A strange feeling of sadness creeps over me about this time each year. I can't really put my finger on it until I see today's date of April 9. Then I am almost moved to tears, and from there I go to anger and defiance, proudness and horror, thankfulness and peace, and then concern for the present and future. My emotions and thoughts are as complicated as this day was 156 years ago.
For on that day, my Great Great Grandfathers, Andrew Jackson Grizzard and John G. H. Braddock, surrendered at Appomattox with General Robert E. Lee. At the outset of the War for Southern Independence, they had mustered with the Gibson Guard in Sandersville, and they left their families and farms and headed North to join General Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia. They fought all the way through that most terrible of wars, and one was captured at Gettysburg but later released as part of a prisoner exchange. They went right back to fighting for what they believed in. When they laid down their arms for the final time, they hiked to Norfolk, caught a ship and sailed to Savannah, and then hiked back to their families in the red clay hills to rebuild their lives.
The title of my term paper for my senior year in high school was, "Why the South Lost the Civil War." In my paper, I intended to document the many disadvantages that the South had when compared to the North: less population, less industrial base, less railroads, etc. In addition, though the South had better generals and a greater will to fight at least early on, I intended to explore several tactical errors that cost the Confederacy an early victory. However, my research ultimately pointed me to real reason the South was defeated: Slavery. That system of oppression retarded the Southern states in every way and led to their ultimate destruction. What a terrible price to have paid for the cancer of slavery.
I am proud of my GGGF's and my Southern heritage, proud to be a Georgian and native Savannahnian, and proud to be a graduate of the greatest university in the South (those Yankee schools are of no account to me). And yes, I would have been right there along side of ole Grizzard and Braddock fighting hard and letting out Rebel Yells that would curdle the blood of the enemy Yankees. Depending upon where you originated, you would have been right there as well. No apologies, no excuses. Times and beliefs were just different then.
However, I am most proud to be an American and a citizen of the USA, and not the Confederacy. I am glad that we back up the words of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, that everyone is endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I am glad that America is the light of freedom throughout the world. Yes, we have some old war scars that remain, but let's not let them become a new cancer. As for me and my family, we wear our scars proudly.
For on that day, my Great Great Grandfathers, Andrew Jackson Grizzard and John G. H. Braddock, surrendered at Appomattox with General Robert E. Lee. At the outset of the War for Southern Independence, they had mustered with the Gibson Guard in Sandersville, and they left their families and farms and headed North to join General Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia. They fought all the way through that most terrible of wars, and one was captured at Gettysburg but later released as part of a prisoner exchange. They went right back to fighting for what they believed in. When they laid down their arms for the final time, they hiked to Norfolk, caught a ship and sailed to Savannah, and then hiked back to their families in the red clay hills to rebuild their lives.
The title of my term paper for my senior year in high school was, "Why the South Lost the Civil War." In my paper, I intended to document the many disadvantages that the South had when compared to the North: less population, less industrial base, less railroads, etc. In addition, though the South had better generals and a greater will to fight at least early on, I intended to explore several tactical errors that cost the Confederacy an early victory. However, my research ultimately pointed me to real reason the South was defeated: Slavery. That system of oppression retarded the Southern states in every way and led to their ultimate destruction. What a terrible price to have paid for the cancer of slavery.
I am proud of my GGGF's and my Southern heritage, proud to be a Georgian and native Savannahnian, and proud to be a graduate of the greatest university in the South (those Yankee schools are of no account to me). And yes, I would have been right there along side of ole Grizzard and Braddock fighting hard and letting out Rebel Yells that would curdle the blood of the enemy Yankees. Depending upon where you originated, you would have been right there as well. No apologies, no excuses. Times and beliefs were just different then.
However, I am most proud to be an American and a citizen of the USA, and not the Confederacy. I am glad that we back up the words of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, that everyone is endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I am glad that America is the light of freedom throughout the world. Yes, we have some old war scars that remain, but let's not let them become a new cancer. As for me and my family, we wear our scars proudly.
