Veterans North and South by Paul A. Cimbala

Author:Paul A. Cimbala [Paul A. Cimbala]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780313038211
Publisher: ABC-CLIO

NINE

Confederate Veterans Resurgent

Renewed Skirmishing in the Old Confederacy

In May 1865, South Carolinian colonel C. Irvine Walker relied on his love of God to cope with defeat, but his finding comfort in religion did not mean he had the desire to extend Christian charity to his enemies. “I feel and will always feel the same hatred to them,” he admitted, “however events may compel me to hide it.” Consequently, not only did family and friends keep him rooted in his home state but, remaining a patriot, he believed that South Carolina and the Southern cause may need him again. In the darkest moment of his surrender, he believed he would “live to see the Independence of the C.S. yet.” And while he admitted he could not see how his personal future would develop, he had no doubts about the South. “We are temporarily crushed, overpowered—but we will rise, phoenix like from our ashes, and yet achieve our freedom and nationality,” he wrote; “Is it not the duty of every true man to remain here, to aid his country in the second struggle?”1

During the spring of 1865, Walker’s Confederate phoenix failed to rise as one command after another followed the Army of Northern Virginia in laying down its arms, but events soon proved the South Carolinian to be somewhat prescient. Walker and a number of other Confederate soldiers found meaning in their transition from soldier to civilian by banding together as veterans to take a stand against the postwar challenges to their way of life. This collective action certainly did not require as complete a commitment as going to war had, nor did it attract as many men as had the war itself, but it nevertheless revealed the acceptance of a purposeful obligation to reclaim control of their region’s future from their old enemies.

For many Confederate veterans, the battle of Reconstruction was Colonel Walker’s renewed struggle. War had not stolen the souls of all of the South’s young men. Rather, war had confirmed in the minds of veterans an idea rooted in their antebellum lives: violence had a useful and important purpose in maintaining the Southern way of life. Freed slaves claiming outlandish rights, black veterans carrying guns, and black politicians making laws with Yankee outsiders helping them at every turn were clear attacks on a way of life based on honorable ideals not surrendered at Appomattox. A determined number of former Confederates went beyond conventional politics and combined to use organized violence to undermine the Republican goals of Reconstruction. They became the militia of the Southern Democratic Party, dedicated to furthering the aims of white conservatism while destroying the Southern branch of the Republican Party, the institutional outpost of Union victory in the region.2

During the spring of 1865, civil disorder troubled some Southern communities. Unable to rely on thinly spread Union troops to keep the peace, returning Confederate veterans came together in armed bands to confront brigands and restore the tranquility of their neighborhoods.3 Such groups, however, were just as likely

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.