By Charles Layton
Could the dividing line between North Jersey and South Jersey be Wesley Lake?
The thought occurred to me the other day during a stroll past Asbury Park’s Civil War memorial on Cookman Avenue. The plaque at the foot of the memorial reads as follows:
That’s pretty bellicose language – or used to be. “The war of rebellion” is a name the North imposed on the conflict, reflecting its own perception of events.
Asbury Park's memorial to those who fought defending the Union. Photos by Mary Walton
Even though, after the war, Southerners continued to refer to themselves as “rebels,” the Yankee phrase “war of rebellion” rankled them. They also, for obvious reasons, disliked calling the conflict “the war to save the Union” or “the war of Southern aggression.” Another name appearing on Northern war memorials and in Northern textbooks, but not Southern ones, was “the great rebellion.”
Although it never really caught on, “the war for Southern independence” came closer to reflecting the South’s point of view — the white South’s, anyway. Those Southerners who saw the North as the belligerent party also favored the term “war of northern aggression.” Confederate General Joseph Johnston called it the “war against the states,” another sore-loser title that sounds like it could be accompanied by a one-finger salute.
And so it was that, after the war itself was decided, there began a much longer conflict over what the history books ought to call it.
The name Southerners lobbied for was “the war between the states.” Confederate officials and veterans used the term in their memoirs. In the early 20th century, the United Daughters of the Confederacy (as die-hard a group as you’ll ever find) tried unsuccessfully to have that name enacted into federal law, their argument being that the conflict wasn’t really a civil war, but rather a war between two well-defined, separate governments, the word “states” in this case meaning sovereign nations. After all, the Daughters argued, the Confederacy had its own currency, its own army and navy, its own commerce – everything you could ask for in a legitimate nation.
Although the United Daughters didn’t get their way, Southern politicians tried for many decades to sneak that language into law and common parlance. In the 1940s and 1950s, when Southerners held great sway in Congress, the term “war between the states” found its way into at least two federal laws, as well as various Congressional reports. As a schoolboy in Texas, I heard at least one high school teacher argue in favor of the phrase. It was kind of a Southern talking point.
Ocean Grove's cannon
It even gained currency in parts of the North. Paul Goldfinger, who grew up in North Jersey, says he frequently heard the Civil War referred to as the “war between the states.” But Paul wasn’t aware of the underlying political spin the term carries in the South. Most Northerners probably aren’t, at least not these days.
But now, here’s something interesting: Ocean Grove has its own Civil War memorial — the cannon in Founders Park — and its plaque contains that Southern-friendly phrase “war between the states.” Furthermore, the Ocean Grove memorial is friendlier to the South in another way. While Asbury’s memorial only pays tribute to those on the Union side, Ocean Grove’s honors all of the combatants, no matter which side they fought on.
MUSIC from The London Philharmonic Choir:
I remember a few years back we had the civil war re-enactment on the Pathway and it was wonderful. The people that played the Yanks and Rebels spent the week-end there and actually were quite involved in their role- playing. The event lasted the week-end and they had two battles that they portrayed on the beach.
I remember they had fires at night and would cook and keep warm being that they slept there.The fires were always under control, not large at all,and never left without supervision. The event was a great success and the residents and others loved it.
The 2nd year they were back, but the Fire official found the camp fires were a hazard. In the blink of an eye, this inspector voided the event.
There was NO reason to stop this event. The fire inspector didn’t even try to work with this group of people. But there are 3 events on the Pathway that cook food, have hot oils, propane tanks which are very close to the homes and nothing is said. Am I missing something here?
I’m late to this discussion (I don’t remember if I mentioned it here, but on the Sunday before the last Township Committee meeting, my father was diagnosed with renal cancer in his right kidney, so family matters have required my attention), but my sister, Cat Crandall, who sits on the HPC, has a bachelor’s in history, specializing in the Civil War. Since we live together, I read some of her non-textbook books and watch Civil War-related programs on TV. I’ve never heard it called the War of Southern Aggression, but I have heard it called the War of Northern Aggression. Both sides have different identifiers for many events, large and small – the Confederate Army called one battle the Battle of Bull Run, and the Union Army called it the Battle of Manassas.
