I would argue that to a large extent the American Civil War defies
the norm in this respect. The vast majority of the books written have
been by Southerners from a Southern perspective. While Lee, Jackson,
et al are of interest to people from the North, they do not hold the
fascination they do for Southerners. The results are interesting. I
suspect that Lee would not have achieved the stature he has, had the
history of the war been left n the hands of Yankees (or Damnyankees
if you prefer).

This case is an excellent example of the victors writing the history.
The naval war has never captured the imagination of Southerners. With
the result that most of the history of the naval campaigns were
written by Northern authors. It is significant that the CSS Virginia
is known historically primarily as the Merrimac. While the "Monitor
and Merrimac" is somewhat more mellifluous than the Monitor and
Virginia, I suspect that there is more to it than poetic license.

On Nov 30, 2005, at 18:08, Walter Waddell wrote:

> Dear Randy,
>
> You are missing only and the only key principle of history: In war:
> win! The
> winner gets to write the history and hang the losers -- and the
> history of
> the moment at hand is the only history that matters -- since mankind's
> history is an utter refusal to learn from yesterday.
>
> Of course the counter to that is: the only hope for the future is
> for the
> youth of today to reject any notion that their fathers got anything
> right
> except to launch them.
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> What be the worth of knowing yesterday other than to stir the today
> to shape
> the text of tomorrow.
>
> Regards, Ray
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Randy Cabell" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2005 10:26 AM
> Subject: Puzzling :// More Northern Bias?
>
>
> Recently I became aware of an observation/theory that one reason that
> Jamestowne is downgraded by historians in favor of those latecomers
> (Puritans) up in New England, was the Civil War.  e.g. Nothing good
> could
> come out of the South, so the first permanent English settlement in
> the New
> World is ignored.
>
> This may also explain a puzzle that I found a few years ago when
> doing a
> booket of our family in the Civil War.  On March 9, 1862 the
> Monitor and the
> Merrimac (aka Virginia) fought their classic battle in Hampton
> Roads.  Every
> account that I have read concludes that it was a draw, each
> returning to its
> port, of of course some months later the Virginia was destroyed
> before the
> Union Army could take it.  But I found a letter written over a
> month later,
> an excerpt below......
>
> "....We have just received news from the Merrimac now called the
> Virginia.
> She left Norfolk this morning at 6 o'clock and returned about one
> o'clock
> with three Yankee vessels, two brigs and a schooner, one of them
> heavily
> loaded. This she accomplished without firing a gun. The Monitor
> kept under
> the protection of the guns at Fortress Monroe, being afraid to meet
> the
> Virginia."  Part of a letter from Robert Brown to his wife, 11
> April 1862
>
> To paraphrase Gen. Buck Turgidson in that classic "Dr. Strangelove", I
> hesitate to draw any conclusions before the all the facts are in,
> but it
> appears that the Virginia emerged at least once, and maybe more,
> AFTER the
> battle and proceeded to do what it started out to do the day before
> the
> Monitor appeared on the scene -- wreak havoc among the Union
> fleet.  --AND
> the Monitor did not set forth to stop her.  If that is indeed true,
> then it
> looks like to me that the Virginia deserves a bit more credit.  It
> lived and
> fought another day, returning to the at the site of the battle --
> and was
> unchallenged.  Of course the letter may be based only on rumors and
> wishes,
> but am I missing something?
>
> Randy Cabell
>
>
>
>
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the
> instructions
> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>
>
> --
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.1.362 / Virus Database: 267.13.10/189 - Release Date:
> 11/30/2005
>
>
>
>
> --
> No virus found in this outgoing message.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.1.362 / Virus Database: 267.13.10/189 - Release Date:
> 11/30/2005
>
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the
> instructions
> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>

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