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The Lost Cause narrative's emphasis on the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox #OTD in 1865, at the hands of an overwhelmingly superior Union army, distorts a number of things, most notably the stubbornness on the part of Confederates to continue the fight.
Robert E. Lee himself was responsible for this in the language he chose for his Farewell Address of April 10, 1865 in which he praised his men for their steadfastness, bravery, and honor. But their devotion to the cause was, in part, a function... https://www.loc.gov/item/rbpe.18703400/
...of their commitment to defending the institution of slavery. Lincoln's decision to sign the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863 reinforced for many Confederates (slaveowners and nonslaveowners alike) just what was at stake in the war. That same month, Lee wrote to...
... to Confederate Secretary of War James Seddon pointing out the significance of Lee's proclamation. The introduction of black soldiers into the Union army only added to the sense of urgency among the rank-and-file and Confederates on the home front.
http://cwmemory.com/2011/11/18/robert-e-lee-on-robert-h-milroy-or-emancipation/
http://cwmemory.com/2011/11/18/robert-e-lee-on-robert-h-milroy-or-emancipation/
To better understand the impact of the proclamation and black soldiers on Confederates look no further than how they responded to their presence on Virginia battlefields and beyond. The best example, of course, is the failed Union assault at the Crater on July 30, 1864.
Confederates massacred upwards of 200 black Union soldiers during and after the battle. Their letters and diaries reveal, in no uncertain words, that Lee's men viewed blacks in uniform as slaves in rebellion. The Appomattox Campaign and eventual surrender must be understood...
...as the final chapter in a 9-month defense of a civilian population in Petersburg, Va from an army that now included thousands of black men in arms. The best book on Lee's army in its final year is still @jtracypower's *Lee's Miserables.* https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780807854143
On the Crater and how Confederates responded to black Union soldiers, see my book *Remembering the Battle of the Crater: War as Murder.*
The retreat of Lee's army out of Petersburg on April 2, 1865 and its eventual surrender nine days later... https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780813169729
The retreat of Lee's army out of Petersburg on April 2, 1865 and its eventual surrender nine days later... https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780813169729
...was the last barrier protecting a civilian population from everything they learned to fear in connection to violent race wars and slave uprisings going back at least to Nat Turner's Rebellion in Southampton County in 1831.
Finally, remember that there remained an unknown number of body servants (camp slaves) and impressed slaves still attached to Lee's Army of Northern Virginia in Apr 1865. Enslaved men were under assault by Union soldiers on multiple occasions during those final days.
Hundreds if not thousands of enslaved men were liberated along the "retreat" march and finally at Appomattox on April 9, 1865.
The Lost Cause was intended specifically to hide/distort such inconvenient facts.
The Lost Cause was intended specifically to hide/distort such inconvenient facts.
