Let's sum up the blog so far: For a state that wasn’t even a state during the Civil War, Washington has an unfortunate number of Confederates. Back in 2017, every shell-shocked Democrat had their own theory to explain President Trump’s election. I came up with mine after a third-grade concert. A Chevy parked outside the … Continue reading Washington State Has Too Many Confederates
The Confederate Identity Project launched on Aug. 3, 2017, less than two weeks before the violence in Charlottesville. What got it going was a Confederate Flag sticker on a local car, 2,900 miles from Richmond. But we didn’t know much about the Confederacy, the Civil War, Reconstruction, or really, the American South at all. Here’s … Continue reading A year ago we thought Confederate politics lined up with modern politics. Were we right?
It would take you longer than the Civil War lasted to read even a fraction of the 60,000-plus books written on it. Nevertheless, the average American’s understanding of the war remains unimpressive. To celebrate our pending blog-aversary, here’s five facts that surprised us as we read up: 1. It was way longer than you think. … Continue reading Five things you didn’t know about the Civil War
Let’s hope we are still chuckling years from now. A warning worthy of Henny Penny -- “BREAKING: Democrats Plan To Launch Civil War On July 4th” -- ended up stealing the show from a trio of serious warning flags in recent weeks. A majority of Americans believe the country is in “real danger of becoming … Continue reading Laughing at a another Civil War? There’s cause for second thoughts.
A new argument has been made in recent weeks, or perhaps an old argument has been revived, holding that calls for “civility” in public discourse amount to a smoke screen, that white people call for civility as a way to tamp down non-white peoples’ calls for greater equality. “We were going to end up here … Continue reading The Case for White Civility: Bleeding Kansas
Italian statesman, military genius and world-trotting General Giuseppe Garibaldi was offered a generalship in the Union Army, but the US declined to meet his conditions for employment. He had two demands, as outlined by an American diplomat in contact with him: He [Garibaldi] said that the only way in which he could render service, as … Continue reading Fun fact No. 6
The one-armed Union general who was tasked with overseeing the welfare of former slaves after the Civil War is the same man to whom Chief Joseph surrendered in his famous "I will fight no more forever" speech. General Oliver Otis Howard was known for his piety, won the Medal of Honor, and headed the Freedman's … Continue reading Fun Fact No. 5
The name “Ku Klux Klan” conjures, for us, images of hooded men preying on black people at night — something like the Klan scene in “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” Theatrical and nasty, yes. But a vast conspiracy? An insurgent army? No. Disturbingly enough, this project has required learning more about the Klan than the … Continue reading American Insurgents: Democrats of the Ku Klux Klan
Of all the factors shaping American history before and after the Civil War, perhaps the most overlooked is impudence. Even the word “impudent” was in greater use then than it is now, a derivative of the Latin root for ashamed. That is, those who are impudent have forgotten that they should be ashamed of themselves. … Continue reading How Impudence Brought Education to the South — And Terror
The first governor of a US state to be removed from office by impeachment went down for fighting the Ku Klux Klan. William Holden of North Carolina, a Republican, raised a militia to crack down on the Klan after members murdered a state senator, but he did not have the legal authority to declare martial … Continue reading Fun Fact No. 3
Confederate Identity Project 