James Longstreet and Confederate Cancel Culture

Confederate Gen. James Longstreet was one of the original victims of "cancel culture"-and he was "cancelled" by fellow Confederates. Historians Kevin Levin and Todd Groce join the Emerging Civil War Podcast for a discussion of Confederate Cancel Culture.
Kevin Levin writes the Civil War Memory blog on Substack (kevinmlevin.substack.com), and Todd Groce is the president and CEO of the Georgia Historical Society (www.georgiahistory.com).
This episode of the Emerging Civil War Podcast is brought to you by Civil War Trails, the world's largest open-air museum, offering more than 1,500 sites across six states. Request a brochure at civilwartrails.org to start planning your trip today.

[@drewstillwell6016]

Your discussion of how you think we should view the past is very disappointing. I’m from MN and only been taught the civil war from a northern perspective, as I research and read the writings of the confederate generals and soldiers I cant help but sympathize and agree with their perspective. Your bias is so obvious and bending to todays culture which is full of arrogant weak men. Todds comments of Sherman are disgusting, his historical revisionism should be ignored.

[@jonnie106]

There is absolutely nothing within the words you strung together in your post, to make any distinction supporting some greater clarity or objectivity in the "the writings of the confederate generals and soldiers" to be any less biased than that which you assert the podcast members of having. I would submit that your sympathizing with the confederate perspective, was somehow pre-wired in your mindset before ever getting into their letters. Have you also been taught science from a northern perspective? Are the first three digits of pi not 3.14 in Tennessee? Do the laws of physics change when experimenting in Georgia vs Massachusetts? Truth be told, the main thing that must be known regarding civil war history, is that a serious rebellion was in progress. There were two positions worth dying for and three-quarters of a million Americans made that sacrifice. Then at the end of the fighting, all the most strident minds that would have gladly continued the fight simply went home, pardoned by the same government they wished to disconnect from. None of them are called to any accountability. In war they were willing to kill as many Federal soldiers as were needed to advance their agenda. Do you think that in peace they would suddenly fall neutral in their views, doing and saying nothing while the country tries to heal and rebuild itself? I hope you never use the term, "the winners write the history", as you are living, posting proof of the contrary.

[@JamesCouncil-n5l]

At roughly 10 min in we learn of a cannon that sits in Ga with a statement on it that reads "this is a relic of the war of 1836", and somehow people interpret that as offensive and want to take it down? Todd then goes on to say that the people who want it removed don't want us to forget that it happened, they just want us to remember it differently. My question is, In this instance how exactly can you remember something differently than fact? Lets just call most of this for what it is, people want to rewrite history until it becomes fantasy. I guess for the Creek war we could erect a statue of William Weatherford and Andrew Jackson playing cards, or golfing together with Lionel Ritchie. As far as Longstreet is concerned, southern people had a right to be unhappy with his change in party affiliation, as Longstreet almost immediately reaped the benefits of doing so by being appointed to political office. Imagine having a loved one lost on the battlefield fighting under Longstreet, and then you hear news that this man now has joined the people you just fought against. If Longstreet believed these actions would endear him to many southerners at that time, then he wasn't in touch with reality.

[@jonnie106]

They didn't say they wanted the cannon removed, they said they wanted it to represent its history differently. Take the death of Gen John Sedgwick. Here's a general officer who wasn't just killed in action, he was killed moments after stating that rebel snipers "couldn't hit an elephant at this distance", except it wasn't moments after. It may have been as long as ten minutes or more removed from that statement. What if it wasn't even a deliberate shot but instead a stray, lucky round that got him? No one wants to remember it like that. Or the one-day battle on 17 Sept 1862 in Maryland. Was it the Battle of Sharpsburg or the Battle of Antietam? Same factual event, two different recollections. And if you want to know more about rewriting history, investigate the United Daughters of the Confederacy. They were busy at much more than monument building and grave decorating. They got busy in southern public schools, in particular with the history books. As far as southern people are concerned.. are there any Americans at ALL among them? In your example, Longstreet didn't just 'join' the people they just fought, he RE-JOINED THE COUNTRY they were all citizens of! You must recognize the previous existence of that nation, since years earlier the biggest deal in the northern hemisphere was made about dissolving it and leaving it. But after losing that war, all you got for your countrymen is 'the people you just fought against'. You know, when emancipation became public a LOT of rebels were quoted as saying they'd "rather die than live in a country where they 're equal to the negro." Well, I'd rather every one of them did die, because our country doesn't need any of them. No country does.

[@Abdus_VGC]

It's a real sorry state of affairs as someone who dared speak against Lee and southern culture to move on from their position of hate to acceptance, is treated as Judas when the guy literally had indebted his southern brethren the hope of the cause that the South was fighting for. He was a fantastic general and a great man, who for his old friend Grant spoke the words a century ahead of his time. Too sad that these unifying figures like Longstreet (for South) and George Henry Thomas (for his service to the union cause and him being fed up of states rights) are largely forgotten today!

