The Saber and Scroll Journal • Volume 9 , Number 2 • Fall ( Sept .) 2020
Letters to the Editor
To the Editor , The Saber and Scroll :
Imagine you are part of an online theoretical physics group , and you saw posts by non-scientists who challenged Einstein ’ s Theory of Relativity : “ E = mc 2 … Bah humbug — that ’ s just revisionism , I ’ m a Newton man !” Sound implausible ? Perhaps , and yet there are plenty of history groups — especially Civil War-related groups — where posts routinely challenge the scholarly consensus that it was slavery that was the principal force that drove secession and led to war . In this ahistorical imaginary construct — based upon what is popularly known as the “ Myth of the Lost Cause ”— the role of human chattel slavery is reduced to a bit part , supplanted instead by the catchall “ States ’ Rights .”
Lost Cause mythology was first conceived in the days following Appomattox . The war was lost , and clearly slavery would soon go extinct . How could the sacrifice of so many lives for an institution now deemed abhorrent by most Americans be justified ? Prominent former Confederate political and military elites began devising an alternate history that spoke instead of states ’ rights , tariffs , agriculture vs . industrialism , rural vs . urban , localism vs . centralism , and a host of other issues .
While it is clear to historians — whose business is nuance and complexity — that these elements were indeed contributing factors , the centrality of slavery was paramount : without slavery there could never have been Civil War . Period . How do we know that ? Take the advice of eminent Civil War scholar Gary Gallagher , who urges that you read what was written at the time by engineers of secession who advocated for a “ proud slave republic ” and by those who laid the foundation of the Confederacy , such as Alexander Stephens , who pronounced : “ The great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man .” There are ten direct references to slavery in the Confederate Constitution ; Article I plainly declares that : “ No bill of attainder , ex post facto law , or law denying or impairing the right of property in negro slaves shall be passed .” For the architects of rebellion , there was never any question what it was about . Yet , in the writings of some of these same men only five years later , slavery is but a footnote , if it is referenced at all .
Not only are posts by Lost Cause enthusiasts wrong-headed , they are often deliberately false and obnoxious , circulating memes equating white indentured servants to chattel slavery , such as the one about “ Irish Slaves ” that repeatedly makes the rounds . There ’ s another that imagines legions of “ Black Confederates ” that simply never existed , while ignoring the reality of the half-million African Americans who fled to Union lines , and the 179,000 members of the United States Colored Troops that came to represent a remarkable ten percent of the Union army !
3 doi : 10.18278 / sshj . 9.2.2