Humanizing Southerners Who Built Confederate Monuments and Statues After the Civil War

[@pam7500]

Thank you so much for telling it like it was! I get so sick of the lies and propaganda against the South, and yet,so much praise for the North. I respect ALL of the soldiers on both sides. However, people have been taught that the South is evil, and every Southerner owned slaves. Not true! They also say the war was all about slavery. It was not! It was a terribly sad war with so many lives lost. Boys as young as 13 died on the battlefield. It was wrong to have Confederate statues removed. This war was a part of our history and shouldn't be tampered with. These statues were respected by the South. Taking them down without showing any respect for the Confederate soldiers and their leaders is a definite act of prejudice! Thank you again for delving into the facts and bringing them into the open.

[@theyfaceeast]

For some crazy reason or another, God chose me to do this for Him. I do not know His purpose for all of this, but I'm doing what He has asked me to do. I wrote it all in my book, but it's actually His book, I just did the writing. He even woke me in the middle of the night a few months ago and changed the title of the book to They Face East. I'm sure this sounds odd to some, but it's true. Here's an example. I posted this video at around 9:30pm last night. I responded to a few comments before bed. This morning I woke up to two new comments. The first one I opened was from some random man in America out of 350 million telling me about his great great grandfather Daniel Boone Helms who fought with Company K of the 42nd North Carolina Infantry Regiment. Daniel Boone Helms is my 1st Cousin 5x Removed. Its just another God thing letting me know I'm doing what He wants me to do.

[@johnbeach9884]

A 12th generation American on all sides, my ancestors fought in the Revolution, the War of 1812, the Anti-Rent War in Dutch Feudal New York, World Wars I and II. I had three great-great grandfathers and a great-great uncle who fought at the Battle of Gettysburg. All survived, though wounded, came home to farms and raised families. If the founders had outlawed slavery and the Dutch feudal system at the founding of the country, fulfilling the assertion of the Declaration of Independence that "all men are created equal," they would have spared us the history of bloodshed that, finally, preserved the union and gave "liberty and justice for all.". Love the beauty and heritage of the Southern States. God bless America!

[@theyfaceeast]

@@johnbeach9884 Amen. Great comment. I clarify "all men are created equal" in my book THEY FACE EAST.

[@williambloodworth8593]

If the war was nor about slavery than why do the secession declarations of most confederate states state the defense of their right to òwn other people as the primary motivation for secession? You lost cause people know that secession is based on a morally indefensible institution so you try to disguise it by claiming states rights. Exactly what other right was in question thar was important enough to shed blood over? Tariffs? You must be joking. 600,000 death over tariffs, sure thing rebs. My ancestors fought for the confederacy and I am ashamed that they fought for a cause as evil as the nazis did.

[@ravenwolf2448]

Agree with Pam on her post. I am not southern by birth but the destruction of monuments honoring there heros sickens me.Really tees me off. A bunch of ignorant people who do what most do and view this threw there own narrow lense. Every event has multiple causes and it's up to the individual to dig into the past with open mind and find facts before placing such single minded blames and hurting a whole culture. I loved history in school and as I grew I learned to question single sources and ..Oh wait you mean the South wasn't the bad guys.

[@kristinmatthew4446]

I'm from Los Angeles, my maternal grandmother was Southern. I have lived in The South for 11 years. I really believe that the people of the South got a raw deal. I'm very sick of the propaganda regarding the South. I choose to live here, because I love it so much. The culture is far better than where I was born and raised, and lived for 42 years.

[@theyfaceeast]

Based on my research and observations, the Civil War was nothing other than the Rise of the Federal Government. Against all odds, the Southern people stood for their beliefs in the words of the United States Constitution, and were willing to die for it. They were conquered, subjugated, and forced to submit to federal government authority over them. Read the Constitution and you can see for yourself how the powers granted to the federal government by the sovereign states were specifically limited in writing. Amendment 10 drove a nail into the federal government's powers. But Lincoln wanted more, and he got it. Now everyone wants the federal government to be their daddy. It wasn't like that prior to 1860.

[@Hotrodford]

@@theyfaceeast the only reason Lincoln freed the slaves was because the war was going badly for the federals and the pressure of the abolitionists. Making slavery an issue was just to galvanize the people of the north and appease the abolitionists and the north was getting tired of the war and violent protests were occurring to end to end the war. The north thought from the beginning the war wouldn’t last long. If the war was truly about slavery like the Yankees and t(r history books would have you believe, why didn’t Lincoln free them right after Sumpter? Why did he wait two years to emancipate them? Lincoln even said something to the effect if he could save the union without freeing any slave he would do it, and if he could saving it by freeing some and leaving others alone he would also do that.

[@googiesfairyfarm4834]

Thank you for defending southern heritage. It infuriates me to see our ancestor’s legacy dishonored and disrespected.

[@EPUEPUEPUEPU]

30% of the souths population was slaves, We can thank the south for helping to end slavery earlier.

[@MountainGyspy]

The South had sense. Something this nation still lacks.

[@theyfaceeast]

The South had sense because the foundation of the South is Jesus Christ and the Bible. That's why the Southern Confederacy land area is known as "The Bible Belt." This nation is now at war against Jesus and Christianity. I heard it again today coming out of a Leftwing Democrat describing the enemy as white Christian nationalism. Hello! The United States of America is built upon a foundation of white Christians, and black Christians, who believed in Jesus. When black Christians begin voting their faith, the Democrat party is no more. You can't be a Christian and vote Democrat to support abortion. Jesus loves children and does not support abortion.

[@Germoney2000]

Thank you. I'm a Northerner who spent several years in the South... Texas, New Orleans and Mississippi... back in the 70's. The Southerners I met were all very friendly. I never understood all this fuss about the monuments. General Lee should never have been removed from his place of honour at Lee Circle in New Orleans. This is Cancel Culture.. plain and simple. Instead of engaging in dialogue, they cancel.

[@markenge9348]

I'm a Northerner, too and have a similar history. I started with Houston in 1969, then back to the farm in Wisconsin, south again to Dallas in '76, then Fairfax, Virginia in '87, back to Dallas in '89, then to New Orleans in '98 and then to rural Mississippi where I've lived ever since. You are what they call a Yankee, but I am what they call a DAMN YANKEE. I'm the one that stayed in the South.🎉 I looked for a confederate flag emoji, but they wouldn't permit one. This is what they offer instead: 🏳️‍🌈

[@Germoney2000]

@@markenge9348 ...and I ended up in Germany... the Southern Part... in 1981 (Bavaria). We also had a war with the North of Germany (Prussia) in the 1800's.

[@RacNredLites]

@@markenge9348 I hear you man. They would never allow us to be proud of our heritage.

[@lightofthejul]

Thank you Germoney , I am A southern woman from a southern and southern boarder state family ! I know that my family ( both sides total sent 14 sons ! Only 3 ever came home alive ( then one died of a prolonged camp illness they called “ camp fever then” ! This gent who is the narrator says “ humanize the south “ I find that ironic as to me southerners , the south , those of us with ancestors need humanizing , they are indeed some of the most “ human “ kindest , most genuinely generous and truly old American as you get anymore. Aldi is ironic that most families who sent their beloved sons , husbands , fathers and brothers out to war never fought to keep or hold slaves ! Oh sons suit in the houses of power might have said that somewhere but only 5 percent of any south white ever had a slave and just wanted to live in sort of side by side peace with the black man & woman ! Hell in my family we called them family because as in many places in the south we had been raised with them , we named our kids after each other the ladies nurses our children and our ladies in turned helped them birth their babies ! There were always a few bad eggs of course but for the most part , if the northern ranks and invaders come to tell us we were all wrong and that we all hated each other I don’t think the whole racial divide works have happened the way it did ! Snd if Lincoln had not implemented an invasion slavery as it was would have died a natural death in a few years after the 1860s ! But then of course he couldn’t have ceased our lands , our.money and could not have rewritten the constitution into a more totalitarian form of government that we are living in now ! We don’t really need humanizing , we need the real truth to be told ! And bye the way my family was from Virginia & Maryland & Tennessee! God bless them and God bless Robert E Lee

[@Germoney2000]

@@lightofthejul I don't think he meant anything derogatory when he said humanize the South. I think he meant (in the eyes of Northerners). Of course, I could be wrong. Anyway, thank you for your time spent in replying.

