was a Confederate soldier. He served in the 9th Florida Regiment. Fought at the Battle of Olustee and Cold Harbor. After the war he walked from Virginia back to Polk County Florida. This was back before I-95 was built. It took him six months to get home. He never took the amnesty oath.

He wrote almost 200 letters while serving. We donated the letters to the Library at the University of Florida.

I have always been fascinated with Civil War history.

That's amazing!

against their government for the purpose of preserving the institution of slavery and the wealth of the slave owners.

Like toddlers, they think they have the right to do or say whatever they want, while at the same time calling for others to be "locked up". The arrogance is only surpassed by the woeful ignorance.

Meanwhile, the Confederates pretended they were equal to the heroes of the Revolutionary War, fighting oppression and tyranny. They were just cosplayers who had little understanding of their own history.

5 years? I have pairs of socks older than that. Not just random old socks, either - I still wear them.

I have canned goods in my pantry older than that.

I'm required to keep final exams turned in by my students longer than that.

The original Star Wars trilogy was released over a longer period of time than that.

I spent more time in graduate school.

That it still lives on in 2026. Generations of people have not moved on from 1863. They are stuck in a fantasy world that really never existed except in their stagnant little brains.

Meanwhile, they blame all their problems on an oppression that never existed. They actually seem to covet the oppression of the people THEIR ancestors enslaved and claim that somehow THEY are the victims. Ironically, most of their families didn't even own slaves and were treated poorly by rich landowners. The good economy of the old south only benefited a small percentage of white people, but they got a whole lot of poor folk to fight and die for something that served the rich elite.

.

I find it helps my sanity when I mute trump.

The Liberal Redneck is great.

When the Confederate troops went north of the Maxon-Dixon line, they engaged in slave hunts.

Lee and other commanders were not honorable.

Love him.

"And fuck all them statues, too."

I hope President Tammy Duckworth makes Trae him the White House Spokesperson.

This is the theme of Dr. Heather Cox Richardson's book, "How the South Won the Civil War".

https://www.amazon.com/How-South-Won-Civil-War/dp/019758179X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3UJWRO1DO9JTR&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.3nPbL7xLgnaQY43Oj8zdTPvsFxawVBteCCwU5gaV4kzOwCWNNPTE9rNtNWx_6NcKeJdn1aUe47qMP85TKKkBjd_r5A5RNPogUCSgX2Xkdjd-4K3IjqDW1Qoqpc_RuL6M7HQLPl2E0JI4W0Z0jZuAseN-ZteFjmlMtQttUbdOA9z6VV91UeI06rfAWh7KX4lQm3giKLrk11_2VOVYEW501XXQ0ASzAlFhkX2jYfOz77U.eiYIzuRTIQryHjhhl192zc-xYnsLEWhclNmGFg0_H6c&dib_tag=se&keywords=how+the+south+won+the+civil+war&qid=1778691943&sprefix=how+the+south+won%2Caps%2C181&sr=8-1

Essentially, the South lost militarily and had to give up it's "property", but it's form of government, has spread and is still plaguing us today. The planter oligarchy owned the newspapers, the schools, the churches, and of course the state governments. The built the mood in Southerners to start the Civil War at Fort Sumpter.

We are still battling oligarchy.

and were able to win the struggle as to whose version of history came to be considered "mainstream." This was the "Gone with the Wind" narrative that portrayed Reconstruction as corrupt and indecent. The actual history was of course quite different. I'm reminded of this when I see instances of MAGA trying to re-frame January 6 as"peaceful."

Another really good book on this is by David Blight: "Race and Reunion:the Civil War in American Memory." It looks at how that distortion of the history happened, and the backstory of how Reconstruction was betrayed by the power brokers--North and South--of the time.

I think a significant turning point was marked when Reagan did his first big campaign rally of his 1980 bid for the presidency in Philadelphia Mississippi, the site where four civil rights workers were murdered in the early 1960s. He used the occasion to emphasize "states rights" as an obvious dog whistle to white racists.

Nowadays the dog whistle has been replaced by a bullhorn, what with Elon Musk doing a Nazi solute at the inauguration, and the GOP nominating and supporting a candidate with a history of openly racist statements and actions.