Among the familiar tunes that will be heard this weekend at Fourth of July celebrations across the country will be the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." This song was composed during the War Between the States by Julia Ward Howe, the wife of Samuel Gridley Howe, a Unitarian and radical Abolitionist, as well as a supporter of the infamous assassin, John Brown. After hearing the popular tune "John Brown's Body" being sung by Union soldiers, Mrs. Howe was inspired to rewrite the lyrics, the words she penned reflecting her deep-seated hatred of the Southern people. In the song, she speaks of the building of an altar to the god of war, whose "fiery gospel" is "writ in burnished rows of steel," and of the messianic role of the Northern army in "crush[ing] the [Confederate] serpent" and "trampling out the vintage [blood] where the grapes of wrath [Southern Whites] are stored." Like many of her fellow Abolitionists, Howe agitated for an end to Southern slavery while viewing the Black man himself with disgust. She believed that the "ideal negro" must be "refined by white culture and elevated by white blood," because "the negro among negroes is coarse, grinning, flat-footed, thick-skulled creature, ugly as Caliban, lazy as the laziest brutes, chiefly ambitious to be of no use to any in the world.... He must go to school to the white race and his discipline must be long and laborious." How this subordination was to differ from the servitude under which the Blacks of the South were already placed, Howe did not explain. Needless to say, this "hymn" has no place in the celebration of patriotism and freedom, and much less should it be heard being sung by the descendents of those gallant Confederate soldiers who fought to preserve both for their posterity. For a more thorough treatment of this subject, see The Battle Hymn of the Republic, by Timothy D. Manning.

New Releases

History revisionists have long insisted that the true cause of the War Between the States was the allegedly immoral system of Southern slavery. This audio book will challenge everything you thought you knew about the "peculiar institution."

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This small book contains four of Miss Rutherford's public addresses: "The South in the Building of the Nation," "Thirteen Periods of American History," "Wrongs of History Righted," and "Historical Sins of Omission and Commission."

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In this little book, the author gives a helpful overview of such subjects as the slave trade and Southern slavery, State sovereignty, the causes of secession, Abraham Lincoln's violations of the Constitution and usurpation of power, and more.

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Book Review

What a delightful book for younger readers! Two Little Confederates is a fine historical novel about the War of Northern Aggression from the vantage point of two pre-teen Virginia boys. Penned by Thomas Nelson Page, a cousin of Robert E. Lee and a descendant of Jamestown colonists, this book was originally published in 1888 (this reprint was taken from the 1923 edition). Page was a prolific writer, a lawyer, and also the U.S. Ambassador to Italy during the Wilson Administration.

Page was born at the real Oakland Plantation in Virginia in 1853, where he sets the short novel for young readers, mid-elementary age and up. Younger children would likely enjoy Two Little Confederates as a read-aloud, and the book's picturesque verbiage lends itself well to that activity. Homeschoolers will find vocabulary words, irony, humor, and a well-developed plot to use.

Dedicated to author's mother, the book contains eight original pen-and-ink illustrations spread across the twenty chapters. The true-to-life feel of the anecdotes and adventures of Frank and Willy make the book a fine read. Truly, Page wrote Two Little Confederates for the senses, and his pen enables readers to fairly smell the "virgin forest," hear the colloquial dialect of servants and "po' white trash of Holetown," and see the fine Virginia troops who the boys are sure could do anything. continue reading...

Featured Article

This weekend, millions of Americans will gather in stadiums across the country to celebrate a myth — one that has been carefully constructed over many years to elicit the highest levels of emotion and devotion, while just as carefully concealing the historical facts which undermine it. The myth: we commemorate the birth of our nation on the Fourth of July.

The truth is that there was no birth of an American nation on 4 July 1776. Instead, there was merely a joint declaration of independence of thirteen States from their former allegiance to the British Crown — an allegiance that each, while in their colonial character, owed separately, not collectively, to the King via their individual charters. The official title of this declaration was "The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America." This was a shortened form of "The unaminous Declaration of Georgia, New York, Virginia, Massachusetts, etc." According to the rules of English grammar, the lower case letter in the word "united" rendered it an adjective rather than a part of the proper noun which followed, thus identifying their association with each another as one of purpose, not of a political nature. Prior to 1781, the closest the several States had ever come to establishing a common political bond between themselves was the First Continental Congress, which met briefly in Philadelphia in 1774 and consisted of delegates from twelve of the colonies (Georgia was not represented), chosen to consider an economic boycott of British trade and to petition King George III for a redress of their grievances. The Second Continental Congress was simply a reconvening of the First, for the purpose of organizing the defense of the colonies against British invasion and whose power was limited to issuing resolutions which had no legally binding authority whatsoever over any of the thirteen coloinies. continue reading...

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