They Died With Their Boots On ( Gentlemen of the South ) is a scene that emphasizes the sense of honor and chivalry of the military that faced during the civil war.
Snow, same here (Nam USMC combat Vet). Served with a unit mainly comprised of Southern men. Finest group of fighters and mates I could ever hope to serve alongside. We still meet once a year, now many years later and not one potbelly in the group. Canes here and there but still in good shape for the most part.
@@LesterMoore Salute to you Mario; i was 18 when i got there straight out of high school; assigned to 377th Security Police Squadron ; Tan Son Nhut AB; USAF...an adventure for sure.
@@snowpatriot4045 Welcome home Soldier. May you enjoy the full fruits of your labor, great health, plentiful warm memories, comfort and happiness in your life.
“We don’t concern ourselves with the making of war senator, only the fighting of them.” Let’s rephrase the commandant’s sentence: “Senator, you #?*! politicians have managed to get us into a civil war. And WE are the ones who have to fight it!”
I saw this show on TV when I was 8 years old and loved the movie and the way the band played Dixie Land. I’m Filipino and I like reading military history. I was reading the history of the civil war at one time and was shocked to find out during my research that many Filipinos fought for the Confederacy and the Union side.
As a FOUNDATIONAL BLACK AMERICAN, I'm curious to know how many of those Filipinos were considered AN INFERIOR RACE by those White Southerners? Were they serving as MANSERVANTS like the slaves of those Confederate Officers?
The respectful stern, solemn dignity and oratory of the commanding officer, and the politician at the other end of the spectrum. I'll leave it there. The song remains the same.
I am a proud Southerner who served in the American Army for more than 20 years. I have a patch on both sleeves of my old uniform hanging in the closet. These men were honorable and fighting for what they believed was the right, on both sides. We fight because we are Soldiers and that is our duty. I am getting to be an old man and I still stand when Dixie is played, as I do for our national anthem (NFL take note). I stand out of respect for the men who lived and died in the mud and the blood. God bless them, God bless Dixie, and God bless what's left of the United States of America.
I was fortunate to serve in Vietnam with a unit that was almost completely comprised of young men from the South. One brought the Stars and Bars flag with him. So while we proudly wore the uniform of American Marines we did, thanks to him, carry the Stars and Bars with us into battle. A more tough, hard bitten group of fierce fighters I never saw before or since. Just saying.
@@LesterMoore I'm the proud descendant of several Confederate veterans, and the proud son of an Iwo JIma veteran. Several threads in that dear old red battle flag, with the EGA and streamer on it, were woven by "Gentlemen of the South." Never, for one instant, did I find my love and admiration for my Southerm sires to be at odds with my oath of endlistment in the United States Marine Corps. (2/5, RVN, '70-'71)
Saw this on Turner Classic one late night in color. Fantastic movie, proud to have gone to the West Point of the South aka Virginia Military Institute.
This is what men do. It's kinda like after a knock down drag out fist fight , you become good friends. That's what men do. No grudge , just respect. I suspect modern soy boy basement dwellers cannot comprehend this sentiment. No matter , enough of us do.
@@johnhunter2058 - Doubtless some Hollywood license was taken with this scene....however, there are recorded instances of peaceful, even tearful, partings - not only at West Point but at Army posts - and homes - throughout the Nation....and instances of civil encounters on the battlefield - and many reconciliations after the War. I am afraid that this spirit has faltered around the world in the past 50 or so years - and some modern people can't find it in themselves to even try to understand - as evidenced in many of the comments on these posts....
A similar sense of honour was depicted in a Parliament scene in 'Cromwell' starring Richard Harris. Before Cromwell's statement that 'this nation is now in a state of civil war', many MPs departed to join the King's standard. Whether this actually happened I'm not sure - but still a memorable scene as the one depicted here. First viewed in my youth, I remember being fascinated by this clip, how those of Southern origins were permitted to depart West Point and join their Confederate comrades. Nevertheless, if that senator had ordered them to open fire on those he deemed 'rebellious traitors', I doubt any Northerner could obey such an order. It's one thing to fight a stranger in enemy uniform on the battlefield, but quite another to suddenly attack a former comrade you've trained alongside for months if not years - crisis or not. I can just imagine how all those soldiers on parade hated the political situation itself instead of despising those summoned by different loyalties. It must have been a terrible feeling at how West Point's ranks were suddenly depleted at a single stroke. This scene is symbolic of a great national divide.
