FACTS CONCERNING ANDERSONVILLE GEORGIA POW CAMP AND COMMANDANT CAPT. HENRY WIRZ FARCE TRIAL AND HANGING OF AN INNOCENT MAN BY A MILITARY TRIBUNAL

By James W. King
 
The Americus camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) organization hosted an annual Memorial Service for Civil War Andersonville Prison Commandant Capt. Henry Wirz on Sunday Nov. 9. 2014. The musical group, "A Joyful Noise," from Leesburg, played and sang Southern Confederate songs and Gospel Hymns from 2 to 3PM followed by a formal memorial service. The public was invited to join SCV and pay tribute to a Southern hero and martyr.
 
The guest speaker was James W. King, camp commander of the Albany Georgia SCV Camp 141 Lt. Col. Thomas M. Nelson-Nelson’s Rangers. Confederate Reenactors "The Muckalee Guards" provided Honor Guard duties during the Service.
 
When the War Between the States (Civil War) ended in 1865, Capt. Wirz was paroled.  However, shortly thereafter, he was arrested and carried to Washington , D.C. where he was placed in the Old Capitol Prison.  His trial before a military tribunal lasted several months, and included the perjured testimony of a Yankee soldier, Felix Oeser, who was a deserter from the 7th NY. Regiment, who falsely claimed to be Felix de la Baume, a great nephew of Marquis Lafayette of American Revolutionary war fame.  For his false testimony against Capt. Wirz, he was given a position with the U.S. Dept. of the Interior.  It was later learned that this key witness whose perjured testimony contributed considerably to the conviction had never been at Andersonville . The vast Majority of defense witnesses for Capt. Wirz were not permitted to testify.  Many historians call his trial a farce and travesty of justice.  After the war in 1908, James Madison Page, a Michigan cavalryman, who had been a POW at Andersonville , wrote a book completely exonerating Wirz.
 
Capt. Wirz was falsely convicted of murdering 13 Union prisoners at Andersonville, although not a single body, nor even the name of any of the 13 was ever produced.  He was also falsely convicted on a second charge of conspiracy with high ranking members of the Confederate government to create the conditions that caused the high death rate. Wirz was made a scapegoat for the South.  On Nov. 10, 1865, Capt. Wirz was hanged in the yard of the Old Capitol Prison.  He declared his innocence to the end. The night before the hanging he was offered a commuted sentence if he would implicate Confederate President Jefferson Davis as a conspirator for Andersonville deaths. Wirz was an honorable man and would not lie to save his life.
 
After the hanging, the barbaric Yankees cut off his head and arms and other body parts, and exhibited them about the country. It took Capt. Wirz's attorney, Louis Schade, four years to collect enough body parts to have a Christian burial in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington .
   
The highly biased Northern version of Andersonville Civil War Prison (POW) Camp is well known however the true facts concerning Andersonville  are not well known. The government of The Confederate States of America issued an order that a large POW prison should be constructed in early 1864 to alleviate crowding in existing camps in the South. The requirements were that it be constructed at a location further South away from the battle front and should be a healthy location with plenty of pure water, a running stream, close to grist and saw mills and if possible have shade trees. The location selected was in South Georgia in Sumter County and was officially named Camp Sumter although it became known as Andersonville . It was constructed to house 10,000 Union POW's however numbers increased to as high as 45,000 due to a policy by the Lincoln administration to discontinue exchanges.
 
The average death rate at other POW camps in the South was about 9% as compared to 12% for POW camps in the North where Confederate POW's were incarcerated.  In contrast the death rate at Andersonville was approximately 29% due to causes beyond the control of Confederate authorities and was unintentional. Also in contrast were the similar death rates at several Northern POW camps notably Elmira New York and Camp Douglas Chicago where the high death rates have been proven to be intentional. The U.S. Senate and House passed a joint resolution, SR97, stating the intent to kill Confederate POW’s by starvation, disease, and exposure to inclement weather.
   
It is a well known fact that the victor of a war writes the history from a biased perspective. Immediately after the end of the war absurd war crimes claims were made by Northern politicians, military authorities, newspapers, periodicals, and citizens that the decisions and conditions that caused the human disaster at Andersonville were intentional on the part of Confederate authorities. Demands for War Crimes Trials were made and the Commandant of Andersonville POW camp, Capt. Henry Wirz, was arrested, tried, and convicted in a farce trial by a military tribunal who had predetermined that a conviction would result. No War Crimes Charges against Northern POW commandants were ever made and no Northern POW camp has ever been enshrined by the U.S. Government as a memorial to Confederate POW's. Only Andersonville in the South has been enshrined and it has become a memorial to American POW's of all wars that have involved American veterans.
 
In defense of the Confederate government and Confederate prison officials in regards to Andersonville, a response was made in 1876, by the Southern Historical Society, consisting of 9 points that place the blame for deaths and suffering at Andersonville totally on Northern politicians and military authorities. Specifically President Lincoln, Sec. of War Stanton, Asst. Sec. of War Dana, and Gen. Grant shoulder the blame as noted in the following 9 points.

1.  It is not denied that great suffering and mortality occurred but it was due to circumstances and conditions beyond CSA control.

2.  If the death rate be adduced as "circumstantial evidence of barbarity" the rate of Confederate deaths was higher in Northern POW camps where there was an abundance of food, medicine, and shelter.

3.  The Union POW's were given the same rations as Confederate guards and soldiers and equal treatment in hospitals as required by the CSA government and the death rate of CSA guards was the same as POW's.  The Northern Federal government did not have this humane policy.

4.  The exchange of prisoners was refused by the North before the issue of black Union POW's became an issue.

5.  The CSA government requested that Northern doctors and medicine be sent to treat Northern POW's and the request was denied.

6.  The CSA tried to buy supplies including bowls and other utensils to use in feeding the POW's. They offered to pay with cotton and gold but the offer was refused by the Lincoln administration.

7.  The Federal Government under President Lincoln made medicine contraband causing suffering and death of Union POW's and all Southerners military and civilian.

8.  Prior to the period of greatest mortality the CSA authorities offered to release the Andersonville POW's without exchange but the offer was not accepted by the Lincoln Administration who was told by CSA authorities "we cannot feed or care for them-just come get them". Sherman 's barbaric war crimes in Georgia consisting of stealing, destroying, and burning made food and supplies even scarcer and increased suffering and mortality.

9.  The Northern press was furnished lies and propaganda by Union Sec. and Asst Sec. of war Stanton and Dana claiming deliberate cruelties and war crimes by the South. The control of Northern POW camps was transferred by Stanton and Dana to vindictive partisan criminal elements and deliberate war crimes of cruelty, torture, and murder were committed against Confederate POW's as proven by a joint resolution of the U.S. Senate and House SR97.
   
