A condensed Look At The Southern Side Of The Civil War

A condensed Look At The Southern Side Of The Civil War

Michael T. Griffith

2003

@All Rights Reserved

When I began to study the Civil War, I realized that much of what I had been taught about it in school was either wrong or incomplete. It has been said that history is written by the victors. This is especially true when it comes to the Civil War. The Southern side of the story is rarely presented fairly in our public schools and textbooks today.  I believe it is important that we as Americans know the whole truth about the Civil War. The purpose of this article is to present the South’s side of the story.

The following basic facts are undisputed: The seven states of the Deep South seceded in response to the victory of the Republican Party’s presidential candidate, Abraham Lincoln, in the 1860 election.  These states formed the Confederate States of America.  Lincoln refused to recognize the Confederacy.  A small federal garrison occupied Fort Sumter, South Carolina, on December 26, 1860.  The Confederate government attempted to negotiate the withdrawal of the garrison from the fort.  Lincoln decided not to evacuate the garrison.  Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861.  Lincoln issued a call-up for 75,000 troops to put down what he claimed was a rebellion in the South.  Four more Southern states joined the Confederacy.  Lincoln sent federal armies into the South.  The war lasted approximately four years and ended in April 1865.

The version of the Civil War that’s taught in nearly all textbooks goes something like this: “The only reason the South wanted to leave the Union was to protect slavery.  The South had no right to secede.  The South started the war by firing on Fort Sumter.  The war was fought over slavery.  The defeat of the South was a victory for government ‘of the people, by the people, and for the people.’”  This is the version of the war that I accepted for most of my life.

We will consider twelve issues relating to the Civil War: Why Did the South Secede?  Did the South Have the Right to Secede?  What Caused the War?  Who Started the War?  The Emancipation Proclamation. Republicans, the North, and Racism.  Was the War Fought Over Slavery?  What Happened at Andersonville Prison?   Did the South Control the Federal Government Until 1860?  The Reconstruction Era.  The True Nature of the War.  And, What If the South Had Been Allowed to Go in Peace?