[@Flyingunz64D]

Surrender means that the history of this heroic struggle will be written by the enemy; that our youth will be trained by Northern school teachers; will learn from Northern school books their version of the War; will be impressed by all the influences of history and education to regard our gallant dead as traitors, and our maimed veterans as fit subjects for derision. Patrick Cleburne

[@FrederickTheAnon14W]

And that's exactly what happened.

[@RacNredLites]

@@Flyingunz64D excellent analogy

[@lightofthejul]

@@Flyingunz64D Cleburne one of the truly great and noble leaders of the south ! 👍❗️❤️

[@1971_happylifedog]

I am a southerner. I was raised by a great grandmother whose own grandmother had lived during the civil war. I was raised to respect my elders and ancestors. We cannot judge the past based on our modern ideas. Unfortunately that seems to be what’s happening today. I recently watched a video made from a recording from the 1940’s of an old gentleman who had fought on the confederate side. He stated that they fought for states rights. Not specifically slavery. Thanks for your video.

[@goldenhawk352]

So you would trust a participant in a historical event rather than a well-educated University student? Obviously you don't appreciate higher education.

[@dianestevenson4996]

​@@goldenhawk352😂😂😂 college kids today are stupid, half don't know their gender🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@LindaGrigsby-rb9zi]

​@@goldenhawk352I would trust someone who lived it. Not some indoctrinated so called professor who doesn't know what a man or a woman is

[@Dark-7070]

Unfortunately historically we have an illiterate society of people that judge the past with limited knowledge of the people and their experiences.

[@Hotrodford]

My gg grandfather was badly wounded at the battle of Fort Donelson and taken prisoner. The doctor that treated him told him he wouldn’t survive and asked him what he wanted for his last meal. He wanted fried chicken and some other things. Well when the doctor checked in on him a few days later he was a lot better and after he was able to heal he was exchanged and released. He went back to his home in Tennessee and found it burnt to the ground by yankee troops. He then joined up with Confederate troops and fought until the end of the war. My dad said when he was a kid back in the early 1940’s the family still had his uniform and rifle in the corner of their cabin in Texas where they moved after the war. I understand he was a sniper in the confederate army.

[@fateagle4life]

I was always told by my dad to never judge the past based off the norms of today. We blame too much without understanding.

[@FaithfulPracticalHomesteading]

I have raised my children the same! -- "We cannot judge the past by looking through the lens of today."

[@southernman5839]

I’m a Southerner and I feel the same way you do. It was shameful to destroy all the Monuments on Monument Avenue in Richmond Virginia. It was a beautiful Avenue and had a lot of tourism . Richmond is paying for it today they lost a lot of tourists. I use to bring my family from Pennsylvania and New York to see Monument Avenue and I can bet a lot of other family did as well. I don’t go to Richmond unless I go to Mechanicsville to visit my brother. I pass through but I never stop. The Avenue was a work of art and they allowed the Avenue to be destroyed.

[@theyfaceeast]

I am thankful I visited Monument Avenue before they tore it all down. I hope my book They Face East becomes widely read so everyone in America can read Chapters 25 and 26 where I document the history of the United States from the birth of Jesus to 1981. Misguided is what Americans have become. Not because people are stupid, but because history cannot be understood when important puzzle pieces are missing from the big picture. Knowing history does not make painful events less painful, but I believe we can all identify ourselves today first as Americans instead of members of various little groups that keep us separated.

[@lamontpearce170]

​@theyfaceeast I think, our federal government, plays the divide and conquer game . As long, as we're, fighting between ourselves . We don't see ,what they are doing to WTP, sadly.

[@RobertAnderson-ow8ne]

Many of the Union dead were shipped via rail or boat back to family and local cemeteries. For the most part, Confederates did not have the logistics or control of the rails and rivers to be able to return their dead to their hometowns. That's why towns , large and small, put up statues to remember their dead sons, brothers, and fathers. Many were buried in mass graves in prison camps or buried where they lay on battlefields or near field hospitals.

[@davedammann741]

We fought between ourselves 160 yrs.ago.Wake up.​@@lamontpearce170

[@smurp1109]

As an old white guy Im all in celebrating the common soldier. Put up statues of them. But….. i understand how it upsets the black population to see statues of leaders of the insurrection. Put those statues in museums. Don’t need to destroy them. Just not in your face. I respect those poor young whites brought into this fight.

[@rrseitz1306]

nice work good words brother...thank you

[@mcarlkv53]

im from northeast but lived in florida for 10 years, been through the south many times...i loved it..loved the monuments, the culture history, and the food of the south...love them baptist churches.....tearing down monuments just stupid and waste of time

[@minavanderleest9493]

Men died. Sons, fathers, husband's, friends. Why wouldn't communities remember their loved ones?

[@chriskule4663]

@minavanderleest9493 Why are they so selective about which contributions should be memorialized? Dismount the memorials and give yourself time to rethink if some things were missed or too likely to embarrass.

[@JohnnyButtons]

The problem today is that history is not taught thoroughly. These younger generations are learning history from Hollywood. They don’t understand that not ALL black folks were enslaved, and not ALL white folks owned slaves. They also need to understand the mindset of that era. I believe only 6 or 7% of Confederate soldiers actually owned slaves, which would’ve been a handful of wealthy Generals and officers. The common Confederate soldier were not fighting in favor of slavery. I think if everyone would read Journals and diaries from that time, they would understand the mindset of the people from that time.

[@theyfaceeast]

I put it all out there in my book THEY FACE EAST including the fact there were more free blacks in the South than there were in the North. I believe we can come together as Americans if we all look at historical facts through the same unfiltered lens.

[@lulumoon6942]

Very timely & measured talk. Words have weight. Grace & respect start with ourselves. 🙏🕊️

[@erobinson988]

I recently visited my ancestors cemetery. The head of the family was a Confederate soldier. While I was standing there my thoughts were that they fought to protect their families and property. Who wouldn't?

[@RacNredLites]

Me too. My family has never been rich. We never owned plantations. We were just dirt farmers.

[@garyackerson738]

As a great grand son of a union veteran I have never held a southern person in contempt. They fought for their believes . I have gotten in arguments about them having Valor and bravery. I hope people that are in power protect all of our monuments. We are all American. You are doing good work sir! Thank you

[@unbreakable7633]

Slavery would have ended with the industrial revolution, as it did in most places that had it (and it still exists in more primitive places like Africa and parts of Asia). But the Civil War was a cure worse than the disease, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. In my opinion, most Southerners, who didn't own any slaves, didn't fight over slavery but over the North's invasion of the South, to defend their homes and families. None of these monuments should be taken down, they remind us of what was lost.

[@ronrobertson59]

My GGG grandfather Henry Hubart Robertson was first captain of Co. B 27th VA infantry the Stonewall brigade. His brother James was in CO. D. On my mom's side my GGG grandfather Thomas E. Browning was a Sgt in Mosby's cavalry. We had no slaves and fought for the south because a foreign army from another state was in our state destroying property and threatening our families. All total nine relatives served in the confederate Army I know of.

[@johnclarke7626]

The South tried to do what the British colonists did: separate from a distant oppressive government. Two percent of Americans owned slaves. Terrible, yes, but no one felt that a war was justified over only that. To begin with, the North had exclusive import/export agreements with Europe, impoverishing the South. Unfair taxes and other tyranny. Slavery would have died out with the advent of horse-drawn agricultural machines that did 20 times the work. I was never taught the real reasons, the details, about the war. And I lived in the Richmond area all my life.

[@judyshepard1425]

I agree with you. I was taught about the war by my father. His family came to SC in 1700’s. He was very proud of his heritage and had descendants that had plantations and yes, slaves. My family has fought in every war beginning with the American revolution. Loved our country and they would probably roll in their graves over all that is going on now.