Final proof that the human disaster at Andersonville was virtually 100% the fault of the Lincoln Administration comes from statements by Confederate Col. Ould who was in charge of arranging prisoner exchanges and Union Assistant Secretary of War in the Lincoln Administration Charles A. Dana. Col. Ould is quoted as saying “My government instructs me to waive all formalities in this matter of exchange. I need not try to conceal from you that we cannot feed and provide for the prisoners in our hands. We cannot half feed or clothe them. You have closed our ports till we cannot get medical stores for them. You will not send us quinine and other medicines, even for their exclusive use. They are suffering greatly and the mortality is excessive. I tell you all this plainly, and still you refuse to exchange. What does your government demand? Name your own conditions and I have authority to accept them. YOU ARE SILENT!  GREAT GOD, CAN IT BE THAT YOU PEOPLE ARE MONSTERS? If you will not exchange, I will give you your men for nothing. I will deliver ten thousand Union POW’s at Wilmington . I will deliver five thousand here. Come and get them. If your government is so damnably dishonest to want them for nothing, you shall have them. You can at least feed them and we cannot.”
Post-War in the New York Sun Newspaper Dana wrote “CSA authorities and especially Jefferson Davis ought not to be held responsible for Andersonville . We were responsible ourselves for the continued detention of our captives in misery, starvation and sickness in the South”.

Post-War Union General Grant (later president) admitted that he had considered the Andersonville POW’s expendable.
 
In 1906 former Confederate General Stephen D. Lee charged the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) organization with the duty to defend the honor of the South and the Confederate Soldier: “To you, Sons of Confederate Veterans, we will commit the vindication of the Cause for which we fought.  To your strength will be given the defense of the Confederate soldier's good name, the guardianship of his history, the emulation of his virtues, the perpetuation of those principles which he loved and which you love also, and those ideals which made him glorious and which you also cherish. Remember, it is your duty to see that the true history of the South is presented to future generations.”

James W. King is Commander of the Albany Camp of the Sons of the Confederate Veterans organization and assists the Americus SCV camp in promoting the Wirz memorial service.


Capt. Henry Wirz Memorial Ceremony, 2014, Andersonville
https://youtu.be/-xNoa1rYBtU 

FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY PURGES STATUE OF FOUNDER

Save Southern Heritage - FL Fighting Back

JUL 30, 2018 — In a Mitch Landrieu-like move - Florida State University President, John Thrasher, dealt a death blow to the institution's history and culture when he ordered a bronze statue of the University's founder, Francis Eppes, removed from Wescott Plaza. 

The statue was hoisted up in the middle of the night and moved to an undisclosed location on Thursday July 19th.

The "take him down" movement started in 2016 with a few militant noisy protesters who apparently didn't have anything better to do than dis the sacrifice of a man who made their educational opportunity possible.

Despite a student vote that OVERWHELMINGLY favored keeping the Eppes statue in 2016, President Thrasher, a long time crony of JEB Bush, whose failed 'take it down policy' cost him the 2016 Republican Presidential, used the Charlottesville media frenzy as cover to hand pick a take down panel reminiscent of Reconstruction.

The sculpture was erected in 2002 as part of the University's 150 year observance by then President Sandy D'lemberte and is a favorite spot of students and campus visitors alike. Read more about FSU History and the Eppes Statue here: 
http://myweb.fsu.edu/jkoslow/studentprojects/pubhisfall06website/eppes.html

Alumni, boosters, students alike call on Thrasher to RESTORE THE HONOR - RETURN THE STATUE!

SIGN PETITION HERE: 

https://www.change.org/p/president-john-thrasher-return-the-eppes-statue-at-florida-statue-university

Thank you & Have a Dixie Day!

Save Southern Heritage Florida

www.sshfl.org

DESCENDANTS OF St Augustine CONSTITUTION PLAZA WAR MEMORIAL SOUGHT

St. Augustine – Save Their Honor is seeking descendants of the 46 St. Augustine men whose names are inscribed on the Plaza de la Constitution Confederate War Memorial to help protect the memorial honoring their family members.    

Those listed on the Memorial died during the War between 1861-1865 are:

Peter Masters  

John M. Llambias  

Antonio Mickler

Jacob Mickler  

Joseph Noda        

Eusebio Pacetti   

Frank Papy   

Marine Papy    

Edward Papy    

Bartolo Pinkham        

Nathaniel Powers

John Ponce  

Thomas Ponce  

R. Jenckes Reid

Richard Russell

Felix Rante

Henry Bryan

Samuel Buffington

Napiano Capalla

Gaspar Capparas

John Stevens  

Hanaro Triay

James Walton

Frank W. Weems

J. Westcott Willard

Archibald Gould

Joseph Andreu  

Francis Baya

Casmiro Benet

Henry Bridier

Louis Bridier

James Hanson

William J. Hardee

James Hurlburt

Edward C. Humphries

Jose Irwin

R. Francis Dancy

Henry G. Dunham

Abraham Dupont

Andrew Floyd

Phillip Gomez

Antonio Lopez

Alfonse Lopez

William Dupont

Descendants are asked to contact savetheirhonor@gmail.com.

The memorial was originally erected by the Ladies Memorial Association in 1872 and moved to the Plaza in 1879.

Save Their Honor is a State-wide organization that seeks to honor Florida’s veteran’s by protecting memorials to their service.   More info:  www.shavetheirhonor.org

Yankee Union League Terrorists During Reconstruction

The late great radio commentator Paul Harvey Aurandt, known on radio as Paul Harvey, had for many years a very popular segment called "The Rest Of The Story". Most people are aware that there are at least two sides to any story and most are aware that the winner or victor of a war writes the history. Many people are also aware that American History, especially that of the Old South, the War For Southern Independence (Civil War), and Reconstruction as presented by Northern historians is at best a highly biased New England perspective and at worst little more than Yankee lies and propaganda. Emperor Napoleon of France is quoted as saying "History is an Accepted Fable" and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said "History is Basically Bunk". In the current sea of political correctness that has swallowed up America , true and accurate Southern and Confederate history is absolutely not going to be taught in America 's classrooms including colleges and universities.
 
The complete story of the Civil Rights movement and the battles fought by black Americans, especially black Southerners, for voting and other rights is the subject of this commentary. The perspective presented by America 's news media portrays white Southerners as racists and bigots who mistreated totally innocent blacks who only wanted their rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. In some cases this is true but what caused Southern whites to act in this manner? Some articles ask "Should blacks forgive whites for this mistreatment". Continue reading as I present "The Rest Of The Story" which dishonest Northern historians have omitted from American history. This omission can be compared to serving on a jury trial in which only the prosecution is allowed to present their perspective and selected facts. Thus jurors are kept in ignorance of other vital facts relevant to rendering an educated fair and impartial verdict.
 
Today very few Americans, including Southerners, remember or have ever heard of Uncle Sam's terrorist organization, the UNION LEAGUE, which was operated by evil, corrupt, tyrannical, despotic, dictatorial Yankee Carpetbaggers in the South from 1862 through 1877. All chapters in American history books related to Reconstruction discuss radical Republican Carpetbaggers and the KKK. The third element, the Union League, is totally omitted because this "inconvenient history" reflects so negatively on the North and would expose the shameful corrupt and barbaric atrocities committed by the UNION LEAGUE against white Southerners especially former Confederates and their families.
 
