Memory Articles

Black History Month and “Civil War Memory” by Bill Vallante The Confederate Body Servant and the UCV: “And to you our colored friends….we say welcome. We can never forget your faithfulness in the darkest hours of our lives. We tender to you our hearty respect and love, for you never faltered in your duty nor [...]

Black History Month and “Civil War Memory” by Bill Vallante “Massa Robert Toombs” The following short narrative was given by a woman who was a slave of General Robert Toombs. Toombs, one of the defenders of slavery as an institution, appears to have treated his charges in as good a manner as could have been [...]

Black History Month and “Civil War Memory” by Bill Vallante 5 Short Excerpts: The Loyal – and the Not-So Loyal It’s 4 in favor and one against – Send these stories to your liberal friends – along with some paper bags for when they start to hyperventilate. 301 Confederate Veteran September 1896. OLD CONFEDERATE DAYS. [...]

Black History Month and “Civil War Memory” by Bill Vallante Still more Year ob’ Jubilo…. Despite editing out many of the excerpts about “yankee behavior”, it became necessary to divide this account into two parts due to its length. If you need more proof that not all the slaves welcomed the union army or were [...]

Black History Month and “Civil War Memory” by Bill Vallante Da’ Year ob Jubilo? – err, not exactly!? Continuing on - here’s a look at the yanks through the eyes of some of the slaves who were civilians and who were “fortunate” enough not to be conscripted into the union army - though some were [...]

Black History Month and “Civil War Memory” by Bill Vallante Dem’ “Uppity”/“White Trash” Yankees Once again, popular historical wisdom holds that all slaves welcomed the Yankees and that the Yankees, being of course an army of blue-coated warm and fuzzy types, responded with love and affection. Let’s go to the historical videotape and toss a [...]

Black History Month and “Civil War Memory” by Bill Vallante Join the Union Army and See the World! – err, well, sort of?! Once again, contemporary historical wisdom has it that all of the slaves ran away to join the union army or to follow it. As one neo-abolitionist historian recently put it, “The Slaves [...]

Black History Month and “Civil War Memory” by Bill Vallante Blood In The Fight As in the case of the word “Heritage”, I suppose you’ve got to be southern to understand the meaning of this phrase. Come to think of it, the only folks I’ve ever heard use it are Southerners!? Nelson Taylor Densen’s very [...]

Black History Month and “Civil War Memory” by Bill Vallante It's My Heritage Say the word “Heritage” to most Americans who have been raised in parts of the country other than the South and what you’ll usually get is a blank stare. To an outsider I suppose, it isn’t easy to understand. It appears though [...]

Black History Month and “Civil War Memory” by Bill Vallante A Black Confederate Civilian’s Story: One of the most entertaining of the southern civilian slave narratives comes from “Praise de Lawd” Rilla Patterson. It’s a bit on the lengthy side and like many of the Slave Narratives, the words in the passages are spelled exactly [...]