Tuesday, September 18, 2012

I Wish I Was In The Land Of Cotton

I wish I was in the land of cotton
'Simmon seeds and Sandy Bottom
Look away, look away, look away Dixie Land

On the occasion of an old friend's 70th birthday, I found myself traveling from Baja Georgia up to Columbus, Georgia over the weekend to celebrate with him.  It was a great gathering and allowed me to catch up with friends many of whom I haven't seen in over twenty years. The journey took me through the heart of the state and the cradle of the Civil War, a war in which my forebears fought on the side of the Confederacy.

It's Dixie's Land that I was born in
Early on a frosty mornin'
Look away, look away, look away Dixie Land

This horrible and tragic event tore our country to its core and left terrible deep scars, some of which remain to this day.  A small example is the song Dixie.  Though credited as being written by two black brothers who longed for their old homestead in Sandy Bottom, Maryland and copyrighted as Dixie's Land, it is now seen as a symbol of racism and hatred, something it was never intended to be.  It was, in fact, Abraham Lincoln's campaign song.

Them buckwheat cakes and injun batter
Makes you fat or a little fatter
Look away, look away, look away Dixie Land

Contrary to popular belief, the Civil War was not fought over slavery but over state's rights, one of which was the right to secede from the union.  Of course, a hundred and fifty years later we all know that preserving the union was the right thing to do but the course of events that was the American Civil War forever changed the balance of power and established the federal government as the supreme law of the land.  This comes to mind because on my journey, I passed by the spot near Irwinville, GA where Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States of America, was captured.

There is a monument erected on the spot where Davis was captured.  He had retreated into the heart of Georgia so-as-to meet up with several of the remaining generals and their armies to form a territory that would defend itself until the Federal government agreed to the Confederate states being readmitted to the union with full states rights and protection of persons and property.  Two companies of Union troops were hot on his trail and stumbled into each other during the night.  Each believing the other to be the enemy, they opened fire on each other killing two of their own men.  Davis and his party surrendered peacefully the following morning.

So hoe it down and scratch that gravel
To Dixie's Land I'm bound to travel
Look away, look away, look away Dixie Land

 
There is a very nice little museum on the spot stocked with lots of original documents and artifacts from the war.  I was intrigued by this photo.  I can remember as a small boy seeing the "last rebel soldier" in a Veteran's Day parade.  He was ancient looking and was supposedly a young drummer boy during the war I am reminded that the war really wasn't that long ago.

Ole missus married Will the weaver
But Willum' was a gay deceiver
Look away, look away, look away Dixie Land

 
Following Lincoln's assassination hysteria swept the land and this proclamation and reward was offered for Jefferson Davis and his cabinet even though Davis and most of the cabinet were already prisoners or dead.  Testament to the lack of communication in those days.  One hundred thousand dollars in 1865 would be about $10 million today.  Quite a ransom.

For when he put his arms around her
He smiled fierce as a forty-pounder
Look away, look away, look away Dixie Land


 
The next stop on my tour was the site of the infamous Andersonville prisoner of war camp.  Known then as Camp Sumpter, the camp was originally built to house 10,000 occupants.  But as prisoners began to file in at the rate of 400 a day, the original camp was soon crowded to overflowing eventually topping out at 32,000 persons.  There was no way the one small creek that was the sole source of fresh water could supply demand and no way that the then bedraggled Confederate army could supply enough food and medicine for that many prisoners.  Conditions soon deteriorated into that of a hell hole.  Over 13,000 men died of starvation, malnutrition, disease and exposure.
Ole missus played the foolish part
And died for a man who broke her heart
Look away, look away, look away Dixie Land


A replica of one of the stockade's gates.  Prisoners came through the outer gate first and then passed through the inner gate into the compound.   "Once inside, men exclaimed: 'Is this hell?'  Verily, the great mass of gaunt, unnatural-looking beings, soot-begrimed, and clad in filthy tatters, that we saw stalking about inside this pen looked, indeed, as if they might belong to a world of lost spirits."... W.B. Smith, 14th Illinois Infantry, October 9, 1864.  The camp commandant, Capt. Henry Wirz, tried repeatedly to find supplies and medical attention for the men, to no avail.  Local families brought what little food and clothing they could spare.  The Confederacy even sent petitions to the Union army offering to turn the prisoners over to them but by that time both armies were so intent on the fighting that neither had the time or resources to help.


When the Union army finally arrived and saw the conditions they understandably sought revenge against the locals but found them to be little better off than the prisoners themselves.  Capt. Wirz was hanged in Washington, D.C. on November 10, 1865.