The UNION LEAGUE began as an honorable part of the Union army as the Sanitary Commission. It soon morphed into the military strong arm of the Freedmans Bureau and began committing atrocities. These white Yankee carpetbaggers used uneducated blacks as puppets to do their dirty work during so called Reconstruction which was in reality the plunder, pillage, and rape of the Southern states. Blacks were initiated into the UNION LEAGUE in secret spectacular impressive ceremonies with fires, music, and inflammatory speeches and lies to incite hatred and resentment toward Southern whites. Conservative blacks that refused to participate and join were beaten or in some cases murdered. During Reconstruction the membership of the UNION LEAGUE reached nearly 300,000 black militia members managed and controlled by white Yankee carpetbaggers.
 
UNION LEAGUE Carpetbaggers handed out matches and had blacks burning houses and barns, shooting livestock, poisoning wells, and committing murder and rape. White Southerners lived in terror for years. Some Yankees were so radical and fanatical that they wanted to exterminate every Southern man, woman, and child. This caused the rise of the KKK which was an honorable Police and Resistance organization (this pro-KKK comment only applies to the original KKK which disbanded in 1877. I disdain the modern Klan). Union League carpetbaggers also fought battles between each other for control much like modern drug lords. In several cases president Grant had to intervene but he always sided with the radicals against moderates.  When Southerners finally evicted the carpetbaggers the blacks were left to face the wrath of whites. Theft and corruption had been so severe that several states were left totally bankrupt.   
 
Although the UNION LEAGUE has been omitted from history and virtually forgotten, the consequences have carried forward. White Northerners are responsible for most of today's division between white and black Southerners. It is time for both whites and blacks to forgive but not forget and to work together to preserve the Constitution and Bill of Rights and prevent the enslavement of us all by the advancing shadow of totalitarian Socialism which hovers over America like a bird of prey fueled by well meaning but misguided liberals. Contact me for more facts jkingantiquearms@bellsouth.net

James W. King
jkingantiquearms@bellsouth.net
Commander Camp 141
Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV)

SOUTHERN SECESSION DECLARATIONS EXPLAINED

By James W. King

The fact that Causes of Secession Declarations by four of the seceding Southern states list slavery as a cause of secession has led liberals and Marxist Socialists to claim that the South seceded solely for the purpose of keeping and defending slavery. The declaration by Georgia was the most thorough presentation of abuses by the North that justified secession. Those who make such claims berating and disparaging the seceding Southern states for secession do not have a thorough understanding of the political situation that existed prior to and at the time of Southern secession.
 
Most Southerners were in favor of gradual orderly emancipation of slaves and it was occurring. Prior to the war there was an estimated five times as many abolition societies in the South as in the North. The Constitution of the Confederate States of America prohibited the importation of slaves. The Northern colonies, later states, of New England--Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and New York- were primarily responsible for the development of slavery in America. The port cities of New England had grown wealthy from profits derived from the slave trade. Initially the South had resisted slavery but as time went by they succumbed to the encouragement and pressure from New England to purchase and use slave labor on the plantations of the South.
 
The use of slave labor in the industrial cities of the North had not been successful as it had been in the agricultural South. Therefore the Northern states began emancipating slaves and in 1808 the further importation of slaves was outlawed by the United States of America. But Yankee slave traders, in violation of the law, continued transporting slaves up until the time of the War for Southern Independence (Civil War).
 
By 1820 to 1830 the slave trade had became unprofitable to most Northerners and agitation began against the Southern states demanding instant abolition of slaves as opposed to the orderly graduated emancipation that was already taking place in the Southern states. Initially the Northern abolitionists were a small but very vocal and militant group. But abolition sentiment continued to grow and lies and propaganda based on ignorance began to slander the Southern people. The English historian Cecil Chesterman is quoted as saying "what can exceed the hypocrisy of the New England men who accuse the South of grave moral sin while the profits made from the slave trade are still in their pocket".
 
The Northern abolitionists were radicals, fanatics, zealots, and criminals and they offered no plan for the compensation of freed slaves to Southerners. Instead they demanded instant abolition and supported and worked to foment a massive slave revolt that would cause the deaths of thousands of Southern men, women, and children similar to that which had occurred in Santa Domingo (Haiti) in the 1790-1803 era. The Marxist Socialist Republican Party that was formed in 1854 had many of these radicals, fanatics, zealots, and criminals as members. The Republican Party passed a resolution that was signed by 68 of 117 members advocating violence against the South as outlined in the 1857 book by Hinton Helper "The Impending Crisis of the South". Then they financed and outfitted criminal and murderer John Brown to go to Virginia and implement a slave rebellion. All through the North the psychopathic murderous criminal John Brown was perceived as a hero and saint who had gone straight to heaven after he was hung in Virginia following his failed attempt to instigate servile insurrection and the planned massive slave rebellion.
 
Lincoln was a member of this radical group  and after he was elected president the South refused to voluntarily be ruled by Northern radicals, fanatics, zealots, and criminals. Southerners determined that the best way to avoid more impending criminal actions by the North was to separate so seven Southern states seceded and this was followed by four more after Lincoln initiated aggression against the seceded states.
 
The extremely high tariff rate of 47-50% in the upcoming Morrill Tariff was also a major factor in Southern secession. The South was being forced to pay 75-85% of the money to operate the Federal Government and 80-90% of that tax money was being kept and spent in the North.

The Northern industrialists were forcing the South to pay for the industrialization of America at no cost to themselves. The machinery of the Federal Government, which was designed for the common benefit, was made the means of despoiling the South, to enrich the North".  The workings of the iniquitous tariffs had reduced the South to a dependent colonial condition, almost as abject as that of the Roman provinces, under their proconsuls nearly 2000 years ago. A coalition of Northern economic interests with the Northern radicals, fanatics, zealots, and criminals forced Southern secession. The Robber had joined hands with the Incendiary and the South was their target.

Confederate Values and Principles Remain Important

The Confederate flag and other Confederate symbols including Monuments and Memorials represent the same principles as the original U.S. Betsy Ross flag-Limited Constitutional Federal Government, States' Rights', Resistance to Tyranny, and Christian Values and Principles. But Northern Socialist liberals have for the past 150 years berated, disparaged, and condemned the CSA and its symbols and through their propaganda have indoctrinated many Americans to believe that they represent racism, bigotry, and a painful reminder of slavery. The U.S. flag, the Stars and Stripes, is the official flag of the KKK and it flew over slave ships and the genocide and near extermination of the Native American Indians but it gets a complete pass. The two flags are not held to the same level of accountability.
   
Robert E. Lee had to make a decision in 1861. Defend the Constitution or defend the Union ? He made the correct decision to defend the Constitution. This makes him an American hero--not a traitor as claimed by some who do not understand the ideas and concepts of government as established by America ’s founding fathers.  America was founded as a Constitutional Federal Republic composed of a Limited Federal Government and Sovereign States . In 1861 the Federal Government of America was taken over by Northern politicians, industrialists, Socialists, Communists, Atheists, radicals, zealots, fanatics, and hypocrites who were driven by greed, power, corruption and a burning desire to establish Socialism in America . They had a blatant disregard for the Constitution and Bill of Rights when it stood in the way of profit, power and total control of America  by the Northern states.
   
Former Confederate General Robert E. Lee stated in 1866 "All the South has ever desired was that the union, as established by our forefathers, should be preserved; and that the government, as originally organized, should be administered in purity and truth."
   