There is no comparison. Get real, you English try to steal honor anywhere you can. find it. That Cromwell fiasco is the most confusing thing I have ever tried to understand, but like most English history, it is bound up in class rather than love of home. The southerners were proud men who made a difficult choice. Their honor remained intact despite what these black lives matter and communists would have us believe.
Something quite like it happened, but for a range of reasons. I can respect Astley's 'I like not this quarrel, but have served my king twenty years, and will not do so base a thing as to desert him now.' I cannot respect anyone who voluntarily supports tyranny - or, in particular, slavery.
If I'm not mistaken, Cromwell had the king's head wackex off. He was another revolutionary who betrayed his own cause and made himself dictator for life. After he was gone, they couldn't restore the monarchy fast enough, though reducing its power.
@@stephenkammerling9479 You're right in how Cromwell eventually became Lord Protector - the role of 'king' in all but name - but parliament had become so incompetent and greedy that it had lost sight of the purpose that it was supposed to support the people's democratic interests. Cromwell had to govern England himself. As you said, although it became a dictatorship under his guidance, one key influence was the development of the English Model Army and added security for the island nation. If this hadn't happened, the future United Kingdom of Great Britain wouldn't have had an army to help take on the French Sun King, Louis XIV, for example, during the early 18th century. One downside to his rule is that it took on an austere Puritan form; one which most of the merry-making population hated! Charles II was invited back from exile and, as a result, abolished Puritan restrictions on fun pastimes, including Christmas (!), and contributed much to the sciences and arts. So in one sense Charles II was a progressive king. However, the parliamentary limitations (as you mentioned) imposed upon his autocratic nature were threatened when James II came to the throne. He took advantage of parliament's weakness and hoped to restore Catholicism as the national religion. Again, religious rifts played their in yet another crisis - this was a constant problem throughout 17th century Europe! - and so William of Orange was invited to assume the English Crown. This was instrumental to stability in two ways: that his Protestant beliefs suited the pro-Protestant government, and an alliance with his native Protestant Netherlands was a great bonus against England's rivalry with Catholic Spain and France. The Dutch also had a superb military (both on land and at sea) which further capitalized and expanded upon Cromwell's ideology of a professional standing army. However, the broadly unpopular Puritanism didn't make a return, so a sort of political balance was achieved. Most of Scotland didn't approve the Act of Union in 1707, and they supported the Stuart lineage as rightful kings, hence the Jacobite Wars during the mid-1700's. Despite some fantastic earlier victories, Scottish forces were heavily outnumbered by the Hanoverian forces, and so an invasion of England from the north was impractical and doomed. Plus, aside from a token contribution, their ally France failed to significantly support the Jacobite cause of Bonnie Prince Charlie - who would have been King Charles the III had it succeeded. If France had fully committed with a strong force at Culloden (or wherever an alternative might have taken place), perhaps England would have had a harder time of it? Trouble was, the French had their hands full in Europe - and memories of a failed hegemony due to her defeat in battles such as Blenheim, for example, she erred on the side of caution. Even the earlier Jacobite victories failed to stir France into fervent action. As a result of Hanoverian victory during these wars, the Act of Union was further solidified, and even Highlanders were eventually recruited into a British army that was the legacy of Cromwell's New Model Army. And while most direct contributions were made by Prussia, Austria, and Russia, I think he would have been impressed by Wellington's victories during the Indian and Peninsular Wars against Napoleon. Spanish partisans were largely responsible for the harassment of French forces in their land, but it was a Royal Navy (improved by the earlier Dutch influence), and a British army that geographically helped advance the Allied cause. Not to mention British trade and commerce helped to fund and field armies abroad. If there was something Cromwell had got right, it was the initial development of Great Britain's professional army. Not sole responsibility; Thomas Fairfax was also helped greatly in this aim. It probably not surprising that Britain's army had two Guard regiments, both proudly traced their formation way back to the English Civil Wars: one being Royalist, the other Parliamentarian! Needless to say, a certain rivalry existed between the two regiments, a particular debate being which one is the oldest (and therefore most senior); it might sound petty but a valid enough argument within the hierarchy of the British Army - or indeed any army.
