Regarding the War of Northern Aggression, Jefferson Davis once made an interesting statement. He said: “Our children may forget this war, but we cannot. The war came and now it must go on till the last man of this generation falls in his tracks, and his children seize his musket and fight our battle.”

It would seem that Mr. Davis’ comment about the children picking up the musket was somewhat figurative and not meant to be literal. What he seemed to be saying was that the children would not forget what their fathers fought for (and it wasn’t slavery).

However, Mr. Davis was not taking into consideration the advent of the Northern system of public education that was foisted upon the South as an integral part of “reconstruction.” There was no way he could have grasped what effect this one part of “reconstruction” would have on the South, not in his own generation or in those to come.

The “fathers” in Davis’ day could have taught their children what the war was really all about to some extent, even with the Northern public school system then being put in place in the South. But what about after that generation was gone? What about after the South had had two or three generations of Northern public schooling with children being taught their Southern history from textbooks written in the North from the North’s perspective on the War?

That is where we are at today, roughly five generations after the War of Northern Aggression was over. Each succeeding generation has had the history watered down a little more until today’s young folks, in the main, have no sense whatever of their real history, heritage or culture and so, for the most part, they couldn’t care less.

Their teachers have taught them that the evil, racist South would be better off gone and all that matters is what you hear on the “news” media from Marxist thugs like Black Lives Matter and Antifa and a host of other far Left groups. Our young folks today have no real frame of reference for their history because their true past has been stolen from them. In fact it was stolen from their fathers also. This is one reason people in the South today just can’t be bothered trying to resist as the Leftists tear down our monuments and destroy our flags. Those who see the problem and try to warn others seem to be a minority anymore.

I never thought I would live to see the day when most Southern folks just couldn’t be bothered defending their heritage, but, sad to say, that now seems to be where we are at. I have been part of the Southern Heritage Movement since the late 1980s or early 1990s when we still lived in the North. When I could, I marched, picketed, wrote, gave speeches and did whatever I could to promote Southern heritage, both in the North and down here where we now live.

I recently read comments from a man in the Southern Heritage Movement that he made to people in the organization he is part of. He commented that some people in the group he belonged to have been screaming “What are we going to do about this?” referring to the dismantling of our heritage. And then he asked this question of those doing all the howling–“Where were you six years ago? The fight was beginning then and the support was poor. When city council meetings were held in New Orleans and Lafayette about taking down statues very few made the effort. The time when we could have made a difference by showing up in numbers is over. Hard to make a protest when the crane shows up to take away the statue.” And I’d be willing to bet that the people who have been hollering are the ones that did the least to preserve their heritage. They are complaining about this group or that “doing something” when what they really mean is “Why doesn’t someone do something so I don’t have to?” So this is where we are at today.

Here in the South we seem to have gotten to the point where the whiners are howling about someone protecting their heritage so they don’t have to be bothered. The gentleman who asked where they all were six years ago is an activist, but he does not have answers to what we do at this point. Neither do I, but I share his frustration. The good folks out there striving to protect and defend our heritage are never enough to be able to do what needs to be done–and they ain’t about to get any help from those doing the complaining.

Four generations of public education in the South have, for the most part, destroyed the will of people here to resist the destruction of their culture. When those trying to defend our culture now are gone who will replace them? It’s a good question. I only wish I had a good answer.

July 25, 2020

~ The Author ~
Al Benson Jr. is the editor and publisher of The Copperhead Chronicle, a quarterly newsletter that presents history from a pro-Southern and Christian perspective. He has written for several publications over the years. His articles have appeared in “The National Educator,” “The Free Magnolia,” and the “Southern Patriot.” I addition to that he was the editor of, and wrote for, “The Christian Educator” for several years. In addition to The Copperhead Chronicles, Al also maintains Revised History.

He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Confederate Society of America and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and has, in the past, been a member of the John Birch Society. He is the co-author, along with Walter D. Kennedy, of the book “Lincoln’s Marxists” and he has written for several Internet sites as well as authoring a series of booklets, with tests, dealing with the War of Northern Aggression, for home school students.

Mr. Benson is a highly respected scholar and writer and has graciously allowed Metropolis Café to publish his works. We are proud to have his involvement with this project.

He and his wife now live in northern Louisiana.