The Confederate Blanket and the Chandelier

The Historic Grand Army of the Republic Hall in Litchfield, Minnesota, is the only one of its kind remaining in the state and one of only three in the United States. The Grand Army of the Republic was an organization of men who were veterans of the Union army who fought in the War Between the States, 1861-1865.

Today the old hall still stands much as it did well over a century ago. It is now used as a museum to preserve relics and records of America's tragic and unnecessary conflict, often misnamed the Civil War. Being a history buff, and a descendent of several Confederate veterans, I have long had a special interest in the War Between the States, so I enjoyed visiting this historic old hall and exploring many of the exhibits.

When the nice lady at the GAR Museum learned that I was of Confederate descent, she took me over to see their small case with a display of Confederate items. In it was obsolete Confederate currency, a saber which was like those used by both Union and Confederate soldiers, and a very interesting wool Confederate Blanket.

The blanket was brought back to Minnesota after the war by a Union Soldier, Sargent Marty, who was in the First Minnesota Volunteers. As Sargent Marty lay wounded on the battlefield at Gettysburg, an unknown Southern soldier came and covered the enemy soldier with his own blanket. Marty survived the War and brought the blanket back to Minnesota, where it was preserved for generations by his family, before being donated to the museum.

Another very interesting artifact in the Grand Army of the Republic Museum is the ornate chandelier which hangs over the old meeting hall.

There are two stories of the origin of the chandelier. One is that it was originally from a bordello in New Orleans, Louisiana. The other is that it was brought back to Minnesota from the South as a part of the "spoils of war." Perhaps both stories are true.

The War Between the States, was fought mostly on Southern soil by Northern aggressors. When Union soldiers captured a town or even a farm in the Confederate states it was very common for them to steal every item of value and destroy that which they could not carry away. Such plunder was clearly criminal according to the established rules of war, and a vile and evil act according to every standard of human decency. Yet the rape of the south was overlooked or even encouraged by Northern generals such as Sheridan, Sherman and Grant. Because the North won the war, such despicable actions were never punished.

Here is but one quote from a Union invader of Louisiana from the "Official Records: War of the Rebellion" published by the United States Government after their subjugation of the South: "No squad of men ... can live anywhere we have been. The people have neither seed, corn, nor bread, or mills to grind the corn if they had it, as I burned them wherever found.... I have taken from these people the mules with which they would raise a crop the coming year, and burned every surplus grain of corn...."

General William T. Sherman wrote from Vicksburg on January 31, 1864: "The Government of the United States has ... any and all rights which they choose to enforce in war - to take their lives, their homes, their lands, their everything ...."

The chandelier, which is a symbol of these heinious atrocities against innocent civilians, hangs in the GAR museum in Litchfield to their shame, and they don't even seem to realize it.

Story and photos by J. Stephen Conn

Naming the War of 1861 - 1865

In front of the Highland County Courthouse in downtown Hillsboro, Ohio, you will see this monument to the Highland County soldiers and sailors who fought for the Union (North) in America's War Between the States. I found it interesting that the monument refers to the conflict as the "War of the Rebellion." That's what the British might have called the American Revolution if the Colonies had lost in their struggle for independence.

America's war of 1861-1865 was not a true civil war, as it is commonly called. A civil war is one in which a segment of the population rises up in an effort to overthrow the government. The South had no such desire. They simply wanted to peacefully leave the Union, in a day when many people held a higher allegiance to their home state than they did to the nation. Some southerners still call the conflict the "War against Northern Aggression," which is an accurate name since it was the South which was in the defensive position.

The War also has many other names. Some of these include:

The War for Constitutional Liberty
The War for Southern Independence
The Second American Revolution
The War for States' Rights
Mr. Lincoln's War
The Southern Rebellion
The War for Southern Rights
The War of the Southern Planters
The Second War for Independence
The War to Suppress Yankee Arrogance
The Brothers' War
The War of Secession
The Great Rebellion
The War for Nationality
The War for Southern Nationality
The War of the Sixties
The Yankee Invasion
The War for Separation
The War for the Union
The Confederate War
The War of the Southrons
The War for Southern Freedom
The War of the North and South
The Lost Cause
The War to Prevent Southern Independence

In doing a Google search for these names I found that the three most widely used are:

1. Civil War
2. War of the Rebellion
3. War Between the States

Of these three I prefer the third: War Between the States. By the very definition of the term it was not a civil war. Also, it was not a war of rebellion because the so called "Rebels" did not start the war and they only fought defensively. The Confederate states simply wanted to remain free and sovereign states as outlined by the United States Constitution. Probably the most accurate of all the names in the first list is "The War to Prevent Southern Independence."

The original historical accounts attest to the fact that America's war of 1861-1865 was definitely "Mr. Lincoln's War." Mr. Lincoln alone is responsible for starting the war. He could easily have let the South go in peace, as most of his advisers and hundreds of northern newspapers recommended. Abraham Lincoln started and executed the illegal and unnecessary war, resulting in more than 620,000 deaths and the almost total destruction of the South, for only one reason - to prevent Southern Independence. He didn't want to lose the southern tariffs which provided more than 87% of the Federal budget - money which was spent primarily in the northern states. Mr. Lincoln's War to Prevent Southern independence was a war motivated by greed and the lust for power.

-

Photo and Article by J. Stephen Conn