I, too, can’t separate the Confederate flag from the practice of slavery, especially since many white-power groups have adopted it as a symbol of their bigotry. (I will admit to joking that, when a Southern state does something I consider discriminatory and stupid, I’ll ask why we let them back in the Union.) On one of our road trips to Florida to take a cruise, one of the items available for sale in a gas station gift shop in Georgia was a resin bust of General Robert E. Lee.
If anyone’s ever up for a good read, pick up a book called Confederates In The Attic. It’s non-fiction; the author explores very respectfully the pride many Southerners feel for their Confederate roots and how they keep it alive. There’s some great stories in there – my personal favorite is Cats of the Confederacy.
Saying that the confederate flag is symbolic of discrimination and slavery (150 years after the Civil War) is like saying the American flag is symbolic of discrimination and genocide against native americans. What a flag represents is purely driven by the idiosyncratic projections of the individual viewing it. Preoccupation with distant historic events is ridiculous. Let people have whatever flag they want.
This vignette shows that it is not just Northeners who have a jaundiced view ot the “South.” Back in 1966 we took the kids, 8 and 10, on the obligatory we trip to Colonial Williamsburg— a wonderful experience with memories they still treasure including cheddar cheese on warm apple pie, the cooper forming staves into a barrel, breakfast OJ w/sherbet, etc.
Packing up to leave I noticed CANADA license plates on the family car next to mine. The father and I discussed how everybody enjoyed the visit and I asked why he came down from Canada. He told me his engineer father emigrated from Scotland to the US to escape religious prejudice. However, he took the wife and young children to Canada because of the racial prejudice he saw here. He was bringing his children to see where their grandfather lived in the US those years ago.
But then he commented: “Attitudes haven’t really changed. Then, blacks stepped into the muddy roadway to allow whites to continue walking on sidewalks, only now, everything is paved.”
Layton’s article was pertinent – we’re in the sesquicentennial of that war. Personally, I’d call it the mid-19th century counter-revolution, since it sought to reverse the original revolution of 1776. Of course, the great irony is that while the south lost the military campaign, it really won the war, from the end of reconstruction in 1876 up to the election of the first black president in 2008. In general, the curiosity about this bit of history is that it never ends. There remains a lot of white supremacist sentiment, states rights confusion, and sympathy for the secessionist cause.
Editor’s (PG) note: I asked mg to clarify his statement that “the south really won the war.” This is his response:
“They won by (1) sustaining over 100 years of 2nd-class citizenship for black citizens via Jim Crow laws social intimidation, and institutionalized segregation such as the Plessy v. Fergusson (1899) Supreme Court ruling of separate/(un)equal; (2) the not-always-tacet support by many whites – north and south – of an apartheid system; (3) active resistance to Brown v. Board of Education (1954) ruling.
The song may have ended, but the melody lingered/lingers on…alas.”
Sadly, I must agree with Charles on this one. I do love visiting the South, have lived briefly in Atlanta, and have done business there over the years. The civility and culture are something to appreciate.
Unfortunately, slavery and segregation are also part of Southern history and culture. Regardless of benign intentions for the Confederate flag expressed above, those subjected to prejudice regard the flag as a symbol of the period prior to civil rights and hard-fought equality.
Let’s not forget this prejudice was not limited to the South. African-Americans were once unwelcome here in Ocean Grove, as were Jews and Catholics. The Confederate flag should be put away as a bad memory of this period in the South and elsewhere that prejudice was found.
Charles, what you assert is the party line, and I respect the rights of folks to believe what they want to believe. While I can’t speak to car decals, I can say that almost everyone I knew, to include myself, had a confederate flag hanging on a wall of their dorm room at college (well known southern liberal arts college that starts with D) and I can assure you that there was never any negative racial overtones and we were not trying to be provocative (the students were quite progressive and liberal in their beliefs). These are flags we had seen all our lives everywhere, and people of my generation (I’m 49) did not — and do not — see them as disrepectful and callous. Post college, I saw these flags all over the place, to include flying from the State House of the state I’m from (SC). The movement against these flags did not really begin until the later 1980’s, and it is driven by folks from up north who, in my view, are seeking to villify and destroy southern culture.