[@darrenrawlings9278]

Fantastic podcast. Very thought-provoking

[@emergingcivilwar8965]

Thanks!

[@stflaw]

So much bloviating. I couldn't even hang on until they started talking about Longstreet, whenever that might have been..

[@emergingcivilwar8965]

You should've stuck with it!

[@Gitarzan66]

I see a couple Fender jazz basses back there. Greetings my fellow bass player. Cool chat.

[@kevinlevin4713]

They are actually Sadowsky j-basses. One is a 4 and the other a 5-string.

[@Gitarzan66]

@@kevinlevin4713 Right on, I noticed after I posted that the headstock was a little different.

[@jonnie106]

@@kevinlevin4713 Fender or Sadowsky, just the same I always feel 'humanity' level up slightly, whenever I note anyone with a solid career path also is also a musician. Especially if among us bassists!

[@TrailrunnerTroy]

Excellent! Thank you.

[@historyandhorseplaying7374]

I'll be as charitable as I can. This gentleman Kevin Levin is a fine one to be speaking about "cancel culture", as he has long been extremely rude to those who disagree with him on his blog, to the point of insulting them and then deleting/blocking them from posting there. In other words, literal "cancel culture". Very disappointed in Emerging Civil War to be featuring this person. As if the coverage isn't biased enough.

[@kevinlevin4713]

For the record, I don't block people who disagree with me on my blog or any other social media platform. I do block them if they are rude or insulting to me or others. Thanks for the feedback.

[@kevinlevin4713]

I hope you have a great weekend as well.@@historyandhorseplaying7374

[@sup8857]

You're equating your hurt feelings with cancel culture. Thanks for the laugh.

[@historyandhorseplaying7374]

@sup8857 No, it's actual cancel culture, in the literal sense.

[@kevinlevin4713]

Get a grip. I am sorry if you believe that you were unjustifiably banned from commenting on my personal website, but to describe it as an example of "cancel culture" is ridiculous. No one is preventing you from speaking or sharing your views. You could have just as easily started your own blog.@@historyandhorseplaying7374

[@halbaker1075]

Excellent episode!

[@crippledcrow2384]

Port Hudson 1863 was the first place I have read that Confederates came in contact with a large number of black troops, not the Crater 1864

[@sup8857]

Correct. On May 27th '63, the 1st and 3rd Louisiana Native Guards were the first black soldiers committed to combat in the Civil War.

[@Jubilo1]

Kevin the Carpetbagger...ugh!

[@sup8857]

Huh? Dude's a teacher and researcher who lives in Boston.

[@mbryson2899]

Is objecting to memorializing traitors truly "cancel culture?" Do we need to celebrate those who fought to keep other humans enslaved? I don't want those horrible people forgotten, I just don't want them celebrated without exposing their crimes.

[@drewstillwell6016]

Crimes?? Don’t throw stones in a glass house.

[@mbryson2899]

@@drewstillwell6016 True. I wouldn't want to see statues of G.W. Bush, either.

[@jonnie106]

Failing to hold them accountable at the end of the war was like failing to swab out a12lb smoothbore after firing, and they are the smoldering ember in the bore. We were metaphorically reloading the piece to rebuild our nation until it suddenly went off in our faces, when Rutherford B Hayes traded the civil rights of millions of emancipated black Americans for a Presidency. Federal soldiers (the only protection for black Americans in the south) are fully withdrawn and those attitudes that would suppress and strangle any social progress among black Americans were completely free to do so, using methods up to and including wanton murder.

[@garybowler5946]

All involved in this video are below contempt. Statues and celebration of traitors and enemies are not normal.

[@josephheatherly810]

Brilliant analysis about how James Longstreet was unfairly 'cancelled' after the Civil War!

[@josephheatherly810]

Longstreet disagreed with Robert E Lee / Pickett's Charge & Longstreet post war chose not to embrace the 'lost cause' sour grapes. Very lazy & cheap Traitor / Enemy insult.

[@emergingcivilwar8965]

Are you sure even listened to the discussion?

[@garybowler5946]

​@@emergingcivilwar8965The video is a glorious celebration of the Civil War. Right to the closing statement.

[@drewstillwell6016]

Confederate soldiers were hero’s, they were sons and fathers who were fighting for their beliefs and here you are sitting in you government subsidized housing judging them. 2% of southerners had slaves, do you think all those men were fighting for rich men’s right to have slaves, that’s crazy.

[@Ivan-ge7xb]

Ffs, all you guys are wrong. Lee, Longstreet, a one armed orderly, and a casual with a shot gun, fought all the battles of the rebellion. They killed all the Union soldiers except those that ran away.

[@Ivan-ge7xb]

I was trying to find the page to my paraphrased sarcastic remark from Scott Hartwig's book "To Antietam Creek" when I accidentally hit my keyboard and posted the above comment about seven or eight times. I guess I canceled cultured myself. Anyway, great conversation.