Typical politician. He was the kind that wanted every Confederate government official and every officer executed. What stopped idiots like that was the fact men like Grant, Sherman, Sheridan ,and Custer said it would happen over their dead bodies. Politicians did not save America. West Point and its code of honor saved America,
It was year's as a stalemate on the battle field from both sides since they were with had the same milltary schooling . it wasn't untill forogn military bserver's were brought into field that the the unpm armyMade advances
UMM, you forgot the "racism" part. these were the people who spread the racism all over America after the South fell. The made things worse in America.
..my German great great grand uncle was killed at Gettysburg. I do not know whether he fought for the Union or the Confederacy, although two soldiers with the family name, fought with the French Brigade, Louisiana. Greetings from New Zealand.
There were two full companies of what were generically called, "Germans" in the 5th Texas Cavalry. In fact, there were Germans, Austrians, Poles, and Dutch among them. Co. G, 5th Texas, carried out the last lancer charge recorded in the western hemisphere at the battle of Val Verde, along the Rio Grande, in New Mexico, in March, 1862. They were shot to pieces by rifle-armed Federal regulars, but they never flinched from pressing their charge.
@@czeslawrossinski2465 take your own advice, Klanboi. They bragged about fighting for slavery. They CERTAINLY didn't fight for democracy or freedom, since the CSA was formed to deny freedom to millions and the elections to pull states into the rebellion were fundamentally undemocratic, denying huge chunks of the population a say in the outcome. In a truly democratic election secession would have been CRUSHED in the south. It would have been defeated in every single state.
And that's the difference between a soldier and a politician. Soldiers respect each other for standing up for their beliefs, whereas politicians condemn those of differing opinions as traitors. Soldiers have honor and respect, while politicians have none.
Back then they had honor today's officers you do not see this type of Honor back then you could disagree with somebody and still have honor and still be able to show respect you do not see these type of things today I can see officers in the military have honor and still show respect even if you disagree with somebody during the Civil War a union private so General Robert E Lee from a distance this Union private show General Robert E Lee respect and honor as a Commanding General are the Confederacy instead of shooting him this Union private show him respect by saluting him this Union private called-out sergeant of the Guard Commanding General on the field that is honor that is respect the people of today they don't not have these type of values back then you could disagree with somebody back then at the same time show them honor and respect people need to have these type of values today I'm not talking about slaves I'm not talking about being racist I'm talking about values I wish people still have these today some people do but at the same time other people don't care thank you for sharing this video
Custer, whom Flynn played, finished LAST in his class at West Point. I think Errol Flynn was one of Ronald Reagan's favorite actors. Reagan actually played Custer in Santa Re Trail, a film about the pre-Civil War Army. Errol Flynn had the lead role, and I think he played a future Confederate officer, but I don't know who(maybe Jeb Stuart?). I saw movie right after Reagan's election in 1980. A lot of his movies were shown then.. His movies weren't shown before election because some thought it would give Reagan an unfair advantage.
@@stephenkammerling9479 Yes, Flynn played Jeb Stuart in "The Santa Fe Trail," and Reagan played Custer (one of my favorite shoot-em-ups even if it is terrible history). Stuart graduated from West Point in 1854, and Custer was in the second graduating class of 1861; two classes in '61 because of the war. Flynn looking like an old cadet? Well, that's Hollywood.
