blog entry for February 18, 2013

This week’s readings focused on the Civil War, mostly from the Confederate viewpoint, the issue of slavery in several forms and an ex-slave who settled in Los Angeles and became a midwife until her death.

             

        Tony Horwitz wrote Confederates in the Attic as a narrative of his personal journey into the Confederacy during the Civil war, and how that mentality did not die with the end of the war.  He book begins with him explaining to his reader how he became interested in the Civil War.  His father, during bedtime, had read to him The Photographic History of the Civil War. (pg. 4)  His interest peaked when he was an adult and had the opportunity to meet some “hardcore” re-enactors during one of their battles.  The “hardcore” re-enactors were the ones who were so dedicated to their roles that they purposely lost a great deal of weight, along with making sure that they only ate food that the Confederate soldiers had access to during the war. (pg. 7)  For the “hardcore” people, weight loss was a vital key because they wanted to look as authentic as possible, and the Confederate soldiers were not at a healthy weight when they fought.

            

         The author was inspired to go on a personal journey around the old South and visit the Confederate sites for himself.  One of the places he visited was a saloon called Redbone’s Saloon in Tennessee.  The Saloon was full of Confederate memorabilia, including a hand written poem on the wall. 

                       

                        It was 1865, homes burnt to the ground,

                        Everything lost, I took my stand.

                        Riding through the fog,

                        Rebel flag in hand,

                        Fighting for my freedom,

                        Fighting for my land.  (pg. 90)

The poem expressed the sentiments of the people whom he had met on his trip.  The South was always worth fighting for, even when you have nothing left.  You fight on. 

The major event that occurred in our readings was the trial of a black man, named Freddie, who was accused on killing a white man, Michael Westerman. (pg. 93)  The trial divided an already divided town, and the judge had to decide the verdict because a jury could not be found that was not overwhelmingly supportive of the prosecution.  The defendant, Freddie, had hoped that he would be not guilty because the state had tainted evidence, but his hopes were dashed when the state presented two witnesses to his guilt.  Hannah Westerman and Tony Andrews testified against him. (pg. 119)  Tony was in the car with Freddie at the time of the shooting and he testified that Freddie had shot Michael Westerman. (pg. 120)  Freddie was found guilty of murder, among other charges, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment for his crimes.  Michael Westerman’s mother was satisfied with the verdict, but she told reporters that “they deserved to die.” (pg. 122)

The other major event that occurred in the reading occurred at the end, when the author participated in the Battle of the Wilderness. (pg. 125)  He joined the Confederacy during the battle, and he enjoyed his time fighting with the “hardcore” veterans who had invited him to fight with them.  After two days, the battle was over.  His wife noted that “after these battles, all the soldiers’ just get up and walk away,” as well as noting that “in real life, it didn’t happen that way.  Glory had a cost.” (pg. 143)  While the re-enactors could recreate the experience of being in camp, and fighting the way that the real Confederate troops fought, they still got to go home at the end of the day.  Their counterparts were not so lucky.

The topic of slavery dominated this week’s readings.  The website Songs of Confederate Veterans is dedicated to preserving the Confederate heritage, as they explained it.  For them, a violation of Confederate heritage was unacceptable, and there was a form that should be filled out and submitted if the viewer saw a violation of their heritage.  A violation was described as an attack on Confederate heritage, the Confederate flag, and any Confederate monuments or symbols. 

The site failed to mention the topic of slavery; instead they provided the visitor with a store in which to purchase items to display their pride in the Confederacy.  Southern music options, clothing, DVDs, pins and gifts are available for purchase.  The gifts include cards, license plates, note pads, and the southern cross of honor grave marker. 

                                 (Southern Cross of Honor grace marker, courtesy of Google Images)

The University of Virginia provides an article by Jerome Handler and Michael Tuite, Jr entitled Retouching History: The Modern Falsification of a Civil War Photograph.  The photograph in question is of a group of black Union soldiers posing in a room with their white officer.  The original photo was taken in the room, but it was used as a recruitment poster for the Federal Army.  The poster depicted the same group of men, only this time they were in front of a tent and American flag, standing near a battlefield.  This was much more heroic then a group of men standing in a room together.

The same photo was taken by the Confederacy and used for recruitment by the Confederacy in Louisiana.  This time, the photo was cropped so that the white officer, in Union uniform, was taken out of the picture.  The group was named the 1^st Louisiana Native Guard.  This was a show to prove that African Americans were fighting for the South, their home.  This played into the lost cause ideology because it showed that Civil War was not about slavery at all, the slaves did fight for the South.

                                                    (Image Courtesy of Google Images)

The article A White Man Remembers Slavery in the Shenandoah Valley was an interesting article.  It was a reprint of an interview taken from Jacob Coffman before he died.  The article was a series of mini stories of the encounters Mr. Coffman had with the slaves who lived around him.  It told the good, and mostly the bad stories that he had to tell.  One of the stories was about the time he met a slave who was driving a four horse team.  They talked while the slave adjusted the harness.  The slave mentioned how he wished it was “Chrismus’.”  When asked why he wished it was Christmas the slave responded that on Chrismus’ they were given flour bread.  This was their reward for their hard work over the course of the year.  Flour bread.

Another one of his stories was about two slaves who ran away from their master.  A $50 reward was placed for them, and the slaves were soon found and returned to the master.  The master whipped them until their backs were raw, then he poured salt and pepper into the wounds to make his point.  Never run away from me again.

Not all of the stories were bad.  Mr. Coffman told a story about a slave master he heard about that allowed his slaves to grow melons and sell them for their own source of income.  He even allowed his slaves to have parties and get-togethers at their houses.  He treated them well, but he was in the minority of slave owners in the area. 

Never Mind the Slavery, Have You Dipped A Candle Yet? is an article published by the Histsoriann on February 12, 2009.  The article focused on the topic of North Carolina plantation house museums which rarely mentioned the topic of slavery to their visitors. The topic of slavery seemed to be put on the backburner, while the topics of architecture and gardens were discussed.  The question posed in the article was what was the use of historic sites and house museums.  Was their purpose to allow the visitor to admire a high-style material culture, or was it to allow the visitor to learn about the lives of all of the people in a given time period?  The author of the article argued that the latter was the correct interpretation, which by ignoring a piece of history, even a controversial piece, was a dishonor to the visitor.  Let the visitor decided for themselves what they wanted to learn about.  

                                        (Rosedale Plantation, Image Courtesy of Google Images)

  

Our final reading came from The Power of Place by Dolores Hayden.  The chapter focused on her foundation, the Power of Place’s campaign to reclaim the land that once held Biddy Mason’s homestead when she arrived in Los Angeles.  The site had been lost when her son failed to convert the building into a community center for African American youths. (pg. 170)  A group had approached the Power of Place with their proposal of placing a plaque at the site, but that they were open to other possibilities.  The Power of Place jumped into action, in an effort to reclaim the land, which was now a parking lot. (pg. 171)  The Power of Place used four works of art to publicize their efforts.  A poster, created by Sheila de Bretteville, was distributed around the community that showed the history of the site, and why it was important to save.  Another work of art used by the Power of Place was created by author, who wrote about the subject of midwifery (Biddy Mason’s profession).  Susan King wrote a book titled HOME/stead which told Biddy Mason’s story.  Rubbings taken from the gravestones in the area were also included. (pg. 176)  Finally, an eighty-one foot long wall was constructed.   The wall told the story of Los Angeles’ development from a Mexican settlement into the city that it was at the time.  The wall also showed Biddy Mason’s walk across the country when she moved from the South to Los Angeles. (pg. 181)

Biddy Mason, Courtesy of Google Images