![]() History is dangerous! It forces us to question our personal and national myths and identity and that really upsets some people. People sent death threats to me, an army officer at West Point, about history. You may know me from a video I did six years ago on the cause of the Civil War (slavery BTW!). Memorials in stone and on paper were part of the foundation for white supremacy. ![]() ![]() After the war, white southerners created a series of myths and lies to maintain political power through terror, segregation, and disenfranchisement. Now, after years of study, I know that Confederates refused to accept a democratic election and chose treason and war to perpetuate human enslavement. Books, movies, my hometowns (Alexandria, VA and Monroe, GA), my college (Washington and Lee), the army, and West Point where I taught military history for two decades all glorified Confederates and supported white supremacy. Every part of my life led me to venerate enslavers and believe the Lost Cause Myth that the Civil War wasn’t fought over slavery and that Lee and his Confederate comrades were honorable gentlemen fighting for a righteous cause. Now, as a retired US Army brigadier general and professor emeritus of history at West Point, I know I was wrong. I grew up, however, believing that Lee was the greatest man who ever lived. ![]() Lee chose treason to protect and expand slavery. ![]()
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