The Battle of Appomattox Courthouse is considered by many historians the end of the Civil War and the start of post-Civil War America. The events of General Robert E. Lee’s surrender to General and future President Ulysses S. Grant at a small town courthouse in Central Virginia put into effect much of what was to follow.
The surrender at Appomattox Courthouse was about reconciliation, healing, and restoring the Union. While the Radical Republicans had their mercifully brief time in the sun rubbing defeated Dixie’s nose in it, largely in response to the Southern “Black Codes,” they represented the bleeding edge of Northern radicalism that wanted to punish the South, not reintegrate it into the Union as an equal partner.
The sentiment of actual Civil War veterans is far removed from the attitude of the far left in America today. Modern day “woke-Americans” clamor for the removal of Confederate statues in the South, the lion’s share of which were erected while Civil War veterans were still alive. There was little objection to these statues at the time because it was considered an important part of the national reconciliation to allow the defeated South to honor its wartime dead and because there is a longstanding tradition of memorializing defeated foes in honor cultures.
from Sam Jacobs at ammo.com
Excellent !! Here’s some facts that may surprise you:
Republican Party was started to put an end to slavery in the nation. No Republicans owned slaves.
Ulyssses S. Grant owned slaves before he became a Republican. He inherited three but shortly thereafter gave them their freedom.
In the 1860 census, over 3,000 freed blacks in the city of New Orleans owned slaves. All over the South, freed blacks owned slaves. One owned sixty. There is no telling how many freed blacks owned slaves without study of all Southern 1860 census data where that information is recorded.
Before Andrew Jackso removed the Cherokee and other tribes to Oklahoma (Trail of Tears forced removal by the US Army), many Cherokee owned black slaves. In fact, taking slaves by victorious Native tribes in war had been long practiced all over North and South America.
When the Civil War started many freed blacks joined up. Several Confederate units were entirely composed of freed blacks. Slaves often joined up to accompany their owners who went off to fight for the Confederacy.
Also, many Native Americans in the Oklahoma territory joined Confederate forces to fight against the hated US Army that had mistreated them. They even had their own units. One, called “Cherokee Braves” was noted for its ferocity in battle.
The Emancipation Proclamation only intended to free the slaves in the Confederacy. It did not apply in Maryland and Delaware where slavery was still practiced. Slaves in those states got freedom only when the 13th Amendment was passed. BTW Lincoln had zero authority under the laws or Constitution to “free the slaves”. He did it to take the “heat off” caused by his failing generals who were losing badly, the hated and corrupt drafting of young men into the Army, and the hated income tax (forced on the North by Lincoln in clear violation of the Constitution, as then written).
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How many people realize that slavery is ongoing around the world to this day.