[@airtow6766]

Glad to see you making new content. You have been an inspiration to me and others to respect and honor our veterans and their final resting places. I have followed your example and made cleaning veteran headstones part of my life's mission to never forget those that gave so much to America.

[@theyfaceeast]

I appreciate you taking up the cause of providing reverent perpetual care for our veterans of the past. The website isn't fully functional yet, but I encourage you to visit ByMemorialDay.com to see where we are going next. And I hope you'll be able to buy a copy of my new book THEY FACE EAST.

[@timothydavis2599]

Those monuments were and are great, the people who took them down and the ones who want them gone are nothing more than a bunch of trash.

[@-sunstar9778]

Yep. The trash, who tore down those historical monuments, are also the "useful idiots" of the Marxist Communists who are trying desperately to destroy America.

[@edwinwise6751]

I never understood why they blew up all those swastikas after ww 2 and didn’t erect statues of Gobbels , or name high schools after hitler and Eichman .

[@RacNredLites]

@@timothydavis2599 they called Southerners prejudiced but the majority of us are not. We are friendly and excepting of everybody. I can definitely say that, as a white woman, I have been discriminated against because of the color of my skin. My ancestors weren’t rich, they were just trying to survive like all their neighbors.

[@schammond8993]

Well done, I hope you will make some more videos on this history to educate folks.

[@Bible-truth-seeker]

I'm from the south and have a past grandfather and a lot of past uncles that fought in the civil war for the south. My family was poor and didn't own slaves neither just to be clear on that. I also have past ancestors that fought in the Revolutionary War also. I don't care what people say about me. I believe in the Bible and treat everybody the same as I want to be treated...left alone.

[@littlehummingbird1015]

I am a descendent of a Confederate soldier...who was called by General Lee to find food for his troops during the seige of Petersburg, Va. My gggrandfather was Pvt. Joseph Wesely Crowder.

[@debbiemartin6473]

I had a great great great grand father from the North that fought for the South. His name was Isaac Lane. My grandmother had a picture of him in his uniform ha going in her living room.

[@georgeearls3338]

What you said in the beginning, I have to disagree with. It may be true in Florida, but necessarily in Tennessee. My ancestors fought on both sides. Some of fighting age did not fight at all. My great grandfather and his father, where both of fighting age, and when the troupes from either side came to conscript people they and many others hid in the cain brakes, while the soldiers from both sides searched for them. Not because of fear, but the need to provide for their families. Some fought for the North, and some fought for the south, from privates on up. One was a Confederate Surgeon. I do agree about Confederate monuments, I don't know the exact reason for them all, but I do know that a great number of them where erected by and for Veterans from both sides, as a means of healing the wounds left from that terrible war. As I study more about this conflict, I find it more and more difficult to fit slavery as the cause of it. Historical facts lead other directions. One being the County I'm from actually voted against succession, and the most outspoken leader of anti succession, was the owner of the largest plantation, with the most slaves. Another is the Black confederate soldiers, made up of both slaves and free Black men. Yes they did exist, and yes they did fight. I know this for one thing the afore mentioned Confederate Surgeon, was assigned to as it was called then, a colored infantry. Slavery may have been used in the north as propaganda, I don't know, but I think it is more due to Hollywood. Confederate Monuments were meant as a healing of a nation, now they are being used as a means of ripping it apart, We all need to study our history, so we know the truth.

[@virginiawilkinson5038]

Even as a northerner I believe you have the right to live free. Every man is a creation of, and for God.

[@sgtmajtrapp3391]

In those days your COUNTRY was your State. Nationalism was not fully known, regions were. If you lived in Florida you may have taken a long trip to Georgia but people did not travel often as they could not readily afford it. Family and friends made up company units and often fought to the death for their family and friends. They did not do this to keep slavery as they try to say, but they have made it a political issue by indicating the south were all racist. The North had racist too. When the political machine in the north grew tired of these horrible casualties and many indicated JUST LET THEM GO ,(CSA) Lincoln came up with two noble causes why we should not allow the south to separate . It was to preserve the union and free the slaves. He also instituted a draft. When New York heard this THEY WERE GOING TO SUCCEED from the union saying " we are not going to fight for the darkies". As you pointed out it took an amendment much later to actually end slavery.

[@RacNredLites]

American by birth. Southern by the grace of God

[@AmandaSandefur-i8r]

@@RacNredLites yes

[@LauraMetz-qv7kl]

My parents parents came from Germany. My grandfather served in ww1 and my dad served in ww2. I am safe from any skeletons in my genealogy. Love your video. Truth needs to be spoken and taught.

[@DianeRhodes-k9e]

I am disgusted by the disrespect of the southern soldiers and Christopher Columbus etc. I believe it is all about the squeaky wheel gets the grease. I want to think and hope that most people do respect these heroes of the past. We need to make sure that our children are educated NOT indoctrinated

[@candyhr4152]

My ggg aunt had a memorial built for her father Charles Fisher in Rowan County N C. It was removed. It was built for the dead. Removing it was shameful.😢❤

[@johnchambers427]

I'm from Carter County Tennessee. And my 2nd great grandfather fought for the north and his brother in law fought for the south. It's crazy how they both were from the same place and fought for different sides. May the south rise again.✌️

[@theyfaceeast]

I enjoy listening to Civil War expert Shelby Foote. Asked who he would have fought for, he didn't hesitate sharing that he would have fought for Mississippi as a Confederate soldier. Tennessee was occupied by Union armies early in the war, so I'm betting the presence of Union forces played a significant role in Tennessee men putting on a blue uniform. I would love to go back in time to 1862 so I could ask soldiers on both side why they chose to wear a blue uniform, or a gray uniform. I bet their answers would surprise us.

[@charlesfritz7131]

​​@@theyfaceeastthe pronunciation of Resaca is re sack a. It's just up the road from where I am from.

[@Hotrodford]

Remember a lot of union soldiers were from foreign countries. That’s how they resupplied their forces. Many were mercenaries.

[@theyfaceeast]

You are correct. I put some supporting population statistics in my book THEY FACE EAST. I want to see statistics of the Union ranks based on immigration status and religious beliefs. I heard about the potato famine in Ireland and how Irish people immigrated to America by the millions between 1840 and 1860. What I didn't hear was that Ireland is predominately Catholic, which means those Irish immigrants were Catholic stepping off onto the Protestant shores of America. The Catholic Church kicked my ancestors out of Salzburg, Austria. It was extremely ugly what they did to my people who became known as Salzburgers. I bet money no Catholic was welcome in Ebenezer, Georgia after what they had done to the Salzburgers. Same goes for the rest of the South which was almost across the board Protestant. Do not underestimate the power of religion.

[@serahloeffelroberts9901]

I heard a lot of Union recruiters actually met the Irish immigrant ships and enlisted the Irish as they disembarked. Many of the Irish couldn't even speak English but spoke their native Gaelic.

[@theyfaceeast]

@@serahloeffelroberts9901 I have heard this as well, but I haven't researched it. It makes sense thought, because a broke poor Irishman would have welcomed a signing bonus, monthly salary, and three meals a day.

[@Occupied_South]

Proud daughter of the Confederacy here. I'll defend my people as long as I draw breath. It was a just cause and ever will be.

[@rusticrichmusic]

Agreed!

[@hutchwd]

Those men fought for the same reason there Grandfathers had fought.( TAX'S ) Lincon invaded the south, he was for federally controlled banking where as the founding fathers were not.

[@RacNredLites]

I call that war “the war of Northern aggression”. To the victors go history because the victors are the ones who write history. I believe there was much much more to that war than any of us know.

[@cuchulain1647]

2:50 You’re looking at it wrong. They didn’t think they were “separating” from the United States, they felt they were preserving the individual liberties and the system of government that was founded with the revolution of 1776. - ( yes I understand the hypocrisy involved with the idea that they were fighting for individual liberties and states rights while simultaneously perpetuating a slave based economy, but that’s life and humanity isn’t it??? Filled with hypocrisy and so many times two opposing things are true simultaneously. - Pax Vobiscum.