@@kevinchappell3694 Historical fact for you: in 1861 less than 25% of the South's population owned slaves. That's 1 in 4. You also have to remember that the attitude towards slaves in the North was just as bad as in the South, the only difference being that slavery didn't exist in the North - at that time. When the nation was founded slavery existed in all 13 colonies; even George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. As the North grew to be industrialized the need for slaves diminished and eventually vanished. At the same time the South was becoming more agricultural, and the need for slaves as a work force increased proportionately. But throughout the nation, most of the public to include "The Great Emancipator," Abraham Lincoln, considered the Negro race to be mentally, morally, and physically inferior to the white race. The focus of Abraham Lincoln and the Union war effort was, at first, the preservation of the Union; the focus and goal of the war effort didn't become slavery until the issue of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862. And every historical expert worth his salt will agree that Lincoln chose slavery not to liberate anyone but because it was the one topic he knew that everyone in the North would unite against and would therefore unite behind him. See, at that point the war had been going very badly for the North, the Union forces getting their asses kicked on a regular basis by the Confederates. Even the more liberal Union newspapers were calling for Lincoln to talk to Jefferson Davis about hammering out a peace treaty and just letting the Confederacy go their own way. Lincoln still wanted to preserve the Union, and he needed something to unite the Northern opinion - and he chose slavery. So before you go slapping that mantel of eternal repentance on the good people of the South, you'd better take a good, hard look in your own backyard because you and your folk ain't all that clean, either.
@@kevinchappell3694 Additionally, you wanna know why Lincoln was so intent on preserving the Union? The answer is one simple word: MONEY. In 1861 80% of the WORLD'S cotton came from the South, and the cotton crop is what was keeping the United States financially solvent. If the South were allowed to secede, all of the money the United States was making would vanish and would go instead to the Confederate Government. About a year after the war started, the wife of a captured Union officer came to Lincoln to plead with him to intervene on the procedures of prisoner exchange and get her husband released. Lincoln had decreed in early 1862 that all prisoner exchanges would stop because he didn't want the exchanged Confederates rejoining the opposing forces. When the wife asked him why he didn't "just let the Confederacy go," Lincoln's reply was "Let them go? Let them go? Why, madam, if I were to simply let them go then who would pay to run the country?" And there's your answer: MONEY.
Captain Fitzhugh Lee, Robert E. LEES nephew rose to Major General in the confederacy then years later was recalled to duty in the US Army as a Major General during the Spanish American wat.
I have watched horror movies my entire life. But when you think about the context of what is happening in this scene, West Point splitting apart, the country splitting apart, I what to scream...Don't You Know What This Means?!! Politicians on both sides, Sit Down! Stop for God's Sake. It is the saddest moment in any motion picture. It makes me cringe. Band Leader sound Dixie. 600,000 men gone.
This was the attitude before that psychopathic war criminal, Sherman, got busy burning, looting, and raping a path twenty miles wide from Atlanta to the sea. He and a few other federal officers and men will burn in hell for their deeds.
WOW, what HONOR among Gentlemen! Being raised by generations of Southerners, with all its heart and steel and grit, that stirred my soul! What respect they showed! And dang, I love my Confederate Flag.
When the yanks seceded from Britain it is was a revolution, when it came the Southern's turn to seceded it suddenly stopped being a "god-given right" and became a treason. Everyone can see you only call people names online 'cause you're a coward who wouldn't dare to do it personally, now shut your mouth and sing Dixie, you damn rascal.
There was a good case that secession was not treason. I don’t agree, but those who did were fighting for what they thought was right. The post-war settlement included an understanding that the rebels were not to be called ‘traitors’. The Supreme Court has since ruled against secession. So any further attempts *would* be treason. Note that the revolt against Britain did not claim to be legal. They were trying to overthrow the system, and expected to be hanged if they lost.
@Doug Bevins your village called and they want their idiot back....you have an IQ two points a bologna sandwich....is this what your life has been relegated to? You've hit bottom
@Doug Bevins so what your wanting me to do is sit here and exchange insults with a moron who has nothing better to do but troll on RU-vid with ridiculous nonsense? If anything has been validated is your desire to make idiotic claims and insults that you began with...only thing that has been validated is your pitiful life's pathway decisions, you started with outright lies and insults what did you expect in return? This was never a discussion...what it is and started out as was you saying something that is ridiculous as your attempt to drag someone into your life under a rock...you'll have to go find a 5 year old who understands your mindset...geez this is what your life has become? Wow...your moronic and pitiful life is only exceeded by your ignorance ...discussion? If you consider what you said is a discussion you need to go get help immediately and your in desperate need of someone making your decisions for you, to continue to communicate with you would put me at your level...no thanks
Eternal honour to those Gentlemen of the South, whose actions saw gallantry's and chivalry's last bow. And honour too those Unionist officers who at the end of the War commanded the band to play Dixie. Where is all this knighlty demenour now? Today our armys are a cluster of thugs led by cowardly politicians. Gentlemen of the South... look for them now only in books, for they are no more than a dream remembered.
