re: Ole Miss: Please start playing 'From Dixie With Love' again

There's a little more that was going on back then, and still going on.

If you are interested in stuff like this I recommend reading Albion's Seed, and American Nations.

American Nations is great till it gets to the 20th century when it basically becomes "New England is a light unto the world."

But it definitely wasn't a given that some of the Confederate States that rebelled were going to. Tennessee for example hated lowland planters. Some upland counties in North and South Carolina never rebelled.

There is a county in either Louisiana or Mississippi that never rebelled either. I can't remember the details on that one, but I think they fought military engagements with the State (back then private individuals were perfectly willing to take on whatever government there was).

The point is that the South was itself divided on the whole thing. There was a deep and abiding hatred of Scarlett and Rhett. Probably by lowland whites as well, but they probably moved or kept their mouth shut.

If the Union had played it's cards better, the Confederate States might have been just South Carolina and few others.

Conversely if South Carolina hadn't fired on Fort Sumter the war might not have happened at all. There was considerable anti-war feeling in the North. It wasn't until the Fort Sumter shelling that a consensus happened on the matter.

And yes, I am saying that the South might well have seceded peacefully - with New England not getting to say much about it.

I'm not one of these re-enactor types, nor do I pore over books about this battle or that one. I do like history though.

But things are a little more complicated than we've been discussing.

The Civil War was about slavery. No way around it. Except....

It was also about something else. There has been a culture clash and rivalry between the American cultures that originated out of Tidewater, Virginia and Charleston SC, and the New England states since this country began.

And that conflict goes back to Roundheads and Cavaliers in England.

Whether it would have come to war without slavery? I'm not sure on that one, but it is a strong possibility. I'm pretty sure it would at some point, though over what I do not know.

And the culture clash is still ongoing. Sure all those Yankess are disappeared now. They have been absorbed into... whatever the hell you want to call it. Basically the Cabots and Lowells aren't there to talk anymore (and neither would speak to God if they met him on the street).

But their spiritual children are still with us. If you look at the migration patterns, the south spread west and formed the culture of parts of the US. Same with the New Englanders. The true Scotch Irish (Tennessee, West by God, Kentucky) spread too.

But the two largest cultures were us and the... Yankees.

And you know something? It's not over till I say it's over. And besides a lot of the other original groups, and some that came later hate them too.

Something else I want to say. Slavery was utterly doomed. Cotton was the driving force for the economics. The English cheerfully bought Southern Cotton. I'm not sure when it happened but duing the war Cotton shipments were stopped due to the blockade. Not sure of the date but the British began growing Cotton in Sudan and Egypt. And it was a lot cheaper than Southern Cotton.

Which led to all kinds of problems in the post-war South, Cotton selling for a pittance of pre-War prices.

There is another angle on this whole thing as well. I've looked for it, but can't find a reference on the internet.

Basically it was an excerpt from a letter one Union general wrote to another. I think the General was Sherman, but I can't confirm it. Anyway the guy had spent a lot of time in the South.

His contention was that slavery was doomed, regardless of the outcome of the War. He said that the planters acquired ever more land, and ever more slaves, reducing the opportunities available to freemen.

The freemen went west, and the numbers of slaves steadily increased relative to the planters. At some point a slave rebellion would arrive that could not be put down.

I found no flaw in his logic. If you ask me South Carolina was prime for it. Considering how many people were in uniform fighting the North, it is amazing it didn't happen during the war itself.

And the same thing would have eventually occurred in South Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana. Unless they did something different, and I'm not sure they knew how.

I was also going to put down some stuff about the South being an agricultural disaster area (large parts of it) until nitrogen fertilizers came out.

But this is pretty long already. I've got some interesting stuff on that though.