[@JessyJeffers]

History is history.....good or bad. It should be embraced not erased. History shapes our identity. I'm a proud southener and blue or Grey they were americans fighting for what they believed. It was a different time and different political and social atmosphere then. Just because we don't like what was happening then is not who we are today. Destroying statues can't erase the past.....it's an insult to those who fought for what they believed. Freedom comes at a price and they paid. Honor them they were americans!

[@tomjeffersonwasright2288]

People in the North were rioting against paying for a losing economic war against Southern manufacturing. So the war was marketed to the taxpayers as a moral crusade against slavery, which succeeded, for the most part. When the war was totally ended, there was still legal slavery in parts of Kentucky and Delaware.

[@joshwells4280]

New Jersey was the last state to get rid of slavery. They waited until the 19th amendment passed

[@serahloeffelroberts9901]

The people of the North were also angry that the wealthy could buy their way out of the draft. New York City was almost burned to the ground as a result of the draft riots. Many people were killed by mobs.

[@thejoyofthelordismystrengt8325]

Trae, my family has been in this country since 1634. I have family that fought in every conflict since before our independence. I researched and had family fighting on both the South and the North. I am proud of all my relatives on both sides , they believed in their cause. Great video

[@theyfaceeast]

We are probably cousins! I trace my ancestors back to 1631 Boston and 1634 Maine. I too am proud of all warriors who are willing to fight for a cause they feel strongly enough about to die for. Soldiers do their duty. They do not want war. They do not want to kill others. I am in awe of how members of the military are able to do the things they do.

[@sharonh.harris1924]

I love genealogy and history and have been able to trace family back to the very beginnings of this country. Most of my family, on both sides, lived within a 300 mile radius of where I live now in upstate SC. My husband's family too. We have stories like this in our family. I have traced dozens and dozens of family ancestors who fought/wounded/POW/died in the War of Northern Aggression. A War that never had to happen except for the obstinacy and greed of politicians like Abraham Lincoln who did NOT free the slaves in HIS country. He made a proclamation of freedom for slaves only in the Confederate States of America which was not HIS country at the time. It was merely a political move. He refused to discuss peace with the CSA delegates before Fort Sumter. He refused to even see them. When I went to Washington DC and saw the huge Lincoln Memorial I wanted to spit. That offends ME! But, like you said, most of them fought because of the tyranny of the federal government AND for their families, farms, communities and friends. I did have one family line that lived in Western NC mountains on the border of Tennessee. All nine sons and 4 son-in-laws fought on one side or the other or both. The ones that first went, joined the Confederacy but when their father got sick and died in the summer of 1862, some deserted and then decided to cross the border to Tennessee and joined the Union army and fought on that side. Some were never heard from again so we don't know which side they died for. Some were POWs and some were wounded. But that entire family was ripped apart and lost everything. What's happening in WNC and ETN right now after Hurricane Helene was about what the whole South looked like after the War. And those war memorials and monuments for the South, and their dead, were not paid for by the USA government. They were paid for by subscriptions and donations by Southern families who had lost their loved ones, their farms and livelihoods, communities and self government. The ReConstruction was almost as bad as the War. So for them to give their pennies, nickles, dimes and dollars to something like that was a big deal in a southern community and town. The United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of Confederate Veterans often led those commemorative events and paid for those monuments. So for them to be vandalized and removed is stealing and shameful. That would be like someone going to your mother's grave and stealing her headstone. Let's put it this way, the victor - the US government - did not put up monuments with tax dollars, for the rebels. Those were done by private donation drives and by their communities and states. They were done to memorialize husbands, sons, brothers, fathers, grandfathers who died fighting for their families, friends, neighors, communities from a tyrannical government. Ninety percent of both our families didn't own slaves. That was a non-issue to them. The issue was the federal government having too much control and using it to penalize and punish the Southern states for purely economical reasons. Slavery was the hot button issue but that was the tip of the iceberg that gets all the attention. But the problems we are having now with the US federal government and it's overeach and tyranny is the same thing they were fighting against in 1861-1865. According to the US Constitution, sovereignty was reserved for the states and the Southern states were being penalized by the US government so each state elected delegates and they attended conventions and democratically VOTED to secede from the Union which was their right. Since we lost the War, the states are no longer sovereign and we have to do whatever the federal government tells us to do or else. We have no recourse. If we aren't happy with our government what can we do about it? We are seeing this today! Even voting is fraudulent and manipulated so we have no remedy when the majority of us don't like what's happening. For instance the border issue. I don't think the majority of our citizens want the border open and millions of people coming in on taxpayer dollars when our own citizens aren't taken care of. And the border states like Texas, Florida, California, etc were not protected by the US government. The US government forced them to allow all these millions of invaders into the country and now they are flooding all the states. But, although the majority of US citizens who vote don't like it, we have no recourse, no protection. There is nothing we can do. The federal government has all the power and they wield it as they wish and by greedy politicians in Washington. If you have a lot of people in your state, you get the most say and have the most power. Just like back then. We had more slaves than white people in the deep Southern states and they weren't counted so we were at a disadvantage in representation in Washington, DC. With less representatives in the House and Southern congressmen having less power, it was a power handicap. Let's say Texas wanted to secede from the Union today. The US government has NOT protected the citizens of Texas, their land or their livelihoods. Rather it has forced Texas to open the borders and state citizens to pay for the influx of illegals until they leave the state. According to our Constitution, one of the whole reasons for establishing a federal government was for mutual protection but it has allowed an invasion of Texas so Texas might want to secede and close their borders. But they can't. Because guess who has all the big guns? So we are at the mercy of big government just like the South was in 1861. Anyway, you talked some truth but those who don't want to hear it, won't listen. And there is nothing we can do but try to educate our own families and friends.

[@SandfordSmythe]

Lincoln held the offer of peace with slaves up to the Emancipation Proclamation . The EP was only valid in a war zone as martial law.

[@erobinson988]

As a Southerner on my father's side my ancestors fought in the revolutionary war and civil war. I recently found my family's Confederate grave yard in Georgia. Also fought in the 1812 war.

[@RacNredLites]

I’ve traced my family back to Georgia before they came to Alabama

[@erobinson988]

@@RacNredLites I had some family in Blount County AL

[@RacNredLites]

@@erobinson988 I’m not that far from Blount. That is such a beautiful place up there. My mom‘s family was from Bibb county and my dad‘s family was from Chilton County.

[@nitamay3534]

Hello there! I am from Alabama, and I must say that I have not personally witnessed any racism in my immediate surroundings. I am grateful that I was not raised in a racist household. I am a new subscriber to your channel and I thoroughly enjoy your videos. Thank you for sharing them with us.

[@theyfaceeast]

I love your comment! Thank you. Racism makes zero sense. We are all God's children, equal in His eyes, so why do we need to prejudge our fellow man? Americans are being brainwashed to divide and conquer us.

[@johanchastain]

I really like the video, I'm a life member of the s.c.v. my kin folks during the war of Northern aggression were from Missouri. I have ancestors from both sides.

[@theyfaceeast]

Thank you. As generations go by, more and more Americans have ancestors on both sides of the Civil War due to our population migrating all over the United States and finding spouses descending from the other side. I happen to be 100% Southern, but some of my ancestors migrated from Boston and New Hampshire to the South between 1631 and 1820. My child on the other hand is not 100% Southern, because I married a girl far from the South while in the Navy. I have tried desperately to find a Confederate soldier in my wife's family tree, but no luck so far. She did have ancestors in North Carolina before the Civil War, but they had migrated to Illinois by way of TN and KY before 1860. One of my wife's 3rd great grandfathers was conscripted into the Union Army in Illinois only to die of disease while in boot camp. He is buried in a national cemetery in Illinois.

[@thereformedpiper]

Amazing message!! Great and true history. Dont listen to the haters. They are amatuer historian tropes who know nothing of primary documents or critical thought. And yes! Turning back to Christ is the answer

[@ironbrigade6872]

Great video. I’m a Son of the South. One issue that angers me. Many if not all of the Confederate monuments were funded by the people of the South not the government. Who gives these radical groups the authority to remove or destroy Confederate monuments?

