Is the South still fighting the Civil War, or...........

[Tamaroa]

Are just not sympathetic to their point of view!!!I read the article about pacification with much interest, because the first thing that came to mind was the similarity to how Southerners must have felt after the American Civil War and to some extent how their descendants feel today.
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"In the article he talks about how U.S. Forces would patrol the Mekong Delta at night and, from boats, set fire to shoreline villages, using bows and arrows. The next day civil action teams of soldiers and civilians would arrive with sheets of corrugated tin for new roofs, bags of rice and bars of soap and sweaters from stateside church groups. He said it was all part of the "pacification" process. What disturbed him the most was the look in the eyes of the affected villagers, "The children would be terrified, but also oddly fascinated in that way kids have."
"The mothers, beyond ordinary fear, would be wildly angry, often unleashing a flood of invective that, of course, none of the Americans could specifically understand because no one spoke the language."
"The old widows...would look at you with the cold, dead eyes of people who had been violated forever and seemed to expect always to suffer."
He goes on to say how the men would be the most angry and vocal and would sometimes be beaten down by interpreters and would look at you with, "...the clean, white fury of men who have been reduced to abject humiliation and powerlessness in front of their families."
He then compares it to today's actions in Iraq, specifically one in which several soldiers broke down the door of a house... "The eyes of the U.S. soldiers...filled with confusion and shame at what they were being made to do by their government."
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Read a piece of the introduction reprinted here and think again. This time in terms of a defeated, subjugated South ruled by the Federal Army and the Freedman's Bureau. I think some striking parallels can be made. Are Southerners still fighting the Civil War as some unsympathetic people feel or are they simply remembering what their grandparents told them. I will admit to being an ardent admirer to the southern soldier as well as their assertion that if they entered the Union voluntarily, they should be able to leave voluntarily. So I am somewhat prejudiced in their favor.

I also had the good fortune and privilege to live among southerners for 7 or 8 years. I learned a lot. I was exposed to a lot, including the balderdash that they are still fighting the Civil War. They are not fighting it. They are just remembering it! A couple of years ago, an old acquaintance of mine passed away. His name was William Cary Breckinridge. He was a southern gentlemen, intensely proud of his Civil War heritage. His FATHER had fought in the War of the Rebellion as a member of the Fincastle rifles, Company D. 11th Regiment of Virginia Volunteers.

Back in 1974, I had the honor to interview Mr. Breckenridge about his ancestor because I was writing my college thesis about the Fincastle Rifles. The interview was priceless. As Mr. Breckinridge talked about his father, his eyes lit up with a fierce pride. His father did survive the war. His pistol and sword still in the possession of the family.

Tony Horowitz wrote a great book called Confederates in the Attic. He explains the phenomenon by stating that in the south, 6 out of 10 people had ancestors in the Confederate Army. In the north 2 out of 10 had ancestors in the Union army with the ratio shrinking to 2 out of 100 in New York City. Consequently, the war is still very close to southerners. It is a vital part of their family history. The feelings left behind by Reconstruction are still there because they are still close to the event. What other section of the country has endured what the south has? I wouldn't forget either.

I don't know if the author was southern or not, but if he was, I'll bet that a ghost of his ancestor guided his thoughts.

Bill