History vs. History

"To the winner goes the spoils," is the quote. This doesn't just include power, riches, people or cattle. This also includes the history books.

History is written by the winners. I'm reminded of this almost every time I think about one of my favorite historical happenings: The War Between the States. (No, not the Civil War. That's the designation the winner gave it.) This week the home health office manager's husband is with his Civil Wartime Band on a train venture from here to the battlefield of Shiloh, Tennessee. They will be there for the 150th anniversary of that battle, complete with full costume and re-enactments. Wouldn't I love to join them for that!

Over the next couple of years there will be many anniversaries celebrated for the battles that occurred 150 years ago. But "celebrate" is not the right word. For what are we celebrating? The winner, of course. Abraham Lincoln. The emancipation of the slaves. The re-unification of a nation - by coercion.

I'm not saying emancipation is something that should not be celebrated. It should be. Slavery is wrong. It needed to be abolished. But that is NOT what the War Between the States was about. England freed it's slaves without one gun fired. It took years. It took persistence and endurance. It took a lot of maneuvering. But not a life was lost on a battlefield. Of course, the North won - so they dictate what the war was about.

In truth, as we think upon the tragedy that swept this nation 150 years ago (the total destruction and demoralization of the South, rights taken away from the citizens, a President who acted as a dictator - just to name a few of the tragedies) we should mourn not only over the hundreds of thousands of lives lost upon these battlefields but the loss of American freedom.

Those of us who are concerned about this nation that we love hate watching our freedoms disappear. We don't like the government keeping an eye on us via GPS and the internet, but "Old Honest Abe" did just that by tapping telegraph lines and intercepting private mail. We despise the bias of the press and the shutting down of the conservative media. Good old Lincoln tossed every newspaper owner, editor and writer he didn't like into high-security prisons and took away the right of habeas corpus. We don't like our troops being sent out as the world's peace keepers. President Abraham Lincoln ordered every state to raise troops for the national army. Why? In order to "defend the Union" by forcibly keeping the South intact. What about our leaders dictating authority where they have no right to do so? Well, Lincoln freed slaves in states he had no authority over - and left the slaves in states which were under his authority in bondage.

We groan under the loss of our freedoms today and yet "celebrate" the war that started the erosion of those freedoms this nation once enjoyed. But you won't hear that in an United States history book. Remember: the North won the war. And so to them go the spoils.