention of entirely abolishing slavery when the war started (their stated reasons at the time were to just to preserve the Union, and it would take a great deal of pressure and lobbying–largely from Black leaders–to push Lincoln and others to finally back emancipation and abolition). Many, many people in the North were entirely content to benefit and/or profit from the enslavement of Black people in the South, particularly when it came to the textile industry. Lots of people who fought for the Union were avowed racists.
And the South, surprising to many, housed more than a few fervent anti-slavery activists–both white and Black, and some of whom went so far as to actively resist the Confederacy by raising Union regiments and/or declaring their lands independent entirely (see: the Free State of Jones in Mississippi or the 1st Alabama regiment). Opposing slavery and the secession of the states often came at grave cost, too, but they did it anyway.
The Mason-Dixon line continues to be an all-too convenient way for smug Yankees like myself to demonize and belittle folks down south, despite the fact that some of the most dedicated and kick-ass progressives I’ve ever known are southerners. But the fact is that our country has always been more complicated than that.
It would be great to see that reflected not only in our educational systems, but in the rhetoric of our political leaders. Then maybe we could finally let the Lost Cause myth–and everything it stands for–die the death it’s so long deserved.
Further Reading:
“Democrats and Republicans Have Never Been Further Apart in Their Understanding of the Civil War Era Since Reconstruction” - the historian Kevin M. Levin digs further into the history of reconciliationism and the divide between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to understanding the Civil War.
“Haley and Trump wave the flag for the Lost Cause” - Noah Bertlasky at Public Notice
Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory by David W. Blight
(¹ I could write an entire, separate essay on the ethics of Civil War/historical reenactment, and maybe I will! Suffice to say that there’s A LOT to unpack and though I’m grateful for many of my experiences as a reenactor, I recognize it as an immense privilege, and a problematic-as-hell culture that largely centers white experiences and perspectives, one that often fails to truly reckon with the driving cause behind the war, the brutal and ugly realities of slavery and the Confederate system, and a whole lot more.)
P.P.S. One of my longtime favorite local Madison bands, the German Art Students, have a song called “Civil War Reenactor” that I adore and you should check it out for some much-needed levity.
Now Read This.
“Substack f*cked up and now we have to talk about it” [Jeanna Kadlec]
I’m extremely aware that, when it comes to conscious consumerism, consistency is not available to us. We exist in gray, and the greyscale we can choose and/or prioritize varies depending on our specific levels of economic privilege, positionalities, and any number of other factors–perhaps even day by day.
“Voting with our dollar” is an idea that very, very quickly crumbles when applied to many situations. And honestly, it’s a slogan I hate, because it sells people on the idea that there is any significant agency in the limited (often terrible) choices that have been presented to us by the ruling class. Are you, for example, voting with your dollar when you pay for your groceries, or your utility bill? No. You’re just fighting to live in a society.
“Madison’s (un)affordable and (in)accessible housing problem” [Rachel Litchman for Tone]
The reality is, the city’s “solutions” to affordable housing are a far cry from what the most disadvantaged renters need.
Listen Up.
I was honored to have the chance to weigh in on Tone Madison’s annual round-up of some of the best Madison musical releases of the year. There was SO MUCH good music released in 2023 alone. There’s no excuse to sleep on Madison’s music scene, but if you’re feeling overwhelmed or don’t know where to start, or you’re just interested to read and listen, head over to Tone for this multi-part series:
Take Action.
This week is a global strike for a permanent ceasefire in Palestine and the liberation of the Palestinian people. Whatever your ability, there’s something you can do to help. Definitely keep paying attention, learning, speaking up, and spreading the world. Pressure your reps. Donate to direct aid for the people displaced from their homes. Show up at public protests and actions if you’re able. Call in sick to work if you’re able. Don’t shop except for essentials. Talk to your friends and loved ones about what’s going on and how you can help. Any one of these steps is good - no one can be expected to do everything. Our collective action makes a difference, though.
Free Palestine. Ceasefire now.
Final Frame.
‘Til Next Time.
Thanks for reading and for standing up for your friends and neighbors! Take care of each other out there.
Always feel free to hit me up with questions, comments, suggestions, and tips on great hiking spots or good books. And please feel free to forward this email to a friend and/or hit that subscribe button. xoxo