I dont know where to begin, and I sure wish people knew me personally about what I hope to make. back when I was on alternative history.com, here was my plan.
DisclaimerA fundamental misunderstanding has occurred that I’m a lost causer. Well, that isn’t exactly true, and as a matter of fact, my alternative history wishes viewers to learn American history the historical way. Furthermore, while this is a pro confederate TL, it doesn’t glorify slavery as neither the editor nor me nor are we pro-slavery and whose love of our lives are considered black.
While it may be true that I’m more pro confederate than I am pro-union, I wish to preserve both perspectives and give sympathetic viewpoints for both sides. While I disavow white supremacy and racism, I’m not afraid to tell what the confederacy was, including the good, the bad, and the ugly.
I am a regular viewer of the checkmate Linconite series though I prefer volloging through history with the historian’s reaction videos. The lost cause movement is broad and isn’t well defined, as I didn’t know there was a clear separation between a lost cause and pro confederate alternative history.
Short bio the civil war as a childWhile I can not say I was never a lost causer, I was raised to believe that the union army fought to preserve the union and free the slaves during my childhood. I had found memories of visiting grants farm, colonial Williamsburg, and museums and reading books about history, including the civil war. The world encyclopedias were my favorite once I received them at age 10
However, as a child at 8, while at The lincoln museum, I observed that many union soldiers hated the emancipation proclamation. In the same museum, I witnessed the horrors of slavery.
Hence, I understood that not all union soldiers fought to free the slaves, and I knew that Missouri was a border state which legally owned slaves, and my twin brother sided with the rebels.
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But, unfortunately, we were correct; had it been the civil war, it would have been common for neighbors and brothers to fight each other, and sometimes their relationship never restored as it once was. My brother and I had many battles playing with civil war toy soldiers, and my twin brother was pro confederate.
At a young age, I watched the Romance/drama gone with the wind, and it was the onley lost cause film I was exposed to as a child. I could at least acknowledge that not all slave owners treated their slaves horrifically. It is true some slave owners treated them like family.
(I also knew to take the movie less seriously, and it was l Hollywood fiction )
I thought it was neat in the movie meet me in saint Louis that the grandfather, a fellow Missourian, was a civil war veteran in the Union army.
I asked my parents as a child why we had a painting of General Robert e lee and Stonewall Jackson? They replied, ‘because they was very close to God,’ I adhered to more interest in general grant like my brother Charles. I was told what was essential to Ulysses S Grant was never giving up.
As a kid, I remember watching A historical documentary about Sherman's march to Georgia, which explained General Sherman’s cold indifference to the runaway slaves, yearning for his help. The historian said many slaves took too much faith that the Sherman army would help them.
It’s hard to explain my sympathy switched to the confederate side; that would be a good question if I could answer it. But, AS I look back by doing historical research, much of what we said as schoolboys of elementary, we got many things correct or what people said during the civil war. While we both switched sympathies as children at 12 for Christmas, I received the time-life civil war complete collection and as a Christmas present along with the PBS documentary ken burns civil war.
The problem with my TL
The timeline was so overwhelming confederate buried whatever union sympathies it had.
I didn’t have time for my alternative history to be a masterpiece because I was a busy, lonely college student who still missed my former love. But then, by the continuation of alternative history year 2, I was sick for about three weeks with covid 19 UK variant, and I struggled with the after-effects of covid. I do not onley have dyslexia and other learning conditions such as not observing prepositions n and not being transparent with changing subjects in communication.
I wrongly did flirt with the lost cause because I didn’t have time to study the Civil war in-depth thoroughly. So the audience couldn’t tell if it was history or lost cause of romanticism.
Most of the propaganda the audience read was supposed to be was government propaganda from the secret service. The timeline was supposed to double as a historical documentary or film that takes few liberties. Unfortunately, I had failed to give the viewer any historical context. As a result, the reader couldn’t tell which narrative throughout the story switched it from and whose perspective. Overall The TL tried to provide different perspectives and failed to have a more neutral point of view. While you say your timeline is pro confederate, It doesn’t go into the soldier’s ideology or dwells into the civilian life of the confederacy or the antebellum years.