Campaigns all across America have resulted in removing or suppressing Confederate symbols.  The Confederacy has been the victim of one of America ’s most successful smear campaigns. Certainly, part is due to the old truism "the victors write the history" and much is due to heightened racial sensitivities in our current era, in which the Confederacy, which lasted 4 years, is seen as the principal villain in North American slavery, an institution which lasted more than 200 years in both North and South.
   
There are more profound reasons for the extreme contempt heaped on the Confederacy.  The dominant interpreters of American history have transferred slavery, disunion, and states rights to the Confederacy to purify and transform America into a modern and progressive social democracy.  Their efforts are only successful if one accepts the superficial view of history presented by the all pervasive supporters of the current American regime.
   
Much of the great intellectual foundation of the early Republic, such as the Federalist Papers and their anti-federalist counterparts, the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, and the writings of John C. Calhoun (Disquisition on Government and Discourse on the Constitution and Government) are ignored in flagrant omission.
   
Why argue the Confederate cause 150 years after surrender? Why are Confederate principles and values important to the preservation of American liberty? Constitutional issues surrounding the secession of the Southern states; Lincoln ’s destructive and brutal suppression of secession; criminal, corrupt, and immoral reconstruction policies; and post 1865 constitutional amendments are fundamental to understanding the erosion of liberty and expansion of Federal power.
   
The other facet is the Lincoln myth. The metamorphosis of a shrewd partisan operative into a national demigod sanctified violation of the constitution as acceptable. If the great and good Abe Lincoln did it, it must be right. Former New York governor Mario Cuomo defended an unconstitutional act by referring to Lincoln ’s expedient violations of the constitution. If Lincoln ’s gross violations of the constitution are justified, that gives a pass to later presidents, congress, and federal courts to do the same. 
   
If Lincoln and the Union cause in the War for Southern Independence (Civil War) are axiomatically right, then all arguments for Limited Federal Government and strict adherence to the Constitution and Bill of Rights will eventually fail. Those who believe that the constitutional compact of limited government is the essential characteristic of American liberty realize that freedom is not guaranteed by a taxing, regulating, and war-mongering government.  A vigorous defense of the Confederate cause as among the purest expressions of true American liberty and patriotism is essential. The founding fathers saw the constitution as a contract between the states, not a sacred blood oath binding one to obedience to a national regime. Modern day liberals and conservatives both promote the use of federal force and confiscation to achieve their goals.
   
Subsequent history has shown that our Confederate ancestors were right; the modern central government is a swollen monstrosity, with its tentacles grasping into every aspect of our lives. The constitutionally limited government of the Founding Fathers died at Appomattox Virginia on April 9, 1865. Abraham Lincoln broke the original Constitution and Bill of Rights and changed America from a Republic to a Socialist Democracy. Day by day America is becoming a Socialist police state.

Article by James W. King
Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp Commander
Albany Georgia

PRINCIPLES AND VALUES REPRESENTED BY THE CONFEDERATE FLAG

By James W. King 

April is Confederate History and Heritage month as officially recognized by the Georgia General Assembly in 2009 by Bill 27. The South and the Confederate States of America have been harshly discriminated against and positive historical facts and figures have intentionally been suppressed. Biased Northern historians have unfairly caused Southern and Confederate history and its heroes, monuments, memorials, and flags to be regulated to a role of less importance than deserved in American history and to be viewed in a negative perspective by much of the American public. U.S president Woodrow Wilson is quoted as saying “the role of slavery became the proclaimed cause of the Civil War because it was necessary to put the South at a moral disadvantage by transforming the contest from a war for  Independence  into a war waged for the maintenance and extension of slavery". If slavery was all the Southern states wanted they could have kept it without a war or firing a shot. The North offered the South the Corwin Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in March 1861 that would have made slavery permanently legal in  America  if they would rejoin the union. The South refused and the Constitution of the Confederate States of  America  banned the international slave trade. Most educated Southerners were in favor of gradual orderly emancipation which would have prevented segregation and Jim Crow laws which were based on Northern black codes.
 
The words of Confederate General Patrick R. Cleburne who was killed at the battle of Franklin Tennessee on November 30, 1864 are becoming true. “Every man should endeavor to understand the meaning of subjugation before it is too late. It means the history of this heroic struggle will be written by the enemy; that our youth will be trained by Northern school teachers; will learn from Northern school books their version of the war; will be impressed by the influences of history and education to regard our gallant dead as traitors, and our maimed veterans as fit objects for derision”.  Political correctness and Socialist Marxist Revisionism are attacking everything Southern and Confederate on national, state, and local levels all across  America .

The Confederate flag represents honor, faith, courage, dignity, integrity, chivalry, Christian values, respect for womanhood, strong family ties, patriotism, self- reliance, limited constitutional federal government, states rights, and belief in the free enterprise system. It symbolizes the noble spirit of the Southern people, the rich heritage, the traditions of the South and the dynamic and vigorous southern culture. No other symbol so proudly says “ Dixie ” as the Cross of St. Andrew (Confederate Battle Flag) waving in the breeze.  Liberals have falsely indoctrinated many black Americans to believe it represents racism, bigotry, and a painful reminder of slavery. But white Christian Southerners who fly the Confederate Battle Flag are not the enemy of responsible Black Americans who are working to better themselves.
 
The Confederate flag is the last flag to represent the concept of local control of ones' life in  America .  In a larger sense it represents the same values and principles as the original U.S. Betsy Ross Flag:  Limited Constitutional Federal Government, States Rights, Resistance to Tyranny, and Christian Principles and Values.  Thus it represents "government of the people, by the people, and for the people with the consent of the governed".
 
The Confederate flag is an internationally recognized symbol of resistance to tyranny. It was chosen by Poland as the symbol of the Solidarity movement in 1981 against Russian Communism.That is why it was flying over the Berlin Wall when it was being torn down in 1989 and has been flown by numerous countries or provinces seeking independence.
   
It reminds knowledgeable Americans that government is to be held accountable for its actions, and if those actions are viewed as not being in the best interest of the people, there is a price to be paid for it.  This fact has not been lost upon the Socialist, Communist, liberal left and that is why they have spent inordinate amounts of money and energy trying to suppress this powerful symbol of freedom. The Confederate battle flag is a Christian symbol and that is why proponents of Secular Humanism oppose it.
 
The flag also represents the valor and sacrifice of our Southern ancestors in their quest to gain independence and recognition as a sovereign nation.  Confederate soldiers displayed tremendous bravery in the face of overwhelming odds and blatant tyranny on behalf of the Yankee government that invaded the Southern homeland. It was, is, and will continue to be the flag of the region Southerners call home, the Southland. We are Americans, true, but we are also proud Southerners.

Two Types Northern People

There are 2 types of people who live North of the Mason-Dixon Line. Decent honorable Northern people and Yankees. Some of the best Southern supporters are people raised in the North who have learned the truth and facts about the radical, fanatical, zealot criminal element in the North and the hideous atrocities they committed against the South. Yes I have a suspicion of all Northerners until I figure out which group they are in.
 
