EPIPHANY OF THE DAY

 CIVIL WAR

Was rereading parts of the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant last evening concerning the Battle of Missionary Ridge. In the midst of describing preparations for this great American victory, Grant suddenly stops and delivers this reflection:

"There was no time during the rebellion when I did not think, and often say, that the South was more to be benefited by its defeat than the North. The latter had the people, the institutions, and the territory to make a great and prosperous nation. The former was burdened with an institution abhorrent to all civilized people not brought up under it, and one which degraded labor, kept it in ignorance, and enervated the governing class.

With the outside world at war with this institution, they could not have extended their territory. The labor of the country was not skilled, nor allowed to become so. The whites could not toil without becoming degraded, and those who did were denominated "poor white trash." The system of labor would have soon exhausted the soil and left the people poor. The non-slaveholders would have left the country, and the small slaveholder must have sold out to his more fortunate neighbor. Soon the slaves would have outnumbered the masters, and, not being in sympathy with them, would have risen in their might and exterminated them. The war was expensive to the South as well as to the North, both in blood and treasure, but it was worth all it cost. The enemy was surprised"

What an interesting concept. He would go on from there to defeat Robert E. Lee and help restore our country. It is gratifying to note that his reputation has enjoyed a major refurbishing in recent years. I recommend, for those wanted to know him better, the reading of the memoirs, considered one of the best personal reflections of war ever penned.