Slavery accusation The Origins of the American Civil War | Debunking Lost Cause Narratives
. The slave accusations you pulled up were the most reasonable you asserted. However, I never gave the exact numbers of how many black warriors would help the confederacy. I didn’t have time to portray much of the negatives of the confederacy, including the fate of the slave militiamen who ran away to Union lines for freedom. This accusation I will be sure to take heed from.
cwmemory.com/2015/02/16/henry-louis-gates-black-confederates-and-white-liberal-academics/Some black people did want to enlist in the confederate army. There is zero denial that my alternative history was misleading.
As a child, I didn’t know of any black Confederate soldiers who saw action as there weren’t any it appeared. There were a few black CSA combatants, which I didn’t realize until somewhat recently as a millennial. I wasn’t ever going to have black militiamen number as many as 12,000. The plan was to have 6,00 or 3,000 based on the estimated numbers that served, not counting on the native guard. The slave accusation perhaps Booker t Washington can try to answer.
While not the complete edition, he is a great speaker
I dont think we can discredit booker t Washington no matter the context of the autobiography.
The accusations and lessons
I never said Grant was even incompetent, but it could have been a disaster for him and the union army at Shiloh. He didn’t dig in for defenses that neglection was not uncommon for generals of that time. IN 1864 campaigns, General Grant was known for crying for his men who would be slaughtered in the trenches, and it was Lincoln visited wounded soldiers. (the press and contemporaries did call grant a butcher_)
This entire timeline’s purpose was for the confederates to have leadership equivalent to Abraham Lincoln of the union. Does that mean the Lincoln administration didn’t make crucial mistakes? No! While I dont mind lincoln as a good person, it is his policies im against. But, no matter how you look at it, leadership can change the selection of generals, leaders, and other things related to a battle or campaign outcome, such as ordinance.
Abraham lincoln, from my point of view, was a borderline wartime tyrant, but to a lesser extent, in my opinion, was Jefferson Davis. It doesn’t mean Davis is off the hook, from my judgment. IN my opinion, they died from Davis, but I also accept other viewpoints as they died from state rights. I am biased for state rights, so I am less willing to say that state rights were to blame for anything. In reality, there were many reasons why the south lost. So both contradicting theorized viewpoints have truth to them. My civil war point of view is probably more of a copperhead than a rank and file confederate If I was to place myself in the past. I dont want liberty distinguished by unconstitutional tranny that trambles on tradition and freedom.
The south lost because of military failure from its generals on strategy and the battlefield. Still, Because it is a part of the lost cause narrative, I will have at least one significant battle that the confederates lose as they are overwhelmed. That lost cause narrative won’t ever be the Norm as historical accuracy emphasizes. By no means wasn’t it possible for the south to have won the American civil war. However, {insert link} 1 critical issue of the lost cause it was was from the confederate perspective.
I did a terrible job citing historians and other timeline ideas where I got kicked for plagiarism out of my ignorance/confusion.
Notice IN the 1861 Howell cob Timeline the south was losing on the battlefield for you to conclude that accusation. I will give the union side justice but remember it was much more accurate for northern generals to be placed for political purposes.
The slaves wanted their freedom, and race relationships was a complexity. Still, I never said they were soldiers, and I planned to allow slaves to bear arms out of desperation as the government couldn’t conscript in my tl. The public uproar would notify the CSA government of this perhaps illegal act, and The CSA government would possibly court-martial the Generals. Arming slaves to fight would have been dangerous for obvious reasons.IN reality 1863, Confederate generals desperate for reinforcements organized black confederate militias. Still, they were rejected by the war department, which is no surprise. However, it is reasonable to assert that a minority within a minority would choose to fight for perhaps more complicated reasons until the news that their brothers would be set free by the Great emancipator Abraham lincoln.
During the American Revolution, enslaved people from the patriots regularly ran away to fight to free slaves with the British crown. Not all slaves knew they would be free if they successfully ran into the union lines following the contraband laws. Indeed freemen and slaves were much more likely to help the union. There were few black confederate combatants.