Lincoln and his radicals, fanatics, and criminals imprisoned about 200,000 Northern citizens simply for expressing opposition to his criminal unconstitutional war--38,000 for the duration of the war with no trial or legal rights. He imprisoned Francis Key Howard ( grandson of Francis Scott Key who wrote the song Star Spangled Banner) for 14 months just because he wrote a newspaper editorial in opposition to Lincoln's war. He was a newspaper editor. Lincoln had federal troops to burn and shut down about 300 Northern newspapers because they wrote pro-Southern editorials. Howard wrote a book about his imprisonment--The American Bastille.
 
Perhaps you do not truly understand just how many evil atrocities were committed against Southerners during the war and during reconstruction which was harder on Southerners than the war itself. Reconstruction was the plunder pillage, and economic rape of the Southern States.
 
Lincoln, Sherman, Sheridan, and a host of other Yankees are War Criminals. Burning, pillaging, theft, plunder, arson, rape, and murder. During Reconstruction the Yankee carpetbaggers operated Uncle Sam's terrorist organization the Union League. They had 300000 members-former black slaves. They gave out matches and had them burn Southerner's houses barns, poison wells, shoot livestock rape, murder. This caused the rise of the KKK. If there had not been a Union League there would have never been a KKK--a police and resistance organization.
 
It took 1/2 of the Union army to prevent several Northern states from joining the Southern war effort. Lincoln declared martial law and shelled NY City.
Many Northerners are learning the truth and coming over to the Southern side. I have many Northern friends.
 
It is probably more true that the North has never got over winning the war. In order to justify their atrocities they paint the South as an evil slave empire that got what we deserved. But it was the New England colonies/states that were responsible for the development of slavery in America. The shipping industry in New England and the port cities rose to prosperity on the profits from the slave trade. All the ongoing efforts to ban CSA flags and our history heritage, and culture and we resist and then get blamed for keeping the war still going.

James W. King
Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV)
Camp 141 Commander
Albany GA.

LINCOLN WAS CORRUPT - SECESSION WAS LEGAL

Quotes from Northern men document that they considered the Lincoln administration corrupt. Their quotes also document that Lincoln invaded the South to protect the Tariff Tax and not to ban slavery. Documented facts and quotes also prove that secession was legal and that Southerners were not traitors.
 
Northern financier and banker J.P. Morgan said "I supported president Lincoln but I see my mistake. I visited Washington D.C. and saw the corruption of the administration. The war is not for the preservation of the Constitution and Union but for politicians and government contractors. Lysander Spooner, prominent Massachusetts lawyer, legal scholar, and abolitionist said "The principle on which the war was waged by the North was that men may be compelled to submit to a government they do not want and resistance makes them traitors and criminals. No principle, that is possible to be named, can be more self-evidently false than this; or more self-evidently fatal to all political freedom. Yet it triumphed in the field, and is now assumed to be established. If it really be established, the number of slaves, instead of having been diminished by the war, has been greatly increased; for a man, thus subjected to a government that he does not want, is a slave. And there is no difference, in principle --- but only in degree --- between political and chattel slavery. The former, no less than the latter, denies a man's ownership of himself and the products of his labor; and asserts that other men may own him, and dispose of him and his property, for their uses, and at their pleasure.
 – Lysander Spooner (New England Nineteenth-Century lawyer, abolitionist, entrepreneur)
   
"All these cries of having ‘abolished slavery,’ of having ‘saved the country,’ of having ‘preserved the Union,’ of establishing a ‘government of consent,’ and of
‘maintaining the national honor’ are all gross, shameless, transparent cheats -- so transparent that they ought to deceive no one."
-- Lysander Spooner, prominent Northern abolitionist, attorney, and legal scholar, five years after the "Civil War"

Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address Was A Lie

"As H.L. Menken wrote about the Gettysburg Address in “Smart Set” in 1920:
'It is poetry, not logic; beauty, not sense. Think of the argument in it. Put it into the cold words of everyday. The doctrine is simply this: that the Union soldiers who died at Gettysburg sacrificed their lives to the cause of self-determination — “that government of the people, by the people, for the people,” should not perish from the earth. It is difficult to imagine anything more untrue. The Union soldiers in that battle actually fought against self-determination; it was the Confederates who fought for the right of their people to govern themselves. What was the practical effect of the battle of Gettysburg? What else than the destruction of the old sovereignty of the States, i.e., of the people of the States? The Confederates went into battle free; they came out with their freedom subject to the supervision and veto of the rest of the country — and for nearly twenty years that veto was so effective that they enjoyed scarcely more liberty, in the political sense, than so many convicts in the penitentiary.'....Finally, the final outcome of the Civil War did not usher in “a new birth of freedom.” It did quite the opposite. It consolidated federal power, neutered the 9th and 10th Amendments and gave birth to the fascist system and the imperial presidency under which we now suffer."
 
Lincoln made a speech in congress on Jan. 12,1848 that secession is a most valuable and sacred right. In 1860 he reversed his opinion because he did not want to lose the annual 60-70 million dollars from the Southern states from an unfair sectional tariff tax. When Virginia, New York, and Rhode island joined the union they specifically reserved the right of secession. All early attempts were by New England states in 1803 and 1814. On Feb.15, 1833 MA. senator Daniel Webster stated " If the Union was formed by the accession of the union of states then the union may be dissolved by the secession of states". Military cadets at West Point were taught from "Rawles View of the Constitution" that secession was legal.
 
Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, confirmed in 1865 and again in 1867 that secession was legal in 1860-1861. "Should you persist in your endeavor to bring to trial any of the former representatives of the Confederate government or military personnel on treason charges that which the North won on the battlefield will be lost in court. Secession is not a rebellion". Secession was legal under the 10th amendment.

James W. King
SCV Camp 141 Commander
Albany Georgia

The 10 Causes of Southern Secession

By James W. King

Historians have long debated the causes of the War Between the States and the Southern perspective differs greatly from the Northern perspective. Based upon the study of original documents of the War Between The States (Civil War) era and facts and information published by Confederate Veterans, Confederate Chaplains, Southern writers and Southern Historians before, during, and after the war, I present the facts, opinions, and conclusions stated in the following article.

Technically the 10 causes listed are reasons for Southern secession. The only cause of the war was that the South was invaded and responded to Northern aggression.

I respectfully disagree with those who claim that the War Between the States was fought over slavery or that the abolition of slavery in the Revolutionary Era or early Federal period would have prevented war. It is my opinion that war was inevitable between the North and South due to complex political and cultural differences. The famous Englishman Winston Churchill stated that the war between the North and South was one of the most unpreventable wars in history. The Cause that the Confederate States of  America fought for (1861-1865) was Southern Independence from the  United States of America . Many parallels exist between the War for American Independence (1775-1783) and the War for  Southern Independence (1861-1865).

There were 10 political causes of the war (causes of Southern Secession) ---one of which was slavery--- which was a scapegoat for all the differences that existed between the North and South. The Northern industrialists had wanted a war since about 1830 to get the South's resources (land-cotton-coal-timber-minerals) for pennies on the dollar. All wars are economic and are always between centralists and decentralists. In 1215 when the barons of England forced King John to sign the Magna Carta the decentralists won. In 1783 when the American colonies won independence from England the decentralists won. In 1865 when the Southern states failed to win independence from the USA the centralists won. The North would have found an excuse to invade the South even if slavery had never existed.