[@theyfaceeast]

You bring up a very good point. I truly believe that if those people seeking to tear down monuments would watch my video and read my book, They Face East, they would realize they are viewing these monuments in the light of a false narrative. Personally, after all I've discovered and documented in my book, I think the Confederate monuments are simply serving as a distraction from a truth deeply worse than what people realize. But I put it all in Chapters 25 and 26, including the six flags of slavery on the North American Continent, none of which were the Confederate battle flag. The image of those six flags on one page is going to shock people to their core. And then there is Talbot. I found him in the Old City Cemetery in Lynchburg, VA. Talbot was a black Union soldier, United States Colored Troops (USCT). He must have been captured, taken prisoner, and died in one of the Confederate hospitals in Lynchburg. That fact alone defies the narrative that he was being cared for as a POW. Immediately after the surrender at Appomattox, the United States federal government, Union Army, comes to Lynchburg to retrieve all Union soldiers for proper burial in a national cemetery. They dug up all 187 white Union soldiers and transported them to a national cemetery near Norfolk. But they left Talbot. Talbot is still there, with the Confederate dead. I think I'm the first person who has put the puzzle together and shared it with the American people.

[@carywest9256]

This "WOKE"society wouldn't believe you even if you were Jesus Christ. They are minions of a doomed faction, and will pay for it in the end! That's all l have to say about that.

[@SandfordSmythe]

On public property with a sufficient number of the local public objecting. Don't blame this, as usual, on radical Yankees.

[@attackfive8659]

As an African-American, I respect this man - what he's doing, and how he’s doing it. I respect his tone, the content of his material, and above all his emotional balance. That said, we can't disconnect the Confederacy - or its monuments - from the fight to preserve slavery. Every single ordnance of secession - one per Southern State, 11 in all - declared unequivocally that secession was chiefly a fight to preserve slavery, and the social order predicated on it. Everyone - the privates, the generals, the politicians- understood that, and we can't airbrush that away. I don't see how one can celebrate with statues the resoundingly brave and dedicated men who fought the war from the stated cause they fought for, and embraced. Nonethelss this man is my Brother in Christ! Our America would be a much better place with more people like him. God bless him, and I look forward to more material from him!

[@flatcat6676]

You are mistaken about all 11 of the Confederate states placing the preservation of slavery as the primary reason for their secession. Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Arkansas all made it clear that they were seceding due to Lincoln's decision to try to coerce the seven states that had initially left union following his election in 1860. The pro-secession factions who issued declarations of independence in Kentucky & Missouri read very much the same as those of VA, TNA, NC, and AR. They all correctly recognized that if Lincoln and his faction were successful in using military force to bring those states back under the jurisdiction of the federal government it would be the destruction of the old, voluntary constitutional union of states. Such a victory would make the federal government in Washington a sovereign over the states and the people, rather than a tool and a servant as it was originally intended. Of course, the controversies over slavery were very much the tinder & spark that caused the rupture between the north and the South, but the "Cause" of the war on both sides was whether or not the United States would continue to be a voluntary union of states or become a consolidated nation state ruled by DC with the individual states relegated to be mere administrative appendages of the central government. To my view, the extreme dysfunction within our country that we see today is in large part the poisoned fruit of Lincolns victory. That said, the eventual collapse & abolition of the chattel slave system as a result of the war was an absolute moral good. If we, as a country, can eventually restore the true and original federal order where the general government is subservient to the states & the people, rather than acting as a sovereign master, then perhaps we will finally have a country where all men are equal before the law as citizens, not subjects. Time will tell, I suppose.

[@theyfaceeast]

I appreciate your comment, and yes, we are Brothers in Christ! If you do choose to read my book THEY FACE EAST, I would be interested to know if any of what I present is new to you.

[@rt3box6tx74]

Perhaps H K Edgarton can help you.

[@josht3125]

It wasn’t an issue until a few years ago, I’ve spent my entire life living in the north outside of my time in service and I think we as a country do a very poor job explaining the war. Or explaining the power it gave the federal government over all people that was never intended by the founders, which is precisely why the war happened in the first place.

[@danielsimmons7397]

I'm glad that I'm not the only person who's able to understand how much of a huge power grab that war was for the Federal Government. It was more for power, and tax dollars than anything else, and slavery was only brought into the picture by Lincoln (the same person who advocated Indefinite Slavery through the Corwin Amendment) to keep Europe away.

[@TaxTheChurches.]

It wasn't the federal government who forced 92% of southern boys to fight for the rights of plantation owners to force free labor from people.

[@theyfaceeast]

Amen. We need to tell it like it was, so we can all come grips with it. Slavery is an ugly story, so why tell it half way. Historians have not created harmony by suppressing historical truth. Ulysses S. Grant was a slave owner. It is a fact, so stop telling the BS story about how Grant worked side by side with his slave as if Grant and his slave were equals in the field. Why not be candid and truthful? I mean seriously, it has been 159 years. Why is history being hidden, suppressed, and skewed?

[@arrowhead455]

I appreciate your story! My grandmother was thoughtful enough to tell me about our family through the 1800’s. My kin is from the Tennessee and Kentucky state line, from Murray to Clarksville. I’m old enough to remember when this country was a melting pot. That’s gone. The problem we have today is the corporate interests peddling the divisive narrative through cell and wifi airwaves 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They don’t take a break. They’re relentless. All with the goal of keeping the population at its own throat. We are focused on the image of the floating head, not the man behind the green curtain working the controls. Power is too centralized. It needs to be divided up among the states. Term limit, one and done. Massive increase in representation. It’s time for the oligarchy, 50 year political hijacks, and lobbyism to come to a close. Can’t afford the corruption anymore. If these things don’t happen through law, it’s going to happen through chaos. It pains me to no end that people are gullible enough to be swayed by our low-brow “news networks” spinning the corporate propaganda. My fear is that we’ll have an ignorant civil war instead of a peaceful decentralization or well thought out revolution, much like the one that founded this country.

[@theyfaceeast]

Good comment. Hillary Clinton labeled conservative protectors of the Constitution as deplorables. She lost. The label this time is nazis. I might call someone a communist if they believe in communism, or a socialist if they believe in socialism. But to use the derogatory label of nazi to describe patriotic protectors of our American way of life, many of whom are believers in Jesus Christ, is downright hate speak. People should emphatically reject that kind of rhetoric.

[@telbon8869]

​@@theyfaceeast EXCELLENT, COGENT PRESENTATION!! BRAVO!!

[@zenever0]

@@theyfaceeast 🇷🇺has got you hooked, link and sinker, friend.

[@marcusaurelius9631]

I've been saying these exact same things about Confederate monuments for years. Nobody cares about the realities of the human cost of the war. But that is why they were erected. Not to tout white supremacy over black people. That is a lie. I think your video does a good job pleading the case for empathy, and togetherness. Thank you fo making it.

[@blumobean]

My family, just tracing back from son to father, has fought for this country before it was a country. Family first in Virginia in 1610 and fought Indians. Fought in the Revolution and most every war since. In the War Between the States we lost 3 sons. I am not ashamed of my Confederate roots. I am proud of them. With the condition of the country, more people could use a little Rebel in them.

[@sepperD3]

As for my family they fought for the south and were fairly prominent Southerners , and the fact that my ancestors are looked down on because of fake social justice and victim hood for profit really gets to me I wish we could take our country back and be proud of who we are

[@michaelendres6553]

Most of my tribe and also the five civilized tribes fought for the Confederacy

[@goodmeasure777]

They had no choice.

[@lzcontrol]

@@goodmeasure777 No. They did. They fought on that side.

[@robertusoff928]

General Stand Watie was the last Confederate general to surrender. Great Cherokee leader!

[@michaelendres6553]

Pleasant Porter was a mvskoke chief and a captain in the Confederacy

[@richiephillips1541]

The decades long liberal anti-Southern brainwashing has been extremely effective. It would be laughable if were not so successful. It's pathetic and shameful that my local radio station, in the Deep South, which plays nothing but Christmas music from Thanksgiving week on through Christmas day, refuses to play "Christmas in Dixie" by the band Alabama. The song's message is 100% good wishes and Christmas love, but because they've successfully made the word (and idea of) "Dixie" into a dirty, shameful word in the mind of the gullible, Kool Aid drinking public (even to most young Southerners), it is considered unacceptable to the radio station. They've successfully declared an entire geographical region as "tainted" and "dirty" and "shameful". This country is in a steep decline.