So here's to the health of the next ole missus
And to all the girls who want to kiss us
Look away, look away, look away Dixie Land

The prisoner's graves at the nearby Andersonville National Cemetery.  You cannot come to this place without being deeply moved.  When will we ever learn?
Now if you want to lose your sorrow
Come and sing this song tomorrow
Look away, look away, look away Dixie Land

25 comments:

  1. Outstanding post. I'm a sucker for historical sites, but for some reason, have missed some of these. We've been to Andersonville, though, and you're right. Both the cemetery and the POW museum are profoundly moving.

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    1. Thanks Susan. I believe Andersonville is about like seeing the cemetery at Normandy.

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  2. Recently moved to the south (3 years ago) and am fascinated with its history. I've been to Antietam and loved it. I plan on visiting as many Civil War sites as I can within the next few years. Loved this post ... you did a great job with it.

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    1. Margaret, thanks for stopping by. I would love to do a Civil War tour up through Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. Ya'll come back now, heah.

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  3. Thank you for sharing this. I've never been to any of these sites, so I read it like a vicarious vacationer. It's mouth-gaping when I think that around 750,000 men died during the Civil War. And thanks for listing the words to Dixie. The song always carries me away.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Barb. You're right about the deaths during the Civil War. More than all of our other wars combined. A horrible blood bath. But I too love Dixie have made it a part of my playlist on guitar.

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  4. Great post!

    What amazes me is the resurgence of neo-confederate movement back in the 1990's. During that time one political science professor at the University of South Carolina even made a prediction of a new secessionist party being created and drawing as much as 10 percent of the vote away from republicans.

    Now it never happened although the "League of The South" does still exist. But aside from those few nutcases that thinks the south could once again leave the Union there are still a lot of people in my area who talk fondly of the Confederacy and how good it would be for them if the Civil War had went the other way.

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    1. I've often wondered myself how our country would be had the South been successful in succession. Area wise, we would still have had two countries that are much larger than most in the world and probably still have the world's strongest economies... but who knows?

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  5. I grew up in the general vicinity of Gettysburg and went there on several field trips as a schoolboy. The waste of life was overwhelming. I don't think it will ever stop.

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    1. Gettysburg is at the top of my bucket list. It's difficult for me to imagine that the last major battle of the war was fought in Pennsylvania. (The Battle of Atlanta wasn't so much a battle as a siege.)

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  6. Nah, we'll never learn.

    Great pictures and narrative. Very moving. I've been to Vicksburg and Natchez; those are the only civil war sites I can think of off-hand that I've been to.

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    1. Looks like all of the curmudgeons agree... it's hopeless.

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  7. Fabulous photos and love the narrative, especially the way you weave that old song in and out. Have relatives in Columbus (actually in Upatoi) and stayed there for a few months a few years back. Silly me, I didn't know anyone could drive "up" to it. Sharing on FB.

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    1. When you're starting from Baja Ga, (NE FL) every direction is up!

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  8. Super post, darlin'. I loved that song and I'm told I liked to sing it at the top of my lungs when I was wee. I was the only Southerner in the family and I don't know how well that went over, although my folks probably liked the enthusiasm. It was that song, Jesus Loves Me, and Fab Washes Clean Clear Through And Deodorizes Too. I'm surprised they ever took me anywhere.

    I'm not doing your post justice here. Apologies from a rambling mind.

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  9. came to you from 'the walking man' and found myself curious. living far, far, far away in south africa, i found this post very interesting. history well told is really a delightful story, as you've made it. america is rich with history, and there are so many lessons that can be learnt from it, treasure it.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Shadow. I believe South Africa has a pretty good story to tell as well. It seems all of the colonies do.

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  10. I LOVE history and yet never make the time to discover those so close to home. I lived in Panama City, FL for probably close to a decade before discovering there was a HUGE Civil War sea battle right in our own St. Andrews Bay.

    I would like to offer a small comment on your "slavery vs. state's rights" argument. Having grown up in the south, this is what I was taught, however, while taking history classes in college and reading on my own, I do truly believe that the war was fought all about slavery. The south wanted to own slaves and wanted every other state admitted to the Union to be a slave one to keep the balance. Throughout December 1960 and Jaunary 1961 there were many conferences held throughout the south trying to get the southern states on board to secede, they didn't talk about D.C. trying to take away state's rights, they talked about black men forcing equality and raping (or worse marrying) a man's daughters, sisters, etc.

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    1. I have a friend who is a professor of Southern history at Ga. State U. who would put up a good argument regarding states' rights vs slavery, and let's not forget that there were slaves in the North and that slaveholding states like Kentucky and Maryland did not secede. But this is a timeless argument and one in which I am no expert. BTW, I was taught in school that slavery was the cause and I have no doubt that it played a major role. It certainly did as a rallying cry late in the war.

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  11. I will offer this insight. Has any historian produced a letter from one solider from the south where he wrote home saying I’m fighting to keep the slaves. Or one just one letter from a northern solder writing home to say he was fighting to free the slaves.

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