. Women sacrificed much for their husbands and sons in the south, but Davis over-relied on their devotion when the south was bled dry president Jefferson Davies and General Lee’s failed strategy.
Sir General Lee is capable, but he is far from an unblemished warrior saint. General Brag was the worst General the south had to offer, but he proved excellent at turning recruits into disciplined soldiers. Before I knew of the checkmate lincolnite video, I didn’t think lee was as good of a general we exaggerate him to be.
Still, you can’t judge till you have read the book, and before the timeline exists, I will be reading so many civil war books, documentaries, and historical films it becomes mundane.
As for the mention Of the historical film Gods and Generals
Historian's Reaction to Gods and Generals Part 1
I saw the film as a kid and was surprised to hear their point of view, and I could take it more seriously than the romance film Gone with the wind. However, this film should not be labeled lost cause just because it’s pro confederate. Or if it is considered a lost cause film, the historical accuracy is almost spot on. (some enslaved people did read despite the law, and while lewis probably did not read, perhaps he had someone who read for him. Maybe a master would tell in a letter what was happing at home. To add more to the historians’ comments, group letters and letters mentioning news for other people were common in the confederacy as paper became scarcer.
Slaves were often sent to the post office, according to booker t Washington’s autobiography up from slavery. Historian Reacts to Gods and Generals Part 2
Gods and Generals had a lot of content to what was going on, and it would have been most ideal if they decided to make it as a mini-series of it instead or for it to go with the movie.
They wished to cover should have been divided into more than one movie.
We would have seen the last full measure had Gods in generals been a success
Counter Me and atun
Our society is so critical of CSA and lost cause propaganda. Yet, as a society, we implant misconceptions and propaganda to portray the CSA as evil all the time in popular media. What confederate film isn’t dubbed lost cause on the enterniate ?
Once a viewer finds out the inaccuracies in any historical film, the film is never as good afterward so I would argue historical accuracy matters in films.
When I found out Amistad’s grossly inaccurate, I profusely hated it.
Some say I’m a lost causer partly because I say the south should have pushed on at Bullrun. I studied the bull run battle, and it’s more embarrassing for the union soldiers than the rebels. However, WHile my Otl was poorly made, I tried to mention the possibilities.
The Union soldiers at that moment were either panicked or on a route. That notion has nothing to do that the south lost solely of being out-resourced. Instead, historian William c Davis blames the leadership.
While the union press blamed poor soldiering, MacDowell deserved the blame for the defeat
General Joseph e Johnston is correct about the souths overall strategy, but he was not a good field commander, but atun films didn’t influence me
. General Beauregard would be an even more incompetent battle commander unless instructed to defend sea fortifications.
What to expect
Understanding the Lost Cause Myth
The lost cause will be avoided.
Few black combatants fought in the CSA, and I will avoid calling themselves soldiers. I will be more hesitant to portray them in this tl than in the last failed timeline.
Perhaps the sentiment of this alternative history is if a suffering highlander could go back in time and somehow warn others that Scotland would be plundered by the Cumberland butcher and their traditions outlawed if the Jacobite rebellion failed. But unfortunately, the south wasn’t united during the civil war.
Also, The new TL will be more historically faithful than the last timeline, which, from my perspective, the old TL had good ideas, but it was sloppy. I will allow other timelines to influence my tl with prosper citation if I add them, as others have produced many good ideas. There will be southern pessimism in the improved timeline, and some Confederate soldiers will say, “it is a lost cause,”
However, just as people call it the war of southern aggression, the same people might call it Jacobite aggression or colonist traitor aggression in the 13 colonies. General Joseph e Johnston will be made General in chief due to his Fabian strategy in my TL.
Alternative history takes liberties in their works by their very genre, but I hope to add these slight liberties based on history. So, for example, I will add regiments that have soldiers dressed up as revolutionary soldiers in grey, cavaliers, and southern knights based on these realities.
