Joan,

         I understand it was not a treatise, but I wondered if he gave any
indication of what oppressions he believed he suffered or how he reconciled
the desire for Northerners to "go home" with the Battle of Gettysburg?  How
much of what he said was his own personal beliefs and how much was
confederate propaganda?

         Letters home from my father to my mother during WWII were also
full of hope for a quick victory over Japanese "invaders" ... Did Japan
invade? Were they in the right because they believed we would just fold
when they bombed Pearl Harbor?  What might have been in the letters from
the Japanese during WWII? A wish that the Americans would just go home?

                                 Anne


At 05:30 PM 2/20/03 -0500, Joan Logan Brooks wrote:
>He was writing a letter home to his family, not a treatise on U.S.
>political or economic policy or application.  He wanted the War to end so
>he could go home to his family.  He wanted the Northerners to go home
>themselves and leave Virginia alone.  (He clearly believed in the right of
>states to secede from the Union, though I do not know if or how he voted
>on secession in May 1861.)
>
>He did ask his wife in the letter to thank the area Negroes for their many
>kindnesses to his family and said he hoped he could repay their kindness
>some day.  He owned no slaves; neither did any of his ancestors in Va.
>back to 1746, the earliest ancestor I have been able to prove on that
>line. In fact, one uncle was disinherited for owning 1 slave.
>
>Joan
>a Southside Virginian through 11 proven generations
>
>___________________________
>Did he express any specific rules or influences of Northerners that he
>found oppressive?  Did he feel oppressed by laws that forbade folks to aid
>a slave seeking freedom?
>
>                                          Anne
>
>_________________________________
>At 04:04 PM 2/20/03 -0500, you wrote:
> >A letter written in May 1862 by one of my many Confederate ancestors makes
> >it very plain that he was fighting to defend his home and the state of
> >Virginia from the Yankees' invasion.  He expresses a wish for independence
> >from the rule and influence of the Northerners. He was a yeoman farmer,
> >though educated, and his grandfather fought in the Rev. War.
> >
> >Joan
>
>To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
>at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html

Anne Pemberton
[log in to unmask]

http://www.erols.com/stevepem
http://www.educationalsynthesis.org

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html