by Lamar Wadsworth » Sat Apr 10, 2010 11:54 pm
I am all for historic preservation, and I cannot fault any state for trying to capitalize on its historic sites in order to attract tourists to the state. However, it is wrong to glorify the "Lost Cause." Of my eight great-great grandfathers, seven served in the Confederate Army. The other one, my great-great grandfather Wadsworth, worked for the Georgia Railroad all through the war, helping to keep the trains running. My great-great grandfather Bailey was captured at Gettysburg and died as a prisoner of war. There has been great suffering, great sacrifice, and great heroism on every side in every war that has ever been fought. However, the fact that people have fought valiantly for some cause does not make the cause itself right or morally defensible. The Civil War, like many other wars, was a rich man's war and a poor man's fight. The ones who really wanted to lead the southern states into secession and an unwinnable war against the Union were the wealthy plantation interests whose wealth was built upon the uncompensated labor of black slaves. Not unlike the illegal US invasion of Iraq--to see who really wanted to take us into that war, just follow the money and see who has profited from it. Thousands of US soldiers have given their lives in a war that had no higher purpose than lining the pockets of war profiteers. Most of the fighting and dying or getting maimed for life in the Civil War was done by poor people. Of my seven Confederate soldier ancestors, four could not read or write, so they could hardly be faulted for believing the propaganda about the nobility of their cause and their leaders. Maybe, as we approach the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, it might be a good idea to remember the voices of wisdom and sanity in the south who warned against the folly of secession. I might just have to make a pilgrimage about 15 miles from my house to the Allgood's Chapel Methodist Church and put some flowers on the grave of state senator John Young Allgood. Allgood represented Polk County where I live and neighboring Paulding County. Allgood spoke passionately for preserving the Union, and he led the fight against secession in the Georgia state senate. Maybe we could name some state government building somewhere for him. Some of Georgia's 159 counties are named for scoundrels, and one (Peach County) is named for a fruit, so maybe we could even rename a county for him. Come to think of it, the 150th anniversary of the Civil War is a wonderful time to talk about the injustice of war and how wars are often fought at the behest of the wealthy who stand to profit from them at the expense of poor people who do a disproportionate share of the fighting, getting maimed, and getting killed.