This TL will also avoid the lost cause and warn if it is presented in any fashion or form. Hoever it is true that some of the lost cause we criticize were in fact what southerners believed during he civil war. While the term the war between the states wasn't as common of term used during the civil war compared to the later lost cause movement that term was used at the time.
Some other liberties might have to do with myths that can be made true or bear more realism after the pod, such as the CSA Irish at Fredericksburg, which I should strive to provide a link of reality as what happened. If you are concerned with accuracy or narrative, Besides the Wikipedia list of civil war films which includes documentaries, please send me suggestions for books and historic movies not listed on Wikipedia for me to watch.
Historical Narrative before the point of divergence
AS much as my dream is to be a soldier, I can’t do as good a job describing war as I can describing peace. The viewer might be disappointed at skimming over military history or not providing enough history compared to ideological or everyday peaceful living in American history.
If the mods permit me, I think it’s onley fair that I should talk about some of the horrors of slavery at one point. So if I have permission to do so, I shall. However, my historical textbook for the TL isn’t the 1619 project. It will talk about slavery as much as it needs to
Please telegram me for suggestions in the alternative history and things to add to the historical narrative. While I strive to have a more neutral historical record, human beings have a bias, and different historians have influenced my narrative history of the revolution of disunion.
However, my perspective from my historical fiction character will be added throughout the timeline . . Several characters will add their historical point of view, such as a southern Royalist whose family has been in the south since a little after the English civil war. I dont consider myself a great academic historian and my dream job other than being a soldier would be teaching live history as a historical reenactor
Missouris History will be emphasized the most as it shares both characteristics of north and south. Missouri served as the gateway to the west and was the borderland between north and south. Though Missourians considered themselves Southerners during the antebellum years, they didn’t want to separate from the union and wished to let the south go peacefully.
Amature historians(colin Woodward, Shelby’s foot), while they have less ground than trained academic historians, can be very helpful in providing viewers with knowledge and desire to learn more history despite the author JWQ having not read 1 of foot’s works until after he was dubbed a lost causer. In contrast, a good argument with facts, Colin Woodward American nation’s book should never be held on the ground as the gospel truth. Foots is correct “because we failed to do the thing we really have a genius for, which is compromise,”
It was America's failure to compromise (over slavery)
Closing thoughts before history
The history narrative will have a pro united states bias rather than a southern northern or anti-slavery, bias and I never said that slavery was not what caused the civil war.
Slavery, but better said, the economy was the main reason, how two separate regions of America evolved differently. Lincoln in 1860 and I both agree that slavery should die down slowly. You're Probably Wrong About Confederate Monuments: A Response to Atun-Shei Films
Atun sheis films are meant to educate, including indoctrination people into the union camp. Of course, Prager U has biases, but You can still learn from them despite the political baggage. ,
Robert e lee is the confederate version of George Washington, and both individuals have historians debate their views on the subject of bond labor. Both sections have their heroes and villains. General lee is probably more anti-slavery than I am, but there is little need for me to speak out against the institution as it isn’t relevant to me. However, if a nation is to have slavery in a fallen world, then it should be regulated through humanitarian laws. If I was to say slavery is wrong, I might imply speak that the constitution is wrong as well. The constitution protected slavery and the founding fathers of the constitution understood the union must be preserved.
Had the American revolution failed the British would have dubbed much of what the Americans said they fought for as a lost cause Pseudohistory. one of its core tenants would be George Washington being worshiped to that of a deity and how slaves faithfully fought for the patriot cause.
Any movie that calls George the 3rd a tyrant similar would be considered lost cause just as any movie that would call lincoln a tyrant from the pro confederate point of view
I would argue in history is while the south inconstantly supported state rights the idealogy of the people generally benefited from its premise.
Biases I am biasedly in favor of state rights, so I won't be saying state rights caused the civil war because then I would be asserting state rights is a bad thing, and it wouldn't be radically honest either. I favor the Jacksonian democrats and Jeffersonian republicans over the northern sectional party. I also have profound respect for mosaic government law, yet I dont agree often with the puritan interpretation of the law predestination, the witch hunts, and others notations they harbored
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