WILLisms.com: The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

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The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Today is the 142nd anniversay of the Battle of Appomattox Courthouse, the final defeat of the Confederacy which led to Robert E. Lee's surrender. Though not a huge battle by Civil War standards, it of course is important for finally ending the conflict.

A famous bit of trivia about the battle: the formal surrender took place in a house owned by Wilmer McClean. McClean originally owned a farm in Manassas, Virginia, and the First Battle of Bull Run took place on his land. To escape further brushes with the war, he moved house to Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. When the Battle of Appomattox Courthouse finished, Ulysses S. Grant took Robert E. Lee's formal surrender in McClean's drawing room. Thus, the American Civil War 'started in Wilmer McLean's back yard, and ended in his front parlor.'

Posted by Ken McCracken · 9 April 2007 12:07 AM

Comments

Re W. Maclean & Appomattox, read the

">perfect language

in the communiques that passed between Generals Grant and Lee, preparatory to their meeting on this day in 1865:

Posted by: buddy larsen at April 9, 2007 11:56 AM

sorry--link failed, try

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/appomatx.htm

Posted by: buddy larsen at April 9, 2007 11:58 AM

Yes, it's the anniversary of the defeat of the Treason in Defense Slavery crowd.

It remains a mystery to me why we would properly applaud the tearing down of a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad--yet we continue to permit statues and buildings and institutions commemorating Treason in Defense of Slavery to stand in this country.

Posted by: Jadegold at April 9, 2007 06:30 PM

Heh, well I am from the Land of Lincoln, so it isn't much of an issue for me.

Posted by: Ken McCracken at April 9, 2007 07:05 PM

Jadegold,
A brain is a terrible thing to waste, but, in your case, you have not wasted it, you have taken it to its natural limit.

Posted by: Eneils Bailey at April 10, 2007 05:35 PM

As a northerner who believes the War Between The States was justified, I nonetheless recognize that little in life is black-and-white. The Confederate states had some validity to their arguments.

As a strong believer in the government being able to decide that a local definition of who is really a human being is inadequate, jadegold, I take it that you must be a very strong prolifer.

Please. Don't just fire what you've got stored on disc this time. Think about it.

Posted by: Assistant Village Idiot at April 10, 2007 06:36 PM

The Confederate states had some validity to their arguments.

Sure...if you believe the right of white folks to own black people was worth killing for.

Posted by: Jadegold at April 10, 2007 08:13 PM

I rest my case.

Posted by: Assistant Village Idiot at April 11, 2007 06:54 PM