At 05:12 PM 2/6/00 EST, you wrote: >Hello to all my Vick Kin. I know I have been silent for some time. (Very >Busy) However I have keep an eye on ya'll. (Grin) I enjoyed the letter from >Adela and the conversation concerning the flags. I would like to have some >discussion of the Civil War. I know everybody has there base belief about who >was right and who was wrong. After all we killed ourselves more in that war >than ever before. Also I don't intend to change anyone's mind, or refit the >war, what ever your poison. I was born in Brunswick Georgia and for the >obvious reasons I have been sympathetic to the South's cause all my life. >Mostly because of where I was born not because I studied or really tired to >understand the right and wrong of the war. If there is such a thing. Mostly I >believe whoever wins the war in question is the one that writes the History >Books and is declared right. Like my Dad use to always say as he spanked all >us kids, it takes two to fight, that made us both wrong. We were four boy's >and one girl and if we tired to cover something up, or if Dad was not sure >who did the dirty deed he spanked everybody there. This may sound bad but >lots of times this would encourage the one that did whatever it was to come >forward and confess knowing he was going to get it anyway, might as well cut >the rest loose. Oh boy am I glad because I was nicer than my older >brothers....(NOT) But we did have lots of fun. >Lets get back to the point here. I would like to here your opinions and >points of view on the Civil War. I wonder if like me your option has been >formed by your relationship or by what you learned about the Civil War and >why each side took the stance they did. The thing with OJ Simpson a few years >ago and watching the great difference in what people believed to be true >about the case has made me take a long look at my objectivity and >fair-mindedness. I wonder just how fair-minded I really am. Could I sit in a >jurors Poisson and be fair if the case was against my brother or somebody I >knew and loved or felt like we had command ground? WOW! How do we really >judge a matter? Are we as fair minded as we say we are? >One last thing, I don't want to turn this site into a Civil War site. I am >enjoying getting to know all my kin. I think a little discussion along this >line will better help us understand who we all are a little better. So get >your cup of coffee sit back and tell us what you think about the Civil War, >who was right and who was wrong and why. What if the South had won that War? >I have really enjoyed hearing the history of the Rebel Flag. Haven't you? >When our forefathers fought each other they both thought they were right. >They were all honorable men doing what they thought was the right thing at >the time. > >Your Honorable Cuz > >David in Florida I've always taken every chance to visit historical sites from the Civil War, Charleston, Richmond, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, New Orleans, even Andersonville. (did you know there is a Vick buried there? I hadn't realized there was a large branch of the family in Milwaukee!) As I walked through the Devil's Den, then followed the path of Picket's Charge, I realized that those men and women gave their lives for what they believed in. Today, it's very difficult to comprehend either side. As you say, the victors write the history books, and even worse, people apply the morality of today to people that had no idea of it. Political Correctness is newspeak for doublethink! Hollywood fiction defines most people's ideas of history. A case in point. I was puzzled by what I was seeing in family bibles, until I found that the full names were actual family members, when only first names were entered into the bible, they were usually family slaves. Another time, I saw mention of the fact that one night the family was awakened by someone wanting to donate two slaves for their food and board. The person giving them away could no longer feed and clothe them, and would have been humiliated to admit that in public. He'd rather give them to a good family that could take care of them than see them suffer. Freeing a old lady and young child would have been condemning them to slow starvation. These things hardly match the image that Hollywood wants to project upon them, preferring to portray scenes of sado-masocism, and even sordid sex. Is it any wonder that today's blacks resent their ancestor's slavery even more that their ancestors did? It certainly would have been far better for this country had there never been that war. It killed a very large number of people on both sides, depleted the wealth of the north, and enslaved the people of the south. The south is still recovering it's lost wealth and position of prosperity which was destroyed. Ronald Vick