YOUR army may be a cluster of thugs led by cowardly politicians, but the United States Armed Forces are honorable, upstanding men and women with a sense of honor, dignity, courage and patriotism that is second to none. And they are led by generals and officers who are cut from the same cloth. If you're an American, you should be ashamed. If you're not, you should STFU.
@@josemiguelojedallerandi9409 You are painfully ignorant of American history. In the first place, less than 25% of the Southern population owned slaves - and a lot of them were black, by the way. Out of the 11 Southern states that seceded from the Union, only 4 of them mentioned the preservation of slavery in their Articles of Secession. FOUR. Robert E. Lee was a colonel in the Union army at the outbreak of the war, and was offered command of the Union forces. He refused, stating that he could never lead an army to invade his home, that home being Virginia. He was an opponent of slavery and was against secession, but his loyalty stayed with his home state. Less than 1% of the Confederate forces was made up of slaveholders, and most of those were officers. The average enlisted man was a farmer, store owner, or laborer. After being captured in a battle that took place on Southern soil, three Confederates were asked by a Union officer why they were fighting. Their reply was, "Because y'all are down here." The war was not started by Lincoln - who cleverly baited the South into firing the first shot - to free the slaves. The call for volunteers to put down the rebellion in the South was to "preserve the Union," not free the slaves. By the time mid-1862 rolled around the Union forces had been getting their collective asses kicked in every theatre of the war, and even the liberal Northern newspapers were calling on Lincoln to contact Jefferson Davis and hammer out a peace treaty and just let the South go. Lincoln needed two things at that point: a cause that the entire Northern population would rally behind and support his illegal war, and a major Union victory to precede the announcement. In September after the Battle of Antietam which was considered a Northern victory, Lincoln released the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln may have been a tyrant but he was a clever politician - his ploy worked, and from September 1862 the war from the Union side was fought to free the slaves. The Southern forces continued fighting for the same reason they had always been fighting - to protect their homes from the Yankee invaders. Read a history book, willya? Jeez.
Of course you all realize that this was a script created by writers in Hollywood. Read about this war by respected historians and you’ll recognize the glittering BS.
Still glorifying a horrible state of affairs from which this nation has never recovered and possibly never will. As long as men still sing Dixie as if were an honorable song in the face of national rebellion, their hearts will forever be seered and tainted by blind and appalling prejudices for which they are not only willing to maintain, but gladly accept as their honor.
Actually, the band would have consisted of mainly enlisted men who were already members of the US Army and were therefore not given the chance to leave. Not to say that they didn't later, but not at that point anyway.
Yeah well I'm here and it's pretty clear if you look around that we lost. Houston is beginning to look like a high tempature San Francisco with all the freakish wildlife moving in.
I would bet money that. this whole episode is fiction from Hollywood. Most of this Custer movie is false. Custer was f disliked by many of the seventh cavalry. He didnt care about his troopers, was very vain and arrgant, was always weasling things to benefit him. He abandoned part of his command who had gotten separated and refused tolook for them.They were all killed. His brother ragged on him about Custer not having a Medal of Honor. The brother ,I think had two.
Did u know that they offer custer command of a all black calvary regiment.but he turn it down.For reasons BLACK. Custer was a prejudice cocky, prejudice bastard..
I loved this movie as a child but as an adult i now know this movie is just riddled with inaccuracies including this scene. West Point never played Dixie as the southern cadets marched out of West Point. The sentiment was more in line with don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.
It's an apolitical scene, it's about honour and soldiers following their intrinsic sense of loyalty whatever the cost may be. The two groups will soon be trying to kill one another but they can honour and respect the courage and honest conviction of their opponents. Many Confederate soldiers fought out of a sense of loyalty to homeland rather than a personal conviction as to the morality of slavery. This scene manages to honour their personal courage without endorsing the overall cause.
