Thomas F. (hardtack) -
This is a very interesting book, written by a man who hosted one of the most popular talk-radio shows in the country. His arguments against the "10 Big Lies" is based on historical, social and political analysis, and is often convincing.
Even though I'm felt inclined to agree with him on many things, there were instances when I thought he may have been a bit biased in his arguments and how he applied them. But then, we all don't agree all the time, which helps to make life interesting.
However, I did have a major problem with one of his facts. In the chapter titled "America Has Always Been a Multicultural Society," he states "...an estimated 50,000 black Confederates (almost entirely 'free negroes' of the time) went to battle to defend Dixie." This is absolutely not true. I once knew a fellow Civil War reenactor---but not a friend---who claimed, and he supposedly had "Documentation" to prove it, that 200,000 Afro-Americans fought for the South. So I pointed out to him 200,000 men was the equivalant of three or four Confederate armies. What vast conspiracy kept them hidden from thousands of historians writing about the war?
The same---50,000 men equals one Confederate army--- applies here. Historians acknowledge that a few score---mostly slave---Afro-Americans did actually fight against Union forces. Most blacks with the Confederate armies were slaves, functioning as body servants, cooks, teamsters, laborers, etc. And, when they had the opportunity, they willingly escaped into Union lines. It also doesn't explain why, when two Confederate companies of black slaves were organized in Richmond in March 1865, as they marched through the streets the white inhabitants of the Confederate capitol threw rocks at them. If 50,000 free blacks were already fighting for the Confederate cause, why would two hundred more blacks in uniform upset the white populace?
On the same page, he also makes another interesting statement, "The ancestors of most African-Americans have been in the U.S. longer than the ancestors of most white Americans." I know that is certainly true of my family.
Even though I'm felt inclined to agree with him on many things, there were instances when I thought he may have been a bit biased in his arguments and how he applied them. But then, we all don't agree all the time, which helps to make life interesting.
However, I did have a major problem with one of his facts. In the chapter titled "America Has Always Been a Multicultural Society," he states "...an estimated 50,000 black Confederates (almost entirely 'free negroes' of the time) went to battle to defend Dixie." This is absolutely not true. I once knew a fellow Civil War reenactor---but not a friend---who claimed, and he supposedly had "Documentation" to prove it, that 200,000 Afro-Americans fought for the South. So I pointed out to him 200,000 men was the equivalant of three or four Confederate armies. What vast conspiracy kept them hidden from thousands of historians writing about the war?
The same---50,000 men equals one Confederate army--- applies here. Historians acknowledge that a few score---mostly slave---Afro-Americans did actually fight against Union forces. Most blacks with the Confederate armies were slaves, functioning as body servants, cooks, teamsters, laborers, etc. And, when they had the opportunity, they willingly escaped into Union lines. It also doesn't explain why, when two Confederate companies of black slaves were organized in Richmond in March 1865, as they marched through the streets the white inhabitants of the Confederate capitol threw rocks at them. If 50,000 free blacks were already fighting for the Confederate cause, why would two hundred more blacks in uniform upset the white populace?
On the same page, he also makes another interesting statement, "The ancestors of most African-Americans have been in the U.S. longer than the ancestors of most white Americans." I know that is certainly true of my family.
