Remembering the Civil War

"I'm A Good Ol' Rebel" - this is the song the bluegrass band belted out as I stood by a tent near the reenactment site. "I hates the nasty eagle, with all his brag and fuss; but the lyin', thievin' Yankees - I hates' em wuss and wuss." - the band performing it was named "Un-reconstructed." Tents were lined up selling all kinds of civil war era products. There was even a tent where you could buy clothes from that time period, and apparently it was the thing to do, to get into character. There were many men and women who came to the reenactment dressed as though it were still that time period.

It's so funny how into this part of their heritage these people are. I actually must say that I've never in my adult life been to a civil war reenactment (I went as a child, I think, because my elementary school took us on a field trip). But Saturday, I sat there watching this, looking around at all the families and honestly wondered to myself what kind of people these are. Are they all "rednecks"? Are some of them simply just bored and didn't have much else to do? Are many of them, like myself, just curious about what exactly a Civil War reenactment entails, and therefore present simply as spectators trying to observe this part of a dying Southern Culture?

I watched the Dixie Flag flying back and forth as the rebel troops hollered and charged forward. The flag waved ceaselessly until the end of the battle. It made me sad, because so many people died, hoping that this flag would fly over their land as a separate country. It was pointed out to me that dying to protect the flag's flying over a land is exactly what the North was doing also. But it's not the same. When we [the U.S.] declared independence from Great Britain, many of their soldiers died trying to keep us from seceding, from splitting away from the Motherland, but they failed. The United States seceded, and this victory has led to the blessings of all the freedom we have today.

In the same way, the South was fighting for independence from the North, but didn't get it. So many deaths only led to continued Northern agression, such as Sherman's March:

"For thirty-six days that army moved through Georgia, with very little opposition, pillaging the countryside. It was a sort of military promenade, requiring very little military skill in the performance, and as little personal prowess, as well trained union troops were deployed against defenseless citizens."

It's sad how many lives were lost in vain. The war was not only about slavery. Call it the war of the Rebellion, or the war of the Northern agression, but anyone who's studied it knows that slavery was only a side issue, and Northern agression and Southern rebellion have still survived, even though the war is supposedly over. Whatever region you're from, I recommend going to a reenactment sometime, it's a great history lesson.