If the Tea-Pots insist on waving Johnny Reb flags, maybe we need to update some Civil War songs

[struggle4progress]

... And now the wind, an instant
tears the cloudy veil aside
and floats aloft our spangled flag
in glory and in pride ...

"We are coming" Lyrics

... The rebels thought we would divide
and Democrats would take their side
They then would let the Union slide
and that's what's the matter! ...

... We'll finish the temple of freedom
and make it capacious within
so all who seek shelter may find it
whatever the hue of their skin ...

[raging moderate]

1. Let justice roll like rivers from the mountains to the sea!

While some of us are slaves, then none of us is truly free.
We'll break the captives' bonds and thus proclaim sweet liberty!
While truth goes marching on!

In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me.
As He died to make men holy,
Let us live to make them free!
His truth goes marching on!

[Ikonoklast]

2. Maybe we should just let a few sons of Ohio loose on them for a bit.

Grant, Sheridan, that Sherman guy was a big hit on his tour I hear...

[Art_from_Ark]

8. Sheriden

General "The-only-good-Indian-is-a-dead-Indian" who saw nothing wrong with murdering Indian women and children

[RZM]

10. Sherman despised black people

That doesn't sound like a DU hero to me.

This Ohio boy thinks your brand of civil war nostalgia is a bit disturbing.

[Ikonoklast]

11. As did many others, officers as well as other ranks in the Union Army.

[RZM]

12. That's certainly true

Goes for the whole north as well too. They didn't have slavery, but they were pretty much as racist as southerners were.

I just think its weird that on DU, which is a largely anti-war site, you have this creepy pining for the death and destruction of the civil war. I think it's a cheap way to make a point about contemporary political divisions.

Plop a lot of DUers in 1860 (or 1940, for that matter), without knowledge of what came later and I think you'd see a surprising amount of anti-war sentiment.

[Ikonoklast]

13. Those horrible people preserved the Union, and destroyed institutional slavery in this nation.

They did exactly what they were called upon to do by their Commander-in-Chief, and did it to the best of their abilities, or got replaced by someone else who did.


And avoiding war was not an option once the South decided to mobilize against the Union, and took the offensive.


"Creepy pining for death and destruction" is what Teabaggers have in mind for the rest of us, and if you must realize they already see this nation as at war with itself.

If we do nothing further to stop it, we will get the perverted nation we deserve from being complacent in the face of those who would do the rest of us great harm by imposing their brand of warped religion along with their radical politics and resulting economic misery.

You think what happened once here cannot do so again, I see it as already happening.

There are frightening parallels.

[struggle4progress]

15. Let's recognize the role of neo-confederates in today's GOP as explicitly as possible and force

the GOP to own or disown its neo-confederate wing

More than a handful, of well-known and successful GOP politicians, pander to these wackos

And the wackos appear regularly: we've seen the usual "states' rights" codewords frequently; we've heard calls for secession from GOP figures; and the old Treason Flag shows up again and again, most recently at a rally in front of the White House

One fun way to bring this issue more squarely to the public might be the use of some old songs

[struggle4progress]

16. "John Brown's body" was a popular Union marching song, as was "Battle Hymn of the Republic"

The Civil War not only ended slavery in fact; its results included ending slavery in the Constitution

[RZM]

17. There's nothing wrong with the songs

And nowhere on this thread did I even say anything about them. They are a part of history. I think it's cool that people remember them.

The problem is shit like 'we need to repeat the march to the sea,' which is cowardly way of saying that violence is the answer.

[struggle4progress]

18. The poster in #1 seems to be citing a variant of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic"

rather than saying (as you interpret) 'we need to repeat the march to the sea'

[Lint Head]

3. I have your flag right here you cowardly knuckle dragging mouth breathers.

[Journeyman]

4. President Lincoln favored the tune, "Dixie". . .

When the news arrived April 10, 1865, that Gen. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox, the crowd at the White House clamored for a speech. Mr. Lincoln promised one the next night, then called upon a brass band in the crowd to strike up Dixie. It had always been one of his favorite tunes, he explained. And now that the Union had recaptured it from the Rebels, it was "our lawful prize."

And that tale just pisses off Rebel wanna-be's no end. They have no tune. They have no flag. We reclaimed the former from them, and the latter we cast upon history's dungheap. They're welcome to share the tune; it belongs to us all now. But the flag is irrevocably discredited.

[struggle4progress]

5. !

away down south in the land of traitors
rattlesnakes and alligators
right away
come away
right away
come away
where cotton's king and men are chattels
union boys will win the battles
right away
come away
right away
come away ...

[raging moderate]

6. We'll rally 'round the Flag, boys, and rally once again!

Shouting the battle cry of Freedom!

The Union forever, hoorah, boys, hoorah!

Down with the traitors,
And up with the Stars!
as we rally 'round the Flag, boys,
Yes, rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom!

[raging moderate]

7. What a wonderful thread! Thank you so much!

The first and the last songs, I have always wanted to hear all the way through!
And the one in the middle, I have never heard before!

[struggle4progress]

14. Ronnie Gilbert may actually have fused two songs: "Lincoln and Liberty" and "Liberty Ball"

Both seem to be attributed to the Hutchinsons, and both are sung to the popular tune "Old Rosin the Beau" but one set of lyrics campaigns for Lincoln and the other campaigns against slavery. Of course, it is entirely possible that the lyrics were often intermingled at the time

http://www.civilwarpoetry.org/union/songs/lincoln-liberty.html
http://www.civilwarpoetry.org/union/songs/libertyball.html

[flamingdem]

9. I love hearing this and thinking of my Gr Gr Granddad who was a Union Colonel

and must have heard that song! I think about him a lot these days and wonder what he'd think of the new confederates in the house.