Southernist Pride

"What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world."
.. ...

“There never was a more ill-timed, injudicious and destructive measure proposed, (so far as northern interests are concerned) than the Morrill tariff bill, now pending before Congress. It proposes to greatly increase the duties on all imported goods, and in many articles to carry up the increase to the prohibitory point . . . so that while Congress is raising the duties for the Northern ports, the Southern Convention is doing away with all import duties for the Southern ports. . . . More than three fourths of the seafront of the Atlantic States—extending from the Chesapeake inclusive, to the furtherest boundary of Texas, would be beyond the reach of our Congress tariff. Their ports would invite the free trade of the world! And what would the high tariff be worth to us then, with only a one-fourth fragment of our former seacoast left?”

- New-Haven Daily Register, February 11, 1861

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson - President of the U.S

The Five Civilized Tribes and Their Alliance with the Confederacy

The Five Civilized Tribes—the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole—rallied to the Confederate cause during the War Between the States. They saw in the Southern fight a parallel to their own defense of homes, families, sovereignty, and constitutional rights against Northern aggression. 

The Cherokee Declaration of Causes (October 28, 1861) powerfully explains their decision. It declared the Cherokee a “free people, independent of the Northern States,” citing federal violations of rights and treaties, and united their fortunes with the Confederacy for the common cause, trusting in Divine Providence.

Shared Southern institutions and interests, plus the Union’s abandonment of Indian Territory, made the alliance natural. 

The other tribes signed similar treaties of alliance with the Confederacy, which promised protection the Union had failed to provide. Like their Southern counterparts, they fought to defend their homelands and right to self-government.

Stand Watie, Cherokee leader and Confederate Brigadier General was the last Confederate general to surrender, at Doaksville on June 23, 1865. 

The Eastern Band of Cherokee in North Carolina also largely supported the Confederacy, serving in units like Thomas’ Legion to protect their mountain homeland.

Today, some in these nations have caught the “woke virus” and turned their backs on their forefathers’ courageous stand. But at the time, allying with the Confederacy made perfect sense: both were fighting for independence and the right to live unmolested on their own lands. Their alliance highlights the broader defense of liberty and self-determination that defined the Confederate cause. -RJ

[One of Uncle Gregory Newson's paintings!]