And that's the great thing about it. The people of America today don't realize that the sense of loyalty in the 1860s was not to the Republic as a whole, but rather to the individual states. It was not uncommon in those days for someone to never travel outside of the state in which they were born, so it's only natural that they should have a higher sense of loyalty to their home state rather than to the United States. Lee felt this way, which is why he turned down the command of all Union forces when it was offered to him in 1861 and resigned from the Army. He went home to Virginia and assumed command of the Virginia Defense Forces, and when Virginia seceded and joined the Confederacy he went with his home state and became a member of the Confederate States Army, even though he himself thought secession illegal and was opposed to slavery. He was fighting to protect his home, Virginia, just as the majority of men from the South were doing. They weren't fighting to preserve slavery because most of them didn't own slaves; they were fighting to defend their home. After a significant battle that took place in the South (and for the life of me I can't remember which one), a captured Confederate soldier was asked by a Yankee officer why he was fighting. The Confederate soldier's answer was simple and to the point: "Because y'all are down here."
@@Suey4249 History is history. If you really want to get technical, our entire country was built on land stolen from the Indians. The Federal government entered into more than 200 treaties with the various Indian Nations, and broke every single one of them. IMHO the two darkest instances in our history is the way we treated the Indians and slavery. But there's nothing we can do about that.
I've often wondered if this scene is based on historical fact? I'm not questioning that there were cadets loyal to the Confederacy who left West Point, that's a given. But did they leave in the manner depicted in this film? Anyone know the answer?
No, I don't believe there was a mass resignation as depicted in the film. In general, the cadets resigned individually as their states seceded from the Union. On unusual case was the Superintendent himself, whose appointment was revoked when his home state (Louisiana) seceded. A few month later, he ordered the bombardment of Fort Sumter to begin -- he was P. G. T. Beauregard.
I don't think they left with that type of ceremony, but I do think cadets at military academies on both sides allowed dissenters to followed their conscience. People then did what they usually do in war time, they fight for the country or region from which they came. For the ordinary soldier on either side their was also a DRAFT. I don't know whether southern soldiers could buy their way out of draft. I don't think so. On union side, rich people could buy their way out of draft. Another case of war being caused by rich in North and slaveholders in South, but war had to be fought by ordinary people. All discussions I've heard about Confederate soldiers is that 75-80 percent of them didn't own slaves. They were fighting for a cause they weren't benefiting from, and they were mostly poorly fed and inadequately supplied. However immediate result of war was their homeland was being invaded and of course many of them were drafted.
@@kennethkellogg6556 One amusing irony about General Beauregard. He had great artillery experience because of his training at West Point. The military instructor who trained him in artillery was the man who later commanded the union troops defending Fort Sumter against Beauregard. That person was Robert Anderson. How ironic indeed.
@@stephenkammerling9479 Initially southerners were exempt from the draft if they owned 20 or more slaves, the theory being they would be needed to act as monitors. The exemption was later dropped.
It was not a "civil war". It was a war of conquest by the socialist traitors to gut the government given to us by the Founders. They succeeded. I hope all of the Lincoln-loving, miscegenists, and egalitarian pricks are happy. Take a look around and behold Lincoln and the G. A. R,'s legacy. Cannot lay any of it to the feet of a Confederate. It's what they wanted, so eat it or choke.
Shut up, ass. Enough of your Glorious Lost Cause crap. Unless you're willing to wear the chains yourself, don't think you can force them on others in order to defend a system that promoted treating human beings to be bought, sold and worked like animals. You like slavery? Try it yourself sometime.
Greetings from the Confederacy of Switzerland! THE REBEL YELL GREETS FROM HELL !!! The South was much more than right!!! May Sherman rot in Hell 4ever...My Swiss ancestor emigrated, worked as a sharecropper in Virginia, and at the moment when he had enough money to buy his own little farm, war broke out! He owned no slaves until that moment! As a convinced Confederate from Swiss Confederacy he fought and fell as an infantery soldier of the 32.Virginia Infantry with the Army of NorthVirginia at Sharpsburg, Antietam(on Yankee Soil) Sept. 17th, 1862!!) Maybe pple know about the history of Swiss mercenarys in medieval until 1515 they were feared everywhere! So we remember him in a sort of that tradition!
