No historic event has left such a deep imprint on America’s collective memory as the Civil War. After the war, Americans had to accept and abandon a traumatic past. David Blight explores the dangerous path of remembrance and oblivion and discovers its tragic costs for racial relations and American national reunification.
In 1865, in the face of a shattered landscape and a torn America, the North and South began a slow and painful process of reconciliation. The following decades saw the triumph of the culture of reunification, which reduced the division into parts and emphasized the heroism of the struggle between the noble blue and gray men. The moral crusades over slavery that caused the war, the presence and participation of African Americans throughout the war, and the promise of emancipation that resulted from the war were almost lost in national culture. Race and reunification is a history of how white American unity was acquired as the segregation of black-and-white memories of civil war increased. Blight delves deep into the changing meanings of death and sacrifice, reconstruction, literature in the romanticized south, the idea of warrior battles, the idea of a lost thing, and the ritual of remembrance. He brings to life the diverse voices and memories of African Americans of war and the efforts to preserve a cultural heritage of emancipation based on its denial.
Eric Foner reviewed the book The New York Times In 2004.
In “Competition and Reunion,” David V. Blight demonstrates that as soon as the weapons fell silent, a debate began on how to remember the civil war. In recent years, the study of historical memory has become something akin to the scientific cottage industry. Instead of being direct and hassle-free, it’s “constructed”, fighting for and in many ways political. Moreover, the oblivion of some aspects of the past is as much a part of historical understanding as the recollection of others. Blight’s study of how Americans remembered the Civil War 50 years after Appomattox is an example of this topic. This is the most comprehensive and comprehensive study of the memory of the Civil War that has not yet appeared.
Blight touches on a wide range of topics, including how political battles for reconstruction have fueled controversy over the legacy of war, the beginnings of Memorial Day, and the boom in the “memory industry,” through which memoirs of former soldiers had been published. basis for the harmonization of stages. He gives black Americans a voice that they are often denied in memory works by searching the black press for celebrations of emancipation and articles about the meaning of war. As his name suggests, Blight, who teaches history and black studies at Amherst College, believes that the way we think about civil war has to do with the way we think about race and its history in American life.
Blight works from this period of history can also be found Civil War Memory in American Culture in the chapter entitled “Decorating Days: The Origins of Memorial Day in the North and the South”.
In footnote Blight states:
8. New York Tribune, May 13, 1865; Charleston Daily Courier, 2 May 1865. I encountered evidence of this First Day of Remembrance at the First Decoration Day of the United States Loyal Legion, Houton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. This handwritten description of the parade around the race track is undoubtedly based on an article by New York Tribune correspondent Berwick, whose name is mentioned in the description. However, the author of “The First Day of Decoration” incorrectly dates Tribune articles. Another mention of the May 1, 1865 event at the Charleston Racecourse is Paul H. Buck, The Road to Reunion, 1865-1900 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1937). Buck incorrectly dates the event as May 30, 1865, does not mention the race track, fully acknowledges James Redpat’s creation of the event, and names the role of former slaves in “black hands” scattering flowers “who knew only that they were dead. lifted them from a state of servitude. ”(120–21) Whitlaw Reid visited Charleston Cemetery, which was founded on this first day of decoration, commemorating the arch and its words on his journey through the conquered south: who must be ashamed of the face of every man who passes by: “Martyrs of the Race Track.” 1965).
Blight describes the importance of civil war in this three-part Sesquicentennial Lecture on Civil War.
Part 2 and Part 3
Every day of remembrance I take time to remember my family members who fought in this war, even though it is a day of remembrance for those who died in battle. Fortunately, my black enslaved ancestor Dennis Squirrel was not killed, although it was terribly difficult for him to get his military pension. I wrote about him in the 2009 Ode to Colorful Soldier, whose name I bear. My second white grandfather, James Brett, also fought for the Union in the 6th Wisconsin Light Artillery Independent Battery and survived. Remembering the blacks who served, it is important to note that many of them died.
By the end of the Civil War, some 179,000 black men (10% of the Union army) had served in the United States and another 19,000 had served in the Navy. Nearly 40,000 black soldiers died during the war, 30,000 from infection or disease. The black soldiers served in the artillery and infantry, as well as performing all non-combat support functions that sustain the army. Black carpenters, chaplains, cooks, guards, workers, nurses, scouts, spies, steamer pilots, surgeons and crew members also took part in the war. There were almost 80 black officers. Black women who could not officially join the army, however, served as nurses, spies, and scouts, the most famous of whom is Harriet Tubman (photo quote: 200-HN-PIO-1), who was looking for 2nd South Carolina volunteers.
Harry Jones, assistant director and curator of the African-American Civil War Memorial Freedom Foundation and Museum (note: he was transferred on June 22, 2018), spoke about the origins and significance of the United States Color Forces’ (USCT) contribution to the American Civil War. :
On September 27, 1862, the first regiment, which became the US Color Army (USCT) regiment, was officially enlisted in the Union Army. All captains and lieutenants in this Louisiana regiment were men of African descent. The regiment was immediately assigned combat duties and on October 27, 1862, occupied Donaldsonville, Louisiana. Prior to the proclamation of the proclamation of Emancipation, two more regiments of African descent from Kansas and South Carolina demonstrated their might in battle.
After the proclamation of Emancipation was issued on January 1, 1863, the Department of War publicly authorized the recruitment of African Americans. The first regiment formed with such authority was the 54th Infantry of Massachusetts. (Many reported that it was the first regiment of African descent.) In late 1863, General Uly S. Grant considered the people of African descent armed with the Proclamation to be “strong allies.”
African Americans have fought in every major campaign and battle in the last two years of the war, earning twenty-five Medals of Honor. USCT regiments occupied Charleston, the cradle of Secession, and Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy. Lincoln acknowledged their contribution. He said: “Without the black free military aid, the war against the south would not have been possible.” And without the proclamation of Emancipation, there would have been little reason for these soldiers and sailors to fight for the Union.
If you are visiting Washington, be sure to check out the museum:
The mission of the African American Civil War Memorial and Museum is to correct a major mistake in history that nearly ignored the heroic role of 209,145 U.S. troops in ending slavery and uniting America under one flag. The museum uses a rich collection of artifacts, documents, primary sources, and technology to create a meaningful learning experience for families, students, civil war enthusiasts, and historians from the American Civil War to civil rights and beyond.
Which do you remember this day of remembrance?