A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
Helena’s debate over the Confederate fountain in that city’s Hill Park has generated an impressive amount of indignation from Montanans who were taught the southern version of Civil War history — who were taught the war was not about slavery, or that slavery was not the primary cause.
Today, Montana Cowgirl has a letter sent to Helena city commissioners Haladay and Haque-Hausrath by a local justice of the peace, Michael Swingley, who describes himself as a former trooper and native Helenan. He said:
…Keep in mind that slavery was only one issue that caused the Civil War. The largest portion was economic based war as the southern states wanted to separate and begin printing their own currency, and detach from the banks of the United States. [Swingley’s full letter is available at MT Cowgirl.]
And in today’s Missoulian, there’s a letter from Linda Brooks-Curtis, who writes:
…It is phenomenal that most people now think that the U.S. Civil War was all about slavery.
The War produced a great amount of sacrifice, suffering and valorous heroes on both sides. Southern citizens endured confiscation and destruction of land and property and loss of legal rights.
The fact that numerous southerners founded Helena, Virginia City, etc., isn’t something to be buried because it might enrage someone whose misconception of history was that the Confederacy was about the subjugation of blacks.
These are, of course, straw man arguments. No one is suggesting, or has suggested, erasing the history of Helena. Two city commissioners recommended setting the record straight on the Confederate fountain, which was part of the United Daughters of the Confederacy’s national campaign to glorify southern military valor while deliberately not mentioning that bravery occurred when the south fought to preserve slavery.
But these are also sincere arguments. Swingley and Brooks-Curtis believe what they’re saying. They’re not racists, but they are misinformed — and that’s what makes getting at the truth of the Civil War so difficult. Generations of Americans, especially in the south, have been taught, in school, at home, in the community, a version of the Civil War that’s so far from the truth that it amounts to fiction.
Most people who were taught the slavery minimizing, states rights version of the Civil War are comfortable with what they learned in school and from their elders. They believe they were taught the truth — and they cannot believe that their teachers and parents lied and/or were perniciously misinformed. That’s human nature. For these people, the history of the Civil War is settled, and they resent how attempts to correct the record can divide communities. Most never will change their minds.
That’s why generations must pass before the vast majority of Americans receive a truthful education on the Civil War. And that will happen only if we teach our children well.