[@theyfaceeast]

If you have a Southern accent, your ancestors were Christians and fought against the rise of the federal government as Confederate soldiers and sailors. It is that simple. Those who conquered the South have stayed on course with their mission to snuff out Southern will for 159 years. It is difficult to defeat that constant bashing when people forget where they came from within three generations.

[@Teekey90]

My great great great great grandfather was a Union Soldier that died as a POW in Andersonville Prison Camp. He was captured at Battle of the Wilderness. It'd be easy for me to use that fact as justification to demonize anything to do with The Confederacy. Yet, as I get older and learn more it actually has had the opposite effect, by understanding that the loss his family felt, and that I feel to some degree, is present for countless Americans throughout the South that have a similar story in their family tree.

[@royrunyon1286]

Missouri was a civil war within the Civil War. A fictionalized account of a Confederate partisan ranger outfit operating in Missouri and Kansas is brilliantly portrayed in the film "Ride With the Devil" by Ang Le.

[@sharonlain5830]

That movie gives me chills. It feels so real. That’s where my family came from … Missouri. Jackson, Cass, Johnson county. Dad found belt buckles, buttons from a uniform buried near the creek at our home. Dad said it was called the Battle of the Ravines.

[@charliejackson922]

I think what most people don't realize is that prior to the civil war most people never traveled more than 20 miles from the place that they were born. So what they grew up and lived around was all that they knew

[@stevenmcgillivray9283]

It's comical how Individuals who have been dead over a 100 years triggers some morons, it's just ludicrous.

[@southronreactionary8146]

God Bless Dixie!!!

[@johnmorganjr769]

🇸🇴

[@mike3020]

STAY SOUTHERN YA'LL

[@JamesPrudhomme-c2i]

Shreveport was where the Confederate hospitals were at..I am going to walk our beautiful graveyards..My family did fight in the Confederate war,also the Revolutionary War also..

[@theyfaceeast]

I didn't realize how many battles were fought in Louisiana. I bought a UCV membership certificate for a Confederate veteran dated 1891 and he wrote a list of the battles he fought in on the left side. He was a member of the 15th Texas Infantry Regiment.

[@cavscout62]

If you want to understand the history of this country you have to understand Actual History and the Lies surrounding the War For Southern Independence. The first step in that is Accepting The Fact that the Winners Write The “History” Narrative.

[@rwpintx]

My Southern ancestors had a similar experience, and my Genealogy research led me to discover similar stories and visit similar cemeteries and learn similar historical details. I visited the monument at Camp Douglas in Chicago, at the mass grave (the largest in the Western hemisphere) for the Confederate POWs buried there. My Great, Great GrandUncle is buried there; he was a schoolteacher and left behind a young widow with two babies. The scars of such losses run deep, through many generations; and the monuments to the memories of the dead are sacred. “Cancel culture” is sheer ignorance, depravity, and thinly veiled Maoism.

[@useyourbrain1539]

Loyalty to State was the norm of the day. Few understood DC as something to even be loyal to.

[@zenever0]

You can look at southern areas like the Gullah Sea Islands, Key West, West Virginia, State of Scott in Tennessee, East Tennessee, areas all along the Appalachian Mountains, Free State of Jones in Mississippi, North Alabama and North Georgia, Western North Carolina, resisting secession or how New Orleans was “captured” without resistance, all prove that people didn’t have state loyalties. Many Southern soldiers remained loyal to the Union when their states seceded; 40% of Virginian officers in the United States military, for example, stayed with the Union. During the war, many Southern Unionists went North and joined the Union armies. Others joined when Union armies entered their hometowns in Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana, and elsewhere. Around 100,000 Southern Unionists served in the Union Army during the Civil War. The 1st Alabama Calvary USV spearheaded Sherman’s March through Atlanta.

[@useyourbrain1539]

@zenever0 That means 60% of Virginia in the US military went South. Your list of Southern territory that remained loyal to the North doesn't occupy a lot of territory. The Confederacy failed over one million men in those four years, a hundred thousand going North left nine hundred thousand + being loyal to their States. Imagine a million men, most of who have traveled one hundred miles from home, and you believe they've some taught loyalty to a city they've only heard bad things about? If loyalty to DC was so prevalent, why'd these men fight so hard against it?

[@craiglewis4633]

Great video! I sincerely hope these types of messages continue to get out and instill a sense of normalcy again and an appreciation of ACTUAL American history which is much more interesting. I do want to correct one misconception contained within your video. As a native Virginian, the fracturing of families was much more prevalent than your perspective. Earlier in my life, it was often referred to as the war of “Brother against Brother”. I believe this was both a literal and figurative description of the war. Many prominent examples come to mind without any in-depth research: (1) Stonewall Jackson’s sister (Laura Anne) disowned him and remarked at his death, “would rather know that he was dead than to have him a leader in the rebel army”. (2) JEB Stuarts father-in-law (Major General Philip St. George Cooke - the father of the US Calvary) was a union calvary officer. (3) At the Battle of Malvern Hill, a union Sergeant Driscoll took aim at a rebel officer and killed him, upon inspecting to ensure the officer was dead it was his son. (4) When the Union ship the Harriet Lane was captured at the Battle of Galveston by Confederate forces, Confederate Major Albert Lea boarded the ship to find his mortally wound son, Captain Edward Lea - who died in his arms. Undoubtedly there are examples of actual brothers fighting against each other, but as I noted this is what I can recall from memory but does demonstrate the fracturing of immediate families.

[@theyfaceeast]

You are correct that there were instances of family members divided. The point I'm trying to make in this video is that it was not as prevalent as a novice of the Civil War might conclude based on hearing the phrase Brother vs. Brother. The vast majority of those who fought during the Civil War fought for the side in which they lived. I do not have a specific percentage to stand on, but let's assume 15% of soldiers had a family member on the opposing side. That would mean 85% did not. Throwing around the phrase Brother vs. Brother leads people to think 100% of soldiers had a close family member on the other side. This is extremely misleading, because it makes people believe 50% of Americans loved slavery and chose the Southern side while 50% of Americans wanted to free the slaves choosing to take sides with the good guys North. While Brother vs. Brother doesn't seem at face value to be propaganda, it absolutely is in fact propaganda when you peel back the onion and look at the numbers. The Civil War was complex. It cannot be simplified into a one page narrative of good guys vs bad guys. I set out to understand why my people were the bad guys. What I found was a different story, so I wrote the book THEY FACE EAST.

[@craiglewis4633]

@@theyfaceeast I followed you until you stated that “Brother-against-Brother” was propaganda. I assert that it accurately describes the Civil War and aids in helping the “novice” understand the complexities of that war. As I noted in my first post, it is a literal and figurative description of the war. Admittedly, there was no “literal” widespread brother versus brother, but it did happen. Conversely, the norm was for relatives who lived on opposing sides of the Mason-Dixon Line and former “Brothers-in-Arms” to fight on opposing sides. Just ten years prior, nearly all of the senior officers on both sides of the war fought together in the Mexican-American War. This fact cannot be disputed, nor can the fact that the bonds forged in combat are often stronger than blood relations. Families and friendships were deeply fractured during the war. Many individuals reluctantly chose their allegiance, pitting them against family, friends, and former comrades. The phrase "Brother-against-Brother" serves as a literal and figurative representation of the essence and fabric of the American Civil War. As Americans, we should all view the Civil War as a family affair. Just like any family - you fight, get over it, learn from it, and become stronger afterward. Lastly, I cannot thank you enough for preserving the headstones of our veterans. A remarkably selfless act that honors our veterans and their sacrifice to our nation. Keep up the great work!