The nostalgia I feel is not for the confederacy (come on, that was 150 years ago), but for the unique charms and customs of the south. I, and others I know, see the flag representing those things — not some sort of homage to the Civil War. Ironically, maybe it’s the Northerners who need to move on from a preoccupation with that war.
Mississippi has the Confederate symbol on it’s state flag to this day! Florida and Alabama have remnants of it on display as well in the form of the ‘St Andrew’s Cross.’ Sentiments and prejudice die hard. Randy Newman relates the story of growing up in New Orleans when WWII ended. ‘We won the War!’ followed by ‘We finally beat them damn yankees!’
I, too, am a “Confederate Yankee” — my great-grandfather fought in a Mississippi regiment — but I beg to differ with the above comment. Die-hard Southerners have tried for many years to disassociate the Confederacy from the institution of slavery. It cannot be done. When I was in high school, our teachers tried to argue that the Civil War wasn’t fought over slavery, it was fought over the more abstract issue of “states rights.” But that’s such a pitiful copout. The reason the Southern states seceded was in order to protect their “rights” to hold human beings in bondage.
In my very long experience in these matters, I can tell you that racial resentment lies at the heart of Confederate nostalgia. I would go so far as to say that I have never known a non-racist who displayed a Confederate decal on his car. In fact, Confederate symbolism is generally intended as a provocation. It is particularly offensive to black people, of course, and those who display it know that, but they don’t seem to care.
There is nothing at all “polite” or “charming” about the display of such symbols; the very best thing one could say about them is that they are disrespectful and callous.
Having grown up in the South, I can tell you that the confederate flag today only symbolizes the rapidly disappearing traditions, culture and decorum that once typified the states below the Mason Dixon line. Janet appears to be offended by the flag, perhaps because she thinks that it is some sort of pro-slavery statement. I can absolutely say that today (virtually) no one down South thinks of racial issues when they see that flag. With the homogenizing effects of the media and the huge influx of Northerners into the southern states, many folks,including me, remember fondly the politeness (yes sir), the genuine warmth, slow-style, and charm of days gone by. This is similar to how Texans feel about the old Texas flag, or how oldtimers fondly remember how Ocean Grove was 30 years ago. Why should any Southerner be ashamed of that?
Ah, memories of the South! Traveling down Interstate 95 to Florida last winter, we saw an unsettling vision as we crossed into Georgia: a GIANT Confederate flag, hung from a towering flag pole, on what appeared to be private property. Perhaps others have seen this display? To us, the message was chilling: You’re in the South and don’t forget it! It heightened our interest in seeing the Civil Rights Museum in Savannah — a worthwhile and highly recommended side trip if one is going to that fabulous city.
Ken, you are so right. When I went to Navy boot camp in January 1960, half of our company was from NY, the other half came out of Atlanta. We were “Yankees” to them. I realized that they were still fighting the war. I asked them what war, they answered the war between the states. I replied oh, the one that we kicked your butts. Almost started a riot.
Any who have not been to the “South” cannot appreciate a Southerner’s view of the Civil War (we did not lose). My first trip south of Philly was when drafted in 1952 and sent to Camp Gordon, Ga. for 8 weeks Army basic training. After 5 weeks I got a weekend pass to leave base to nearby Augusta. The local police greeted us as we got off the bus and said we had free reign for only two blocks on the main drag, period. “Don’t stray or else it is back to base on the next bus.” The cops stationed at each end of the area were pointed out. So much for Southern Hospitality. (I suppose they had had their fill of trainees acting out after the first alcohol other than 2% near beer at the Camp PX.) My other memory of that time was that Pres. Eisenhower regularly played golf at the famous Augusta National Golf Club (segregated no more but no women members still). That’s the South for you.
My college roommate was proud to call himself an un-reconstructed Georgian, which was his ‘Country,’ by the way. He called it the War to Preserve States Rights. I pointed out that a small part of NJ was actually below the Mason Dixon line so peace was maintained during my Junior year at least.
Save your Dixie cups. The South will rise again!