Those men's first duty was to their God and home. The South defended their homes and families against a invader. When the Troops put West came back East they rode together some went North and some went South. They rode together as friends and split being enemies. It broke many of their hearts.
They started the war by attacking US soldiers defending US property, and they did it to create and expand a white supremacist nation dedicated to preserving slavery. If you think THAT is fulfilling a duty to God, your god sucks.
Camp Douglas, in Chicago, was no holiday resort, either. Plenty of room to criticise everybody. However, we learned. Future POW camps run by the USA had much higher standards, and the public expected that. (Thus the strong public reaction to isolated abuses in Iraq, and the quick response).
Not a lot of honor at Camp Chase, Camp Douglas, Fort Slocum, or Elmira Prison either. The North was only marginally better at treatment of POWs than the South; just over 12% of Confederate prisoners died in Northern captivity, while 15.5% of Union prisoners died in Southern prison camps.
What were they fighting for? A sample from the Texas Ordinance of Secession. And I assure you, except for Georgia, all the others are the same. “We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and in that condition only could their existence in this country be rendered beneficial or tolerable. That in this free government all white men are and of right ought to be entitled to equal civil and political rights; that the servitude of the African race, as existing in these States, is mutually beneficial to both bond and free, and is abundantly authorized and justified by the experience of mankind, and the revealed will of the Almighty Creator, as recognized by all Christian nations; while the destruction of the existing relations between the two races, as advocated by our sectional enemies, would bring inevitable calamities upon both and desolation upon the fifteen slave-holding States. By the secession of six of the slave-holding States, and the certainty that others will speedily do likewise, Texas has no alternative but to remain in an isolated connection with the North, or unite her destinies with the South.”
And you'd be wrong. Out of the 11 Confederate states that seceded, only 4 cited slavery or the preservation of slavery as a cause for secession, those being Texas, Alabama, Arkansas and Virginia. Pick up a history book, willya?
@steve mathew OK, where did I write secession was not a Right, child? Some thought so at the start of the nation, but it was a Right that South Carolina cravenly surrendered to Andy Jackson ("The Federal Union, it must be preserved.") The States' Right that secessionists were prepared to go to war for was the notion that some people, because of money their daddy's left to them, could tell other people what to do, and kill them if they didn't submit to that rape (shades of the late Roman Empire, or do you want to start on that?). It came out against one race in particular, but it's like any other law, once it is established, it can be expanded to other groups, like the poor white trash that made up most of the fodder secessionist sacrificed needlessly during the war. Forth, are you sure you are one of "the good people" of Virginia? That phrase had a completely different meaning in 1776, it was a measure of wealth. Are you sure you measure up? "Section 1. That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights," unless you consider one race of man not to be men, and you are welcome to that opinion. I'm not sure if I consider you to be a man, so we're on the same page, you just have to catch up on the reading (don't move your lips, it's faster). You're arguing with someone about something, but not with what I wrote. Robert E Lee swore an oath of allegiance to the United States when he left West Point, as did many of his fellow officers in the War of Southern Crybabies. They dishonored that oath and themselves, that is certainly ungentlemanly. Finally, I wrote what I wrote 2 years ago. The Civil War ended over 170 years ago. It was lost and won by people we never met and it passed long before we were born. Get a life and let it pass, child, and I call you that because you are obviously young enough to think you know what you're talking about. Not me, I just reflect what I have personally read, which appears to be one hell of a lot more than you. Go back and read the Virginia Bill of Rights, don't just take somebody else's word for what it says (people lie, and you would be best served to assume I am lying, too, child).
The Union could have had Dreyse rifles, like the M1860 which enabled the Prussians to wipe the floor with the Austrians, who were armed with muskets. 10rpm, lying down to load, against 2 to 3? The reason was cost. In dollars, though, not in lives. Bourgeois states are shite.
@@Nathan-zp6fm HAHAHAHAHHA! Then why didn't the traitors make that argument then? They didn't. Read their various declarations, they all say they are committing treason to keep slaves. Say nothing about their right under the Constitution. And if so, why not spell out this so-called right. It wasn't even discussed at the Constitutional Convention; in 1787. So piss off with your nonsense. Just an apologist for slavery and treason. The south, still dragging down the US since forever.