Other Voices: Correcting the record on Lincoln and the Civil War – Los Altos Town Crier

In reading Allyson Johnsons column on the Civil War (Hallowed ground? Jan. 19), it occurred to me that she probably received the same education about the war that I was given in school. That knowledge was adequate for me until our son graduated from college and accepted a job teaching and coaching football at a Catholic high school in Mississippi. I then realized that I should know more and was given a three-set volume of that history written by Shelby Foote, the historian featured in Ken Burns documentary on the war.

Forty pages into the book, my opinion of my teachers, President Abraham Lincoln and the war had changed dramatically. Important things had not been taught to me, and I was either required or encouraged to believe things that were untrue.

Example: The war was fought over slavery. You can Google Lincolns First Inaugural Address. He states, I have no lawful right to ... interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists.

Then, No state upon its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union.

Followed by: The power confided in me will be used to ... (wage war), and A husband and wife may be divorced ... but the different parts of the country cannot do this.

Then came Fort Sumter. It was an incident provoked by Lincoln to arouse anger among Northerners. No Union soldiers were killed. At that point, only seven states had seceded, so Lincoln thought he could raise an army and quickly end the Confederacy. He issued a call to raise 75,000 troops among the remaining states. It was a colossal blunder. Congress was not in session. Four states were appalled and joined the Confederacy. The governor of Tennessee told Lincoln, Tennessee will not furnish a single man for the purpose of coercion, but fifty thousand if necessary for the defense of our rights and those of our Southern brothers. The boundary of the war leaped from more than 300 miles away from Washington to just over the Potomac River.

The first serious battle occurred when Lincoln urged a reluctant general to invade Virginia in force and capture the rail junction in Manassas. Fighting began early and went well for the Union into the afternoon. Then a young Virginia general showed up with his troops, routed the Union forces and earned one of historys most famous nicknames. This would not be a short war.

As things were going poorly, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Its very short. I was taught it freed the slaves. It addresses slaves in the Confederacy, over which Lincoln exercised no control. No mention of slaves in the Union. Those slaves needed to await the Thirteenth Amendment after Lincolns death.

The Union could not conquer the Confederate army, so Lincoln decided to eliminate its support by ravaging southern farms and cities. This was dishonorable at the time. Resentment understandably endured after the war.

Even the name we apply to this conflict is suspect. Civil War typically refers to a struggle where both parties vie for total control of one country. Our sons students used more accurate terms: The Second War for Independence and Mr. Lincolns War.

One benefit of ignorance in reading about this sprawling subject is that it unfolds as something new. One becomes fascinated with colorful personalities, letters from soldiers, inventions such as submarines and ironclad warships, the importance of our geography, attitudes of a suffering public, politics and what interest foreign countries had in the outcome. Foote was a novelist before turning to history. He is a wonderful storyteller whose writing flows beautifully.

Jerry Clements is a Los Altos resident.

Link:

Other Voices: Correcting the record on Lincoln and the Civil War - Los Altos Town Crier