Did you know that, on this day in 1861, Louisiana seceded from the United States of America? Just another reminder that this year finds the sesquicentennial observance/celebration/whatever of the Civil War - one of our nation's defining moments - well underway.
In the year that followed that day in Louisiana, there was much of note that happened ... more states seceded from the Union; Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States; secessionist talk became open rebellion; Fort Sumter was attacked; there was the First Battle of Bull Run (or Manassas, take your pick); the legend of "Stonewall" Jackson was born; and much, much more.
I find myself wondering why we don't read or hear more about it. Is it, perhaps, because it is no longer a part of our living memory? As terrible as that conflict was, there are no longer among us - as would be the case for '9/11' - those who can say, "I remember." Maybe ... maybe not. Whatever the case, couldn't we trim just a couple of minutes away from Demi Moore's ambulance call, the umpteenth replay of the more ridiculous Super Bowl minutia, or the latest 'nyah-nyahs' in the mini-civil war between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, and devote it to what was going on in our nation 150 years ago, and what it means for us today?
I'll do my part, and try to post on this more over the year ahead ... and I look forward to reading what you have to say about that conflict. Be warned, though ... I AM a dang Yankee from back-east, and I think the 'good guys' won the Civil War. So we may have to agree to disagree on some points.
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