Virginia Governor Proclaims April “Confederate History Month”

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The Washington Post reports today that Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has issued a proclamation that “quietly declared April 2010 Confederate History Month, bringing back a designation in Virginia that his two Democratic predecessors — Mark Warner and Tim Kaine — refused to do.” According to the Lynchburg News and Advance, McDonnell’s proclamation “comes in advance of an upcoming anniversary — it was on April 17, 1861 that Virginia seceded from the union.” The proclamation makes no mention of slavery, but does call on Virginians “to understand the sacrifices of the Confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens during the period of the Civil War, and to recognize how our history has led to our present“:

WHEREAS, April is the month in which the people of Virginia joined the Confederate States of America in a four year war between the states for independence that concluded at Appomattox Courthouse; and

WHEREAS, Virginia has long recognized her Confederate history, the numerous civil war battlefields that mark every region of the state, the leaders and individuals in the Army, Navy and at home who fought for their homes and communities and Commonwealth in a time very different than ours today; and

WHEREAS, it is important for all Virginians to reflect upon our Commonwealth’s shared history, to understand the sacrifices of the Confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens during the period of the Civil War, and to recognize how our history has led to our present;

The Post notes that “Republican governors George Allen and Jim Gilmore made similar proclamations. But in 2002, Warner broke with their action, calling such proclamations a ‘lightning rod’ that does not help bridge divisions between whites and blacks in Virginia.”

link

[Danno 1,228]

A focus on history is always a good thing.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Have you ever been to Virginia? The place is one big Civil War Battlefield.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

[Danno 1,228]

Thats stunning!

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Are slaves acceptable and in fashion again in Virgina during the month of April?

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Thats stunning!

It's a great venue for a war! Most of the battlefields were within a days ride of what was society of the time. Think of it! If you happened to be in the District of Columbia, or Richmond, you could pack a lunch, ride out to a point overlooking a battlefield, catch the action close at hand, and be back home in time for a late supper.

[scandal 951]

It's a great venue for a war! Most of the battlefields were within a days ride of what was society of the time. Think of it! If you happened to be in the District of Columbia, or Richmond, you could pack a lunch, ride out to a point overlooking a battlefield, catch the action close at hand, and be back home in time for a late supper.

Charming, simply charming.

As Grant moved south, Lee awaited him in an area just west of Fredricksburg known as the Wilderness - an unforgiving maze of craggy ravines and slippery bogs, dense with vines and thorn bushes. The gloomy terrain provided cover for Lee's earthworks and prevented Grant's superb artillery from being used: it effectively negated the Union's superiority of numbers. Nonetheless, Grant pushed relentlessly south to Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor, slightly northeast of Richmond, engaging Lee in a hideous struggle. Men on both sides had to climb over the dead and dying, "lying in some places in piles three and four deep." Grant's biographer calls the campaign "a nightmare of inhumanity", resulting in 86,000 Union and Confederate casualties in the space of seven weeks. "The world has never seen so bloody and so protracted a battle as the one being fought," Grant told his wife at the end of the first nine days, "and I hope never will again." He later admitted in his memoirs that he "always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made."

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Charming, simply charming.

During the two week period along the Totopotomoy and at Cold Harbor, the Federal army lost 12,000 killed, wounded, missing and captured while the Confederates suffered almost 4,000 casualties.

http://www.nps.gov/archive/rich/ri_cold.htm

The initial battles of the war were mere skirmishes, in which the Union troops were thoroughly routed, and Union stores were captured by raiding parties, almost at will. As the north was able to conscript more and more troops, often immigrants fresh off the boat from Europe, the North was eventually able to overwhelm the south with large numbers, albeit at great cost in life, mainly to the Federal conscripts.

[scandal 951]

Progress, Virginia style.

In 2008, the Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) placed the Cold Harbor battlefield on its Ten Most Endangered Battlefields list.[16] Development pressure in the Richmond area is so great that only about 300 acres (1.2 km2) of what was once at least a 7,500-acre (30 km2) battlefield are currently preserved.

[luckytxn 2,263]

Very few know that many blacks died fighting for freedom on Virginia battle fields.

[lostinblue 1,989]

No different than black history month that we all must endure every year.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Very few know that many blacks died fighting for freedom on Virginia battle fields.

Ironically, Negroes fought for both the North, and the South, and often, not by their own choice.

[luckytxn 2,263]

The ones in the North had a choice. The south did make many blacks do slave labor but at the end they did start offering them a chance for freedom if they enlisted. Many did do so but not surprisingly many deserted. There was a very good book on this.

[Old Dominion 26]

I find the governor's action an embarrassment to Virginia.