THE SLAVEHOLDER REVOLT

For some reason I have these weird flights of thought. Oh yes. I know you do too, but I have this horrible habit of writing them down and posting them. For example: At my age one thinks a lot about heart attacks. I take it to extremes.

Consider this. If Ulysses S. Grant had succumbed to a heart attack on November 6, 1860, one could find his name on the West Point class of 1843. With effort one might find mention of First Lieutenant, then Brevet Captain Grant’s performance in the Mexican American War. That’s about it. Maybe an obscure obituary in some Missouri or Illinois newspaper might appear. Then no mention of him in the files of either of the Americas.

Had, on the other hand, Robert E. Lee succumbed likewise on that date, he would rate mention as an ideal army officer and West Point Superintendent—overall the very picture of a modern Regular Army Colonel. Writing a glowing biography would be a simple task.

There we have it.

From failure to savior.

From paragon to traitor.

Isn’t it remarkable what the effects of a couple of bouts of good health will have upon a country? Is it fate that is granting us longevity?

Certified Non-AI generated

LONG MAY SHE WAVE

EPIPHANY OF THE DAY

DUTY

 In high school I was taught that the most famous general of the American army in our Civil War, the army that fought to end slavery, owned slaves. I was taught that the most famous general in the insurrectionist army, the army that fought to preserve slavery, never owned slaves.

That was partly true and partly false.

General Ulysses S. Grant was given a slave by his father-in-law. He freed him before the Civil War.

Robert E. Lee actually did own slaves. Most famously though, he managed over 200 that his wife inherited from her father. His “management” included the whipping of recalcitrant humans under his care.

One can research all of this further if one chooses. My state doesn’t allow it to be taught.

For today, let us consider a comment I read once. Lee confided to someone that slaves would encounter no problems if they simply did their duty.

Their duty.

Now what exactly was the duty of a person who was worked, for minimal sustenance, often less, from when “it was light enough to see until it was too dark to see?”

What was the duty of a person who was not allowed to learn to read or write for fear by the owner that the slave might “become like one of us?”

What was the duty of the person whose children were torn away, sold to strangers, and carried to a faraway place by the omnipotent owner?

I would say that the duty of that person would be to take every opportunity, despite every danger, and despite the myth of “The Lost Cause” to run as far away from that evil owner as possible.

Duty.

Bullshit.