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4 Creating the Myths of the War Martyrs and Scapegoats of the Confederacy Concurrently with their defense of the right of secession and the rights of states,Lost Cause orators defined,described,and defended the mythology of the Civil War. South­erners had not believed they could lose in their struggles with the North, as they believed God was on their side and that they were correct in their belief in secession, rights of states, and slavery—but they did lose the war, secession was forever laid to rest, and slavery was abolished. In short, the region that had for generations prided itself on its manhood, military heritage, and po­ liti­ cal leadership skills found itself humiliated in spirit and crushed po­liti­cally,militarily,economically,and socially—in short, to use a south­ ern colloquialism, “They had been whupped—and whupped good!” Therefore, in their effort to offset that total defeat, Lost Cause ora­ tors found a ready audience and many opportunities to glorify and magnify that heroic effort, and to make certain that everyone in current and future generations knew of that glory, as they recalled it and as they wanted it to be remembered. The south­ ern Civil War generation entered the conflict confident in who they were, how they had gotten there, and where they were going. In praising the Confederate soldier, Major General Daniel H. Hill described the stereo­ typical white south­ ern elite: “The independence of a country life, hunting, fishing, and the mastery of slaves, gave him large individuality and immense trust in himself. Hence he was unsurpassed and unsurpassable as a scout and on the skirmish line.” Wilbur J. Cash wrote about this characteristic years later, when he pointed out “the conviction of every farmer among what was essentially only a band of farmers, that nothing living could cross him and get away with it.” Cash believed this conviction was “the thing that sent him swinging up the slope at Gettysburg on that celebrated, gallant afternoon”; Creating the Myths of the War 63 many Lost Cause speakers shared the conviction of the “band of farmers” as well.1 This “immense trust in himself” is demonstrated by the many glowing and enthusiastic references in this body of speeches to the excitement and eagerness with which the Confederate soldier marched off to war in 1861. From the start, confident they would carry the day and gain independence, south­ ern­ ers looked on the coming war with a positive expectation. It is easy to hear this excitement in Alfred M. Waddell’s description of the bombardment of Fort Sumter in April 1861. Waddell took a train into Charleston for the dramatic event, and, after hearing the first thunder of the artillery shelling the fort, “the excitement on the train at once became intense, and the engineer, sympathizing with it, opened his valves and giving free rein to the iron horse, rushed us with tremendous speed into the historic city.” Once in Charleston, Waddell and his colleagues ran through the streets to their hotel and climbed quickly onto the cupola overlooking the harbor. As he watched the puffs of smoke from James Island and saw the Stars and Stripes “float[ing] proudly and defiantly” above the besieged fort, Waddell “realized with emotions indescribable that I was looking upon a civil war among my countrymen.”2 That excitement felt by the observers in Charleston lasted for months. John Q.Marshall reminded his veteran audience about the continuous round of “pleasure and gaiety” as “old men, women, and children came from far and near, bringing with them the best the land afforded to gratify the capricious wants of their beloved.” As the soldiers of Orr’s Rifles trained and prepared for war, “the sun never shone on fairer women or on braver men than were here assembled.” Writing years later, Thomas Wolfe described the grand send-­ off as his “Chickamauga” narrator’s unit marched off to war: “People were hollerin’ and shoutin’ the whole way. All the women folk and childern were lined up along the road, bands a-­ playin’, boys runnin’ along beside us, good shoes, new uniforms, the finest lookin’ set of fellers that you ever seed—Lord! you’d a-­ thought we was goin’ to a picnic from the way hit looked.”3 Charles H. Olmstead echoed even more specifically Daniel Hill’s assessment of the south­ ern­ ers’ individuality. For him, “the most striking peculiarity of the Confederate soldier . . . was his individuality. . . . The lawyer...

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