[@theyfaceeast]

@@craiglewis4633 Your comment is solid and I do not disagree. My main objective is to help people to do their own research and reach their own conclusions. I want to shake the fake history foundations that exist within the minds of Americans who have only been exposed to the narrative. If someone reviews all the facts in chronological order, does their own fact checking, and decides, "Yep, it happened just like they say it did," then that's okay. I went into my ancestry adventure with a clean slate open mind seeking to understand why my Southern ancestors were such bad people. Keep in mind that I've seen the grand hall at Harvard where alumni who died as Union soldiers are immortalized with reverence. The Harvard alumni who died Confederate soldiers are not mentioned, as if they didn't exist, as if they were somehow less worthy of remembrance at their own school. A similar observance is at West Point Military Academy where they still display captured Confederate cannons displayed in a circle buried barrels down. How does this feel to a Southern young man or young woman who volunteers to serve their country only to arrive at a UNITED STATES OF AMERICA campus where they celebrate the subjugation of their ancestors. Obviously, I am influenced by descending from Southern people, but why is it that Southern people are expected to move on, or as you described "get over it" while it remains okay for non-Southerners to push a narrative that disparages Southerners? This is a conversation I hope to open with this video and my book THEY FACE EAST.

[@SteveAubrey1762]

My ancestor fought in the 1st Florida Infantry, company E, CSA. Ill be DAMNED if I wont honour my ancestors.

[@theyfaceeast]

If you found one ancestor who was a Confederate soldier, you will find hundreds more if you build out your family tree. When you find a military age male born in a Southern state 1820 to 1846 just search their name at FOLD3.com. You will have to use other other sites such as Ancestry.com, Findagrave.com, and Newspapers.com to confirm identity as there will be multiple men with the same name. There are clues within various documents that can narrow the list of Confederate soldiers to your family member. For example, you may confirm your family member in the 1850 Census or the 1860 Census living in a specific county in Georgia. Compare the enlistment locations of the men and many times you can exclude one or more men simply because they enlisted at a location too distant from where they were living in 1860. Other times the match is easy with all locations and dates fitting perfectly with one specific Confederate soldier's enlistment records.

[@ronaldarmstead2521]

This conversation needs to be had. I empathize and understand about those monuments for a long time. I grew up seeing the Soldier statue in Alexandria VA in the middle of the street and never felt bothered by it..I believe I have the proper perspective on the war of northern aggression. I think I'm balanced. I'm glad the south lost. At the same time I curse slavery it was wrong to keep the unionn by force. I understand those men fought for their state the sovereign at that time wasn't the federal government.

[@mwilliamson8072]

You can be sure that brother fought brother in the mountains and in the border states! There are too many examples to list, but one is my own Western North Carolina family.

[@rusticrichmusic]

Yes, that is a fact! They did fight against each other.

[@edouardrobert160]

Thanks for your insight

[@Alan-lv9rw]

Judging people back then by today’s standards is preposterous.

[@WJAlexander-o6t]

My mother's grandparent's generation experienced the Battle of Marianna, where they lived then, and still do. (Marianna, Florida).

[@GaryFougere-zj7hf]

Excellent video, thanks. I am a Canadian and spent the summer of 2024 around Virginia, WV, N. Carolina, and TN., mostly at old time music festivals, and I concur, this music did not come from mean spirits. I have had false impressions about the attitudes of the southern whites, thanks in part to songs like Neil Young’s Southern Man, but I think there were a lot of people making money from that cotton, including the merchants of those slave ships, who were all from the north apparently, and regular folks would not have had any say in what the wealthy did with their capital.😮

[@theyfaceeast]

Descendants of African slaves have a sad yet rich history. But the reality is that it was actually WORSE, more disturbing, than the accepted fake history narrative. I put it all out there in my new book THEY FACE EAST, because I believe all Americans need to know what really happened. What they did, and continue to do, was pin the entire issue of slavery on the Southern people, sweep it under the rug, and move on with black voters in tow. Sort of like, "Hey we're the good guys, vote with us." But look at the black population in the Northern states over time up until 1860. The population growth rate is stagnant in the North, but growing organically in the South. Remember the importation of African slaves was banned in the Constitution. The difference in black population growth rate is because the Northern people were not freeing their slaves when their states ended slavery. The Northern people were selling their slaves south! The population numbers don't lie. It's a sick fact in America's history that will no longer be suppressed at the expense of Southerners.

[@joanyow7952]

One of the saddest stories concerns a Georgia cotton mill. The workers were women and men too old for the war. The mill was burned, and the women were sent to northern prisons. They died from disease and starvation

[@georgetheobold4973]

Exactly,,I fight for Virginia Sir..States. And your right As it say on A Monument in Gettysburg. PEACE IN A NATION UNITED,,WAR IN A NATION DIVIDED ❤ God Bless you tell The Truth...

[@ringokidd387]

In two major elections during the 1850s over 2/3 of the Southern People of the Southern Nation voted against slavery hands down!

[@zenever0]

Slavery in the south was VERY COMMON. Confederate enlisted volunteers in 1861 were 42% more likely to own slaves themselves or to live with family members who owned slaves than the general population. More than 50% of Confederate commissioned officers in 1861 owned slaves, and none of them lived with family members who were slaveholders. 25% of southern households enslaved people. In some states like Mississippi, 50% of households had at least one enslaved person. Enslaving a person in the American South was as common as it is today to own a second car.

[@ringokidd387]

@zenever0 BULLSHIT! LIBERAL!

[@stephenlancisi9087]

Isn't the story of war always the same? Young men fighting for a cause they were convinced they needed to be a part of. So southern civil war monuments aren't about glorifying slavery but to honor the sacrifice of young men who died for believing what the wealthy planters and politicians convinced them to believe was the real issue. "The war of northern aggression". Back then your state was your country and you were called on to defend it with your life. A little side note. Who do you think benefited from the southern cotton? The northern textile industry.

[@chriskule4663]

European textile industry, using white yeomanry, with capital accumulated in trade, commercialization of slave trade with coIonized holdings in North America and the West Indies. Only possible with technological developments in sea transport as a byproduct of the Crusades of earlier eras.

[@goldenhawk352]

@@chriskule4663 What were the colonized holdings in North America that had a significant impact on the textile industry?

[@chriskule4663]

@@goldenhawk352 None that I know of. Shall I research the question you've risen, or would you rather call a friend?

[@goldenhawk352]

@@chriskule4663 I'd be happy if you just left your comment that I responded to alone, rather than hiding it from the readers. Now do some research. Me and my friends are going to do some catfish noodling while we wait for the results.

[@georgeearls3338]

You are correct on the mentality of the people. A state back then, and even sometimes now, was it's own country. Meaning we where citizens of the United Countries. It has been said that Robert E. Lee was a traitor, no he after much anguish decided to fight for his country, Virginia.

[@SandfordSmythe]

I would, too, if my wealth and influential family lived there

[@roberthubal6278]

The so called lower Northern states that had slavery were hostile to abolition. Maryland, in which D. C. Resides was very much a southern state. So in reality the Northern capital was in confederate territory.

[@joshwells4280]

Maryland wanted to hold a vote to secede so Lincoln had them locked in a building so they couldn't hold the vote. One of his many tyrannical acts

[@Longhorn-s7z]

We look to the past and judge people by, our standards, or lack thereof today. I wonder if our ancestors would be rightfully appalled, if they could have seen our institutions of murdering babies in the mothers womb, legalizing homosexuality and other perversions, so common today. I think they would.

[@theyfaceeast]

Our ancestors could have never envisioned what our generations have allowed to happen to the country we inherited.

[@Longhorn-s7z]

@@theyfaceeast AMEN!

[@gregleonard7391]

Very well done. You are correct about duty. I discovered my great grandfather had writen a book EXPERIENCES OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER OF THE CIVIL WAR. You can find it on line. He talks about after the war his best friend was a soldier from the south and they wondered the country together after the war. We have more in common than not. Its the current political greed that wants to divide us. We must stay united.

[@lamontpearce170]

Sadly the government plays the divide and conquer game. And sadly we keep falling for it.

[@Nicholas-mi2vt]

Brother vs brother is true if you lived in a border state.

[@charlesdyer5348]

This brings me back to when I worked in a cemetery when I was a teenager. Mowing,contemplating life and death.The time that old guy ran over a yellow jacket nest exclaimig "they stung my privates!".Or the time the ground wouldn't support a backhoe so we had to dig a grave by hand.Days of valor,my friend.