A war almost occurred during 1828-1832 over the tariff when  South Carolina passed nullification laws. The  U.S. congress had increased the tariff rate on imported products to 40% (known as the tariff of abominations in Southern States). This crisis had nothing to do with slavery. If slavery had never existed --period--or had been eliminated at the time the Declaration of Independence was written in 1776 or anytime prior to 1860 it is my opinion that there would still have been a war sooner or later.

On a human level there were 6 causes of the war-- New England Greed-New England Radicals--New England Fanatics--New England Zealots--New England Criminals--and New England Hypocrites. During "So Called Reconstruction" ( 1865-1877 ) the New England Industrialists got what they had really wanted for 40 years--THE SOUTH'S RESOURCES FOR PENNIES ON THE DOLLAR.
 
IT WAS A POLITICAL COALITION BETWEEN THE NEW ENGLAND ECONOMIC INTERESTS AND THE NEW ENGLAND FANATICS, ZEALOTS, RADICALS, and CRIMINALS THAT CAUSED SOUTHERN SECESSION TO BE NECESSARY FOR SOUTHERN ECONOMIC SURVIVAL AND SAFETY OF THE POPULATION.  THE ROBBER HAD JOINED HANDS WITH THE INCENDIARY AND THE SOUTH WAS THEIR TARGET.

1. TARIFF

Prior to the war about 75% (some figures estimate up to 85% of the money to operate the Federal Government was derived from the Southern States via an unfair sectional tariff on imported goods and 50% of the total 75% was from just 4 Southern states--Virginia-North Carolina--South Carolina and Georgia. Only 10%--20% of this tax money was being returned to the South. The Southern states were being treated as an agricultural colony of the North and bled dry. John Randolph of Virginia 's remarks in opposition to the tariff of 1820 demonstrates that fact. The North claimed that they fought the war to preserve the Union but the New England Industrialists who were in control of the North were actually supporting preservation of the  Union to maintain and increase revenue from the tariff. The industrialists wanted the South to pay for the industrialization of  America at no expense to them. Revenue bills introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives prior to the War Between the States were biased, unfair and inflammatory to the South. Abraham Lincoln had promised the Northern industrialists that he would increase the tariff rate if he was elected president of the  United States .  Lincoln increased the rate (Morrill Tariff) to a 47% level (between 50-51% on iron products) that exceeded even the "Tariff of Abominations" 40% rate that had so infuriated the South during the 1828-1832 era. The election of a president that was Anti-Southern on all issues and politically associated with the  New England industrialists, fanatics, zealots and criminals brought about the Southern secession movement.

2. CENTRALIZATION VERSUS STATES RIGHTS

The  United States of America was founded as a  Constitutional  Federal  Republic in 1789 composed of a Limited Federal Government and  Sovereign  States . The North wanted to and did alter the form of Government this nation was founded upon. The Confederate States of  America fought to preserve Constitutional Limited Federal Government as established by  America 's founding fathers who were primarily Southern Gentlemen from  Virginia . Thus Confederate soldiers were fighting for rights that had been paid for in blood by their forefathers upon the battlefields of the American Revolution. Abraham Lincoln had a blatant disregard for The Constitution of the  United States of America . His War of aggression against the South changed  America from a  Constitutional  Federal  Republic to a Democracy ( with Socialist leanings ) and broke the original Constitution and Bill of Rights. The infamous Socialist Karl Marx  saw  America as a way to keep his Socialist dream alive after the failed 1848 Socialist revolution in Europe .  Marx coached  Lincoln on how to start a war and blame the South.   Lincoln was a Socialist and an Atheist and corresponded with Marx from about 1848 until  Lincoln ’s death in 1865. Charles Anderson Dana was an avowed Socialist who had went to Europe before the war and personally met Karl Marx. Dana published 487 of Karl Marx's articles in the New York Tribune newspaper including the "Communist Manifesto" prior to the war. Thousands of European Socialists came to  America and fought for the  Union (North).   Lincoln ’s unconstitutional War of Aggression was a planned Socialist overthrow of the Republic established by  America ’s founding fathers and  America was changed to a Socialist Democracy.

LINCOLN’s GETTYSBURG ADDRESS WAS A LIE

"As H.L. Menken wrote about the Gettysburg Address in “Smart Set” in 1920:
'It is poetry, not logic; beauty, not sense. Think of the argument in it. Put it into the cold words of everyday. The doctrine is simply this: that the Union soldiers who died at  Gettysburg sacrificed their lives to the cause of self-determination — “that government of the people, by the people, for the people,” should not perish from the earth. It is difficult to imagine anything more untrue. The Union soldiers in that battle actually fought against self-determination; it was the Confederates who fought for the right of their people to govern themselves. What was the practical effect of the battle of  Gettysburg ? What else than the destruction of the old sovereignty of the States, i.e., of the people of the States? The Confederates went into battle free; they came out with their freedom subject to the supervision and veto of the rest of the country — and for nearly twenty years that veto was so effective that they enjoyed scarcely more liberty, in the political sense, than so many convicts in the penitentiary.'....Finally, the final outcome of the Civil War did not usher in “a new birth of freedom.” It did quite the opposite. It consolidated federal power, neutered the 9th and 10th Amendments and gave birth to the fascist system and the imperial presidency under which we now suffer."
Read at: http://personalliberty.com/lie-gettysburg-address/

3. CHRISTIANITY VERSUS SECULAR HUMANISM

The South believed in basic Christianity as presented in the Holy Bible. The North had many Secular Humanists (atheists, transcendentalists and non-Christians). Southerners were afraid of what kind of country  America might become if the North had its way. Secular Humanism is the belief that there is no God and that man, science and government can solve all problems. This philosophy advocates human rather than religious values. Reference: Frank Conner's book "The South under Siege 1830-2000."

4. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

Southerners and Northerners were of different Genetic Lineage's. Southerners were primarily of Western English (original Britons), Scottish, and Irish lineage (Celtic) whereas Northerners tended to be of Anglo-Saxon and Danish (Viking) extraction. The cultural differences that contributed to the War Between the States (War for Southern Independence--aka Civil War-1861-1865) had existed for 1500 years or more.
  The "War of Northern Aggression" has never ended. It began as a culture war about 1830. It was a hot war 1861-1865. It has continued as a cold culture war since 1865 and the South is under siege up to this moment. Why?--because the South is the most Christian conservative part of America and the Socialists and Atheists have to destroy the South in order to establish Socialism and Secular Humanism in America. Read the book "The South Under Siege 1830-2000" by Frank Conner. It is available from jkingantiquearms@bellsouth.net at the original $35 price.

5. CONTROL OF  WESTERN  TERRITORIES

The North wanted to control  Western  States and Territories such as  Kansas and  Nebraska .  New England formed Immigrant Aid Societies and sent settlers to these areas that were politically attached to the North. They passed laws against slavery that Southerners considered punitive. These political actions told Southerners they were not welcome in the new states and territories. It was all about control--slavery was a scapegoat. Radical Fanatical New Englanders had sent psychopath John Brown to  Kansas and he murdered Southern farmers who were not even slave owners. The War Between the States actually started in 1854 in  Kansas and not in April 1861 at Fort Sumter  South Carolina .

