My dear mother who is 85 years old said recently, "The South finally has
risen again and it is all due to air conditioning."
Deane Mills
>
> If the south is conceived to be bias, then why are so many Yankees moving
> south? I think it's because they like our way of life and the values that
> most of us hold to be true.
>
> Bill Bryant
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Anne Pemberton" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2001 7:47 PM
> Subject: Re: sherman
>
>
> > Deane,
> >
> > While I appreciate your tale of heritage, I am also a
Virginian,
> > by choice not birth, and my heritage is absolutely void of any
involvement
> > in the events called the Civil War (etc.) ... I hail from Yankee roots,
> > father from Ohio, and mother from a line of Pennsylvanians who were
> > eligible for membership in the DAR ... my Hessian ancestor married a
local
> > native woman and started the material side of my family ...
interesting
> > ... if I trace my heritage thru men, I miss her totally ....
> >
> > Expand your understanding of your heritage beyond the "Civil
War
> > Era" values, and see what you are actually made of ... you had the
chance
> > to explore than when your values were questioned in a New England
college
> > (what did you expect??? southerners are not perceived to be princesses
> > outside the south! ) ..
> >
> > As a "Yankee transplant" to the south, and especially as
> > a teacher, I've heard lots of justifications to continue hatreds into
the
> > 21st century, but not a one of them has ever held water. I don't care
if
> > your second cousin was raped by a black man --- my sister my raped by a
> > white man ... is she justified in hating all white men? Should I be, for
> > her sake?
> >
> > When you think of the deprivations of your ancestors (and be
glad
> > you don't share them anymore!), you should remember that the losing side
> > has to suffer costs .... These costs would not have been as severe into
> the
> > 20th century, if southerners hadn't tried to punish blacks for their
gains
> > ... if truth be said, the "Yankees" and perhaps all of civilized
society,
> > has been waiting patiently for the South to get over the civil war ....
> >
> > We tell the Native Americans, who lost much more than "The
South"
> > did, to "get over it" .... is that appropriate to southerners who are
> still
> > hung up on the civil war or who define their "heritage" in those bloody
> > five years?
> >
> > Anne
> >
> >
> > At 06:33 PM 8/15/01 -0400, you wrote:
> > >Well, let me just say this.
> > >I am a 54 year old housewife with nothing but Southern roots on each
side
> of
> > >my family, so I admit to a strong bias.
> > >My paternal grandparents were born in North Carolina in the 1880's.
> > >My maternal grandparents were born in Tidewater Virginia in the 1880's.
> > >During my childhood and formative years in the 1950's, it was their
> > >reflections on their parents' lives that shaped my thinking and taught
me
> to
> > >regard certain aspects of Southern American history the way I do.
> > >I certainly will not bore you folks with that.
> > >However, it was my beloved and dear and college degreed (i.e., not
> ignorant
> > >red neck) grandparents who taught me that men like Sherman were gross
and
> > >vile.
> > >On the other hand, one of my grandfathers (whose name was Wade Hampton
> > >King) had a brother whose middle name was Grant......that brother was
> named
> > >after Ulysses Grant. The family legend has it that my
great-grandfather
> > >named that son after the Union general out of gratitude for being able
to
> > >take his horse home from Appomatox.
> > >In fairness, I think that it was the horrors of Reconstruction.... the
> > >salted fields that the Yankee troops had left behind them along with
> > >poisoned water wells, needlessly slaughtered live stock, the
ring-barked
> > >fruit and nut trees and the resulting starvation that caused the
deepest
> and
> > >most induring bitterness.
> > > I do not think that Margaret Mitchell's book created myths. I think
> that
> > >when many Southerners read GONE WITH THE WIND they were relieved that
> after
> > >so many decades someone had finally come close to putting it right and
> > >putting it down on paper.....and better yet, folks everywhere were
> reading
> > >it and, perhaps, coming to a better understanding, albeit a
romanticized
> > >one, of what Southerners tended to be like.
> > >I could go on and on and on, but I won't.
> > >I could tell you about the teacher I had in college in the 1960's who
> asked
> > >me (the only southerner in that small Vermont college), "Is it true
that
> you
> > >Southerners despise the blacks, the Jews and the Catholics. And if so,
> why?"
> > >I was so flabberghasted that I could not answer except to say, "Why no.
> We
> > >just hate Yankees!"
> > >I could try to describe to you the anguish on my own mother's face as
she
> > >told me about her own grandmother's stories of eating insects and make
> 'tea'
> > >out of shoe leather after the "Wah".
> > >I can hear my mother now, telling me how her grandmother said over and
> over
> > >and over,
> > >"We were SO hungry."
> > >Deane Ferguson Mills
> > >a 13th generation Tidewater Virginian and proud of it.
> > >
> > >
> > > > I agree with your assessment of Margaret Mitchell's role in
tarnishing
> any
> > > > understanding of Sherman. But no matter what is written, I'm
afraid,
> > >some
> > > > Southerners, and nearly all Native Americans, will continue having a
> > > > difficult time believing Sherman had any noble purpose in waging all
> out
> > > > war, either against the Confederacy, or against the Sioux and other
> > >Western
> > > > peoples he subjugated in the Indian Wars.
> > > >
> > > > -Paul Shelton
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: Jim Watkinson [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> > > > Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2001 3:21 PM
> > > > To: [log in to unmask]
> > > > Subject: sherman
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Harold is right. Total war is key. There was a review of a bio of
> > >Sherman
> > > > 2 or 3 weeks ago in the NYT Review of Books which strongly suggested
> that
> > > > the man who said "war is hell" believed he could end the war
sooner --
> and
> > > > stop the carnage -- by fighting the war in a differrent manner.
This
> > >seems
> > > > to ring true. Margaret Mitchell (and David Selznick) probably did
> more to
> > > > set back the cause of understanding the war than anyone who has ever
> > >lived.
> > > >
> > > > Jim Watkinson
> > > >
> > > > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the
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> > > >
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> > >
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> >
> > Anne Pemberton
> > [log in to unmask]
> >
> > http://www.erols.com/stevepem
> > http://www.geocities.com/apembert45
> >
> > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the
instructions
> > at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
> >
>
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