[@theyfaceeast]

I share my thoughts on cemetery maintenance and the wonderful people who perform such noble work in my book THEY FACE EAST.

[@celticbarbarian6680]

Don't disrespect my Kinfolk in this holler.

[@helenlayton1455]

Thank you from Mississippi

[@leemarlin9415]

There were men in the union army who had slaves. In 1863 when the emancipation proclamation was presented take note that it only freed slaves in confederate occupied territory. It did not include slaves in southern areas that were occupied by the north. Interesting isn’t it.

[@SandfordSmythe]

The EP was based on martial law powers. Follow that thought.

[@leemarlin9415]

@@SandfordSmythe Not sure what you’re getting at. Military occupying foreign territory is going to be Martial law.

[@Esther23Project]

This broke my heart… The UNTOLD price that’s been payed… if their blood 🩸 didn’t pay the debt many think that’s owed .. I certainly don’t believe money could. Jesus shed his blood all debts are canceled through Him. Thank you Sir this was honest poignant telling of the truth.

[@charlesvickers4804]

Loyalty to his state is exactly why General Lee refused command of the union army. That position was offered to Lee.

[@josemama428]

Look at the country. It’s not even America anymore. Do what you want

[@CharlesGann1]

History is written by the winners and are not open minded on the subject.

[@theyfaceeast]

I agree. However, what I find weird is that some people living today who don't even know if they had a family member in the Civil War will defend the narrative created 159 years ago. I am more interested in knowing what really happened in the past, and why. It's not about creating a narrative, or opinion that I prefer. I didn't do any of it, so I accept whatever I find my ancestors having done, good or bad.

[@southron1861]

For the most part you are correct, however there were four regiments of white North Carolinians that served the Union during the Civil War: the 1st and 2nd North Carolina Union Volunteer Infantry in the Coastal Plain and the 2nd and 3rd North Carolina Union Mounted Infantry in the Mountains. The Union also recruited a black brigade in North Carolina, the African Brigade, which consisted of formerly enslaved people.

[@francesbass1322]

Louisiana also had a Union regiment

[@nanouli6511]

Very sensitive truth about southern families and why they fought. Member of SCV and descent of Ernst Willrodt, Waul's Texas Legion

[@DANIELHOUY]

There is a lot people should understand when they study the time, and the situation the nation was in, and how events transpired as they did. There was a lot of sacrifice, tragedy, and heartache, and it deserves to be remembered, and also to be understood.

[@theyfaceeast]

It truly is a fascinating experience to seek understanding of historical events while gathering puzzle pieces you don't even know are part of the picture you haven't seen with your own eyes.

[@martinm3474]

Spell Tariff, and then you have the start to the South.

[@tinabeam7700]

Trae, thank you for this and I will share it with thousands. My families go back to Jamestowne William Claiborne, couple generations settled Spartenburg area which the plantation is now Croft state park. The SC family in battle of Cowpens which grandpa is now buried in the median of I-85 in Gaffney a Revolution Captain. It was this line that faught in the war between the states, lost many, many wounded but still faught without ceasing to protect the women, children, elders and property. I recently joined the UDC and was elected president, Gods call on my life. I was then nominated and appointed VP of the OCR support of the SCV and through all of these organizations our first duty is preservation of our sacred monuments and graves of veterans. Trae the way you have bridged time and distance to explain the scope of why we faught and still fight to honor our family is the best I've seen. I am asked all the questions you answered in this 28 minute video thank you deeply may God continue to use you as His instrument. Be blessed as you bless others.

[@theyfaceeast]

I loved reading your comment. It is refreshing to hear stories from people who are aware of their ancestors. If you enjoyed this video, you will certainly enjoy my new book THEY FACE EAST. One of my favorite American stories is the Battle of Kings Mountain, not far from Cowpens. In addition to reading my book, you should check out my website ByMemorialDay.com to learn how we are going to provide reverent perpetual care for ALL veteran graves in America NOT located in a national cemetery.

[@texasaggie8449]

My family came to America from England in 1750. We fought the British and later fought the yankees.

[@philovance1940]

Mine too. Quite proud of that fact.

[@seanohare5488]

I m glad the south lost

[@outofgas5293]

I've always been a history buff and been southern through and through. I've read books and visited battlefields . With the birth of DNA I've found out my ancestors from the south opposed secession or moved south after the war as lawmakers and carpetbaggers. The south definitely got a raw deal in the history books . You hit the nail on the head with the states holding the people's loyalty over the federal government. Thank you sir .

[@lamontpearce170]

The victor's write the history books. Thanks for not being indoctrinate.

[@russelllane7551]

I have 199 known confederate veterans in my family. Many blood related and some related by marriage. I'm a 6th cousin of Thomas Stonewall jackson. It's the greatest honor I have to be related to Confederate Veterans.

[@helmutschmitt4504]

I'm sure you are 6th cousin to some Union Vets too.

[@russelllane7551]

@helmutschmitt4504 1 that I know of. I'm a lifelong southern Loyalists as was my father and grandfather. Born in Virginia, family from North Carolina, Alabama, and South Carolina. I'm more interested in my Southern roots.

[@theyfaceeast]

@@russelllane7551 I do find it interesting how few people seem to be interested in Yankee anything. I collect Civil War things. People buy Yankee stuff cheap, put known Confederate markings on it, and resell it for a high price.

[@theyfaceeast]

@@helmutschmitt4504 My 10th great grandmother was Sarah Spencer born Cambridge, MA 1636. She married my 10th great grandfather John Case born in England 1616. They lived just west of Hartford, CT in Simsbury. When I visited their graves, the surname Case was throughout the cemetery, obviously all distantly related to me. One of the veteran headstones was for a young Case killed at the Battle of Antietam. I had a 4th great grandfather who was born in NH, enlisted in the Army to fight in the Florida Indian Wars, deserted, married a GA girl, and never went back to NH. I'm sure he had nephews who served in NH regiments as Union soldiers.

[@helmutschmitt4504]

You people do realize that while you are busy weakening the US by hating and fighting your own countrymen, China and Russia will run our asses over? It's called 'divide and conquer'. I know you've heard that phrase. What did you think it meant?

[@Cam-sm1iz]

Thank you for your research and truth about our history. It is an absolute shame that our kids don't know our American history of all sides. Today, We Americans are all Patriots, White, Black, Hispanics, Indian or who ever. Know your History.

[@theyfaceeast]

Amen. We're all in this together now. I love all history.

[@dvrmte]

All of my Civil War era ancestors fought for the Confederacy except for one East Tennessee Tory. He joined a Union cavalry regiment in the last year of the war. He lived in an area that was heavily occupied by Union troops at the time. His unit is famous for continuing destruction and committing atrocities against Southern citizens after both Lee and Johnston had surrendered. They raided though the area of the South Carolina upstate where I now live. As far as ending slavery, it shouldn't have been immediate emancipation. It wasn't fair to nobody. For example, it was against the law to not provide for an elderly slave. Immediate emancipation ended that law. Gradual emancipation with owners recompensed would've been much better for the slaves, masters, and society as a whole. Northern radical Republicans realized giving uneducated freed slaves the vote would drive a wedge between whites and blacks, and neuter Southern political power. That's what they wanted to do in order to pass the tariffs and regulations they wanted. Once that was achieved the radicals kicked the freed slaves to the curb, who along with poor landless whites, lost their vote. The radicals had uneducated free blacks voting against their own best interests. The North turned the South into a colonial appendage, fit only to provide raw materials cheaply to fuel their industries. The South was excluded from shipping fine finished goods to the population centers of the North by discriminating freight rates of finished goods. Only after WWII and the advent of motor freight transportation did that situation change. The regulators finally admitted to what they had done is the early 1950s,

[@lamontpearce170]

Under the guise of freeing one race, they enslaved both races.

[@blumobean]

You are not supposed to know that. We were occupied until WWII at least.

[@LastRebel1978]

The movie glory does a pretty good job of exposing the attitude of north south slavery in the culture. Don’t think most people understand the gravity of the civil war……..