6. NORTHERN INDUSTRIALISTS WANTED THE SOUTH'S RESOURCES

The Northern Industrialists wanted a war to use as an excuse to get the South's resources for pennies on the dollar. They began a campaign about 1830 that would influence the common people of the North and create enmity that would allow them to go to war against the South. These Northern Industrialists brought up a morality claim against the South alleging the evils of slavery. The Northern hypocrites conveniently neglected to publicize the fact that 5 New England States ( Massachusetts ,  Connecticut ,  New Hampshire ,  Rhode Island , and New York ) were primarily responsible for the importation of most of the slaves from Africa to  America . These states had both private and state owned fleets of ships.

7. SLANDER OF THE SOUTH BY NORTHERN NEWSPAPERS

This political cause ties in to the above listed efforts by New England Industrialists. Beginning about 1830 the Northern Newspapers began to slander the South. The Industrialists used this tool to indoctrinate the common people of the North. They used slavery as a scapegoat and brought the morality claim up to a feverish pitch. Southerners became tired of reading in the Northern Newspapers about what bad and evil people they were just because their neighbor down the road had a few slaves. This propaganda campaign created hostility between the ordinary citizens of the two regions and created the animosity necessary for war. The Northern Industrialists worked poor whites in the factories of the North under terrible conditions for 18 hours a day (including children). Children were sometimes chained to the work station while overseers cracked whips overhead. When the workers became old and infirm they were fired. It is a historical fact that during this era there were thousands of old people living homeless on the streets in the cities of the North. In the South a slave was cared for from birth to death. Also the diet and living conditions of Southern slaves was superior to that of most white Northern factory workers. Most Northern poor white factory workers did not have single family housing until after 1900 whereas Southern slave families usually had single family housing.  Southerners deeply resented this  New England hypocrisy and slander. Even after the war poor Irish miners were treated far worse by Yankee industrialists in western Pennsylvania and Colorado than most pre-war Southern slaves.

8. NEW ENGLANDERS ATTEMPTED TO INSTIGATE MASSIVE SLAVE REBELLIONS IN THE SOUTH

Abolitionists were a small but vocal and militant group in  New England who demanded instant abolition of slavery in the South. These fanatics and zealots were calling for massive slave uprisings that would result in the murder of Southern men, women and children. Southerners were aware that such an uprising had occurred in Santa Domingo ( Haiti ) in the 1790-1803 era and that the French (white) population-(men, women, and children) had been massacred. The abolitionists published a terrorist manifesto  and tried to smuggle 100,000 copies into the South showing slaves how to murder their masters at night. Then when John Brown raided  Harpers Ferry ,  Virginia in 1859 the political situation became inflammatory. Prior to this event there had been more abolition societies in the South than in the North.  Lincoln and most of the Republican Party (68 of 117 members of congress) had adopted a political platform in support of terrorist acts against the South (based upon the Hinton Helper book-The Impending Crisis) . Some (allegedly including  Lincoln ) had contributed monetarily as supporters of John Brown's terrorist activities. Again slavery was used as a scapegoat for all differences that existed between the North and South.

9. SLAVERY

The claims by biased Northern historians that the war was fought totally over slavery does not stand up under historical examination of the facts. On March 2, 1861 prior to the  Ft.  Sumter incident the North offered the South the Corwin Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which would have been the original 13th amendment. It would have made slavery permanent. All the South had to do was agree to continue to pay Tariff taxes and rejoin the  Union . Also in 1863  Lincoln offered the South a 100 day period in which the South could agree to rejoin the  Union and continue to pay taxes and keep slavery until 1900. If all the South wanted was slavery they could have accepted either of these proposals and kept slavery without firing a shot. So there you have the answer. Like all wars the Civil War (more appropriately called The War for  Southern Independence ) was over money, land, resources, and power (Empire) as far as Northern motives were concerned.
 
Indirectly slavery was a cause of the war. It was the criminal and unconstitutional actions by fanatical Northerners led by John Brown and others that Southerners rejected and determined that they would not allow this class of people led by Abraham Lincoln to politically rule over them. Most Southerners did not own slaves and would not have fought for the protection of slavery. However they believed that the North had no Constitutional right to free slaves held by citizens of Sovereign Southern States. Prior to the war there were five times as many abolition societies in the South as in the North. Virtually all educated Southerners were in favor of gradual emancipation of slaves. Gradual emancipation would have allowed the economy and labor system of the South to gradually adjust to a free paid labor system without economic collapse. Furthermore, since the New England States were responsible for the development of slavery in  America , Southerners saw the morality claims by the North as blatant hypocrisy. The first state to legalize slavery had been  Massachusetts in 1641 and this law was directed primarily at Indians. In colonial times the economic infrastructure of the port cities of the North was dependent upon the slave trade. The first slave ship in  America , "THE DESIRE", was fitted out in  Marblehead ,  Massachusetts in 1637. Further proof that Southerners were not fighting to preserve slavery is found in the diary of an officer in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. He stated that "he had never met a man in the Army of Northern Virginia that claimed he was fighting to preserve slavery". If the war had been over slavery, the composition of the politicians, officers, enlisted men, and even African Americans would have been different. Confederate General Robert E. Lee had freed his slaves (Custis  estate) prior to 1864 whereas Union General Grant's wife Julia did not free her slaves until after the war when forced to do so by the 13th amendment to the constitution. Grant had even stated that if the abolitionists claimed he was fighting to free slaves that he would offer his services to the South (reference:1868 Democratic Speakers Handbook). Mildred Lewis Rutherford (1852-1928) was for many years the historian for the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). In her book Truths of History she stated that there were more slaveholders in the Union Army (315,000) than the Confederate Army (200,000). Statistics and estimates also show that about 300,000 blacks supported the Confederacy versus about 200,000 for the  Union . Clearly the war would have been fought along different lines if it had been fought over slavery.
   
The famous English author Charles Dickens stated "the Northern onslaught upon Southern slavery is a specious piece of humbug designed to mask their desire for the economic control of the Southern states."
   
Even Northern historian James McPherson who is certainly no friend to Confederate history and heritage had to admit that Confederate soldiers considered themselves to be fighting for FREEDOM from Northern tyranny, despotism, dictatorship, and aggression and not slavery. He arrived at this conclusion after reading about 30,000 surviving letters written by Confederate soldiers during the war.

10. NORTHERN AGGRESSION AGAINST SOUTHERN STATES

Proof that Abraham Lincoln wanted war may be found in the manner he handled the  Fort  Sumter incident. Original correspondence between Lincoln and Naval Captain G.V.Fox shows proof that  Lincoln acted with deceit and willfully provoked  South Carolina into firing on the fort (A TARIFF COLLECTION FACILITY). It was politically important that the South be provoked into firing the first shot so that  Lincoln could claim the Confederacy started the war. Additional proof that  Lincoln wanted war is the fact that  Lincoln refused to meet with a Confederate peace delegation. They remained in  Washington for 30 days and returned to  Richmond only after it became apparent that  Lincoln wanted war and refused to meet and discuss a peace agreement. After setting up the  Fort  Sumter incident for the purpose of starting a war,  Lincoln called for 75,000 troops to put down what he called a rebellion. He intended to march Union troops across  Virginia and  North Carolina to attack  South Carolina .  Virginia and  North Carolina were not going to allow such an unconstitutional and criminal act of aggression against a sovereign sister Southern State.  Lincoln 's act of aggression caused the secession of the upper Southern States.

