Rewriting History

The winners of a war write its history. That's why the Trojan Horse is considered a stroke of genius rather than an act of treachery, why Napoleon is demonized as a megalomaniac rather than as a rebel against royalty, and why the doomed defenders of the Alamo are hailed as patriots rather than opportunists.

It may take 150 years, but sometimes the losers can attempt to re-write history. Groups in South Carolina and Georgia are planning to observe the sesquicentennial of their state's secession from the Union next month and further celebrate the beginning of "The War for Southern Independence" (aka The Civil War) in April. Call it what you will, but a conflict that killed or maimed approximately 10% of the country's population is scarcely something to be celebrated.

NPR broadcast an interview with the chairman of the South Carolina celebration. He noted the bravery of the hundreds who signed the Secession Proclamation and compared them to the signers of the Declaration of Independence in that the South Carolinians also committed their "lives, trust, and sacred honor" to the cause.

Unlike that South Carolinian, I have no family connection to the Civil War (or The War for Southern Independence if you will). In 1861, my ancestors were mining coal in northern England and tending to cattle in Switzerland. If they were in America though, as common folk, they would, no doubt, have been unable to avoid military conscription and there's an excellent chance at least some of them would have been killed. In that case, I wouldn't be here today to romanticize the past and give the conflict in which they perished a more acceptable name.