On April 17th 1861, Governor Letcher of  Virginia sent this message to  Washington  DC : "I have only to say that the militia of  Virginia will not be furnished to the powers of  Washington for any such use or purpose as they have in view. Your object is to subjugate the Southern states and the requisition made upon me for such a object-an object in my judgement not within the purview of the constitution or the act of 1795, will not be complied with. You have chosen to inaugurate civil war; having done so we will meet you in a spirit as determined as the administration has exhibited toward the South."

The WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 1861-1865 occurred due to many complex causes and factors as enumerated above. Those who make claims that "the war was over slavery" or that if slavery had been abolished in 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was signed or in 1789 when The Constitution of the United States of America was signed, that war would not have occurred between North and South are being very simplistic in their views and opinions.

The following conversation between English ship Captain Hillyar and Capt. Raphael Semmes-Confederate Ship CSS Sumter (and after 1862 CSS Alabama) occurred during the war on August 5th, 1861. It is a summary from a well-educated Southerner who is stating his reasons for fighting. Captain Hillyar expressed surprised at Captain Semme's contention that the people of the South were "defending ourselves against robbers with knives at our throats", and asked for further clarification as to how this was so, the exchange below occurred. I especially was impressed with Semmes' assessment of Yankee motives - the creation of "Empire"!

Semmes: "Simply that the machinery of the Federal Government, under which we have lived, and which was designed for the common benefit, has been made the means of despoiling the South, to enrich the North", and I explained to him the workings of the iniquitous tariffs, under the operation of which the South had, in effect, been reduced to a dependent colonial condition, almost as abject as that of the Roman provinces, under their proconsuls; the only difference being, that smooth-faced hypocrisy had been added to robbery, inasmuch as we had been plundered under the forms of law"

Captain Hillyar: "All this is new to me", replied the captain. "I thought that your war had arisen out of the slavery question".

Semmes: "That is the common mistake of foreigners. The enemy has taken pains to impress foreign nations with this false view of the case. With the exception of a few honest zealots, the canting hypocritical Yankee cares as little for our slaves as he does for our draught animals. The war which he has been making upon slavery for the last 40 years is only an interlude, or by-play, to help on the main action of the drama, which is Empire; and it is a curious coincidence that it was commenced about the time the North began to rob the South by means of its tariffs. When a burglar designs to enter a dwelling for the purpose of robbery, he provides himself with the necessary implements. The slavery question was one of the implements employed to help on the robbery of the South. It strengthened the Northern party, and enabled them to get their tariffs through Congress; and when at length, the South, driven to the wall, turned, as even the crushed worm will turn, it was cunningly perceived by the Northern men that “No slavery” would be a popular war-cry, and hence, they used it”.
 
“It is true that we are defending our slave property, but we are defending it no more than any other species of our property - it is all endangered, under a general system of robbery. We are in fact, fighting for independence”.
 
 The Union victory in 1865 destroyed the right of secession in  America , which had been so cherished by  America 's founding fathers as the principle of their revolution. British historian and political philosopher Lord Acton, one of the most intellectual figures in Victorian England, understood the deeper meaning of Southern defeat. In a letter to former Confederate General Robert E. Lee dated November 4, 1866, Lord Acton wrote "I saw in States Rights the only available check upon the absolutism of the sovereign will, and secession filled me with hope, not as the destruction but as the redemption of Democracy. I deemed you were fighting the battles of our liberty, our progress, and our civilization and I mourn for that which was lost at  Richmond more deeply than I rejoice over that which was saved at  Waterloo (defeat of Napoleon).
     
 As Illinois Governor Richard Yates stated in a message to his state assembly on January 2, 1865, the war had "tended, more than any other event in the history of the country, to militate against the Jeffersonian Ideal ( Thomas Jefferson ) that the best government is that which governs least.

Years after the war former Confederate president Jefferson Davis stated "I Am saddened to Hear Southerners Apologize for Fighting to Preserve Our Inheritance". Some years later former  U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt stated "Those Who Will Not Fight For The Graves Of Their Ancestors Are Beyond Redemption".

James W. King
Commander SCV Camp 141
Lt. Col. Thomas M. Nelson’s Rangers
Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV)
Albany,  Georgia

Reasons To Fly The Confederate Flag

By James W. King

jkingantiquearms@bellsouth.net 

Political correctness and Socialist Marxist Revisionism are attacking everything Southern and Confederate on national, state, and local levels all across  America   The Confederate flag represents honor, faith, courage, dignity, integrity, chivalry, Christian values, respect for womanhood, strong family ties, patriotism, self- reliance, limited constitutional federal government, states rights, and belief in the free enterprise system. It symbolizes the noble spirit of the Southern people, the rich heritage, the traditions of the South and the dynamic and vigorous Southern culture. No other symbol so proudly says “ Dixie ” as the Cross of St. Andrew (Confederate Battle Flag) waving in the breeze.  Liberals have falsely indoctrinated many black Americans to believe it represents racism, bigotry, and a painful reminder of slavery. But white Christian Southerners who fly the Confederate Battle Flag are not the enemy of (RESPONSIBLE) Black Americans who are working to better themselves. Furthermore the U.S. flag the Stars and Stripes flew over the genocide and near extermination of the native American Indians yet it is given a free pass while the Confederate flag is attacked as racist. Also the Confederate flag never flew over a single slave ship but the Stars and Stripes flew over many for many years.
 
The Confederate flag is the last flag to represent the concept of local control of ones' life in America ...  In a larger sense it represents the same values and principles as the original U.S. Betsy Ross Flag:  Limited Constitutional Federal Government, States Rights, Resistance to Tyranny, and Christian Principles and Values.  Thus it represents "government of the people, by the people, and for the people with the consent of the governed".
 
The Confederate flag is an internationally recognized symbol of resistance to tyranny. In 1980-1981 it was chosen by the Polish Solidarity movement as their symbol of resistance to Russian Communism. And resistance to tyranny is why it was flying over the Berlin Wall when it was being torn down in 1989 and has been flown by numerous countries or provinces seeking independence.
   
It reminds knowledgeable Americans that government is to be held accountable for its actions, and if those actions are viewed as not being in the best interest of the people, there is a price to be paid for it.  This fact has not been lost upon the Socialist, Communist, liberal left and that is why they have spent inordinate amounts of money and energy trying to suppress this powerful symbol of freedom. The Confederate battle flag is a Christian symbol and that is why proponents of Secular Humanism (the belief that there is no God and man, science, and government can solve all problems) oppose it.
 
The flag also represents the valor and sacrifice of our Southern ancestors in their quest to gain independence and recognition as a sovereign nation.  Confederate soldiers displayed tremendous bravery in the face of overwhelming odds and blatant tyranny and aggression on behalf of the Yankee government that invaded the Southern homeland. It was, is, and will continue to be the flag of the region Southerners call home, the Southland. We are Americans, true, but we are also proud Southerners.