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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Gene GeRue wrote:

What I meant is that if we
> wished to look at area attitudes, there must be some area between  
> certain south and certain north where people are more balanced in  
> their feelings about the Civil War and its ramifications. 

No such place, I don't think.


And having
> nothing to do with the Mason-Dixon survey line. 

That's certainly true.


Here in the Compromise
> state, I know people who have hardly any feelings about the Civil War  
> and others who are bigoted to embarrassment of those around them. 

I am trying to figure out a way to explain to you how you sound to me 
that you will understand.  Reading that sentence above is kind of like 
saying
" Ya know, I know people who have hardly any feelings about the Vietnam 
War(maybe they are too young or too old), and others (maybe veterans and 
families of veterans) who are bigoted and opinionated to embarrassment 
of those who can't relate."

Perhaps what you see and interpret as bigotry is just a reflection of 
your own lack of understanding of the situation.





Not
> sure why, but there is a crossing of Bryant Creek about a mile from  
> here named Nigger Ford. 

I'll tell you, Gene, you can profess to be in the Bible Belt all you 
want, but if the Bible Belt equates to being in the South, then you 
aren't in the South.  I know of NO place that uses that name, either 
officially or unofficially.  It would not be tolerated, and frankly, I 
am amazed that it is tolerated there.  I've lived in SC, GA, TN, AR, and 
NC, and I have NEVER heard that word used in a place name.



I have been unable to verify that perhaps it
> is so-called because a black family lived Tthere. 

or died there, or maybe operated the ferry there.


his County of Ozark,
> just above the Arkansas line, may have a black person, but I have not  
> met them.

Well, let's see...knowing the history of the blacks in this country, if 
I were black, I wouldn't live anywhere near a place called that.
I guess if there are no blacks in your county, that would explain why 
people are so tolerant of that name.  It's real easy to be tolerant if 
all the people are the same race.


 Btw, Battlefield is the name of a road and many other things
> in Springfield, Missouri, named for the Battle of Wilson's Creek near  
> Springfield on August 10, 1861

Almost everyone in the Eastern US lives near a battlefield of some sort. 
  I've never heard of that Battle, should I have?
I grew up in Cobb County, on land occupied during the Battle of Kennesaw 
Mountain.  I grew up and still live in an area totally ravaged by 
Sherman and those that came after him.  Even 100 years on, I can still 
see the damage.

A quick story..
My friend Sandy is from RI.  One day, while shopping for antiques, she 
said, Bev, we have got to go up to my neck of the woods--we have such 
wonderful antiques there, but down here, all there is is primitive 
stuff, less than 100 years old.
She never made the connection.

People think of Southerners as stupid, like it is a genetic defect or 
some disease.  They don't stop to think that when whole towns were 
burned-out of spite and hatred, not military strategy, it took many 
years to rebuild.  In some areas, reconstruction was still in place 80 
years later.  Multiple generations grew up without schools, without 
libraries, separated from the arts, culture, and media of the rest of 
the country.  In effect, we had two countries in one, but we did not 
have the benefit of being independent.


> I'm glad I grew up in a place where the Civil War was simply a very  
> sad occurrence in our history. I'd not want to carry around the  
> negative baggage that some seem to do.

And this shows that you are ignorant of the facts.  No offense.  Had you 
grown up in a place where when you looked out your window you saw a 
hill, ridge, or field where your grandfather/great grandfather watched 
his father or grandfather die, or maybe he saw his mother raped, or his 
home burned,  his animals killed, his crops for the winter destroyed. 
150 years seems like a long time, but within a family, it is but a few 
generations.  That negative baggage is their family history-it is part 
of who they ARE, and they are reminded of it everyday because they still 
live on the family land.  Or maybe they remember their Dad losing a hand 
during the Reconstruction years.  In the North, the proclaimed end of 
the war meant that Johnny was coming home and that no other men would 
die and no other hardship would be felt,  People came back and returned 
to their lives...I'm sure within 10 years or so, the war was a distant 
memory, much like we think of Persian Gulf I.  We went, we fought, we 
conquered, we came home, and we resumed our lives.  Things normalized.
In the South, the proclaimed end of the war meant that Phase I of the 
destruction and carnage was over(Sherman and troops had passed through), 
and stage II was beginning, the Carpetbaggers arrived and looted and 
stole anything they could find. )  Johnny very often did not have a home 
to come home to.  He would have to start over.  Everyone had to start 
over.  No jobs, no homes, no family, no community,  only chaos, and that 
chaos lasted in degrees for generations.  Those in the 
mountains-Appalachia- kept the arts and old ways alive as best as they 
could.  Celia, everything centered around family because that was all 
people had-all they could rely on-all that was important.  In the town 
where I reside, there are many, many families who remember the war like 
it happened 20 years ago.  It's their family history-their survival and 
triumph, and I haven't met anyone yet who thought of it as baggage.
We live in a place where any kid with 30 minutes can dig in a creek bank 
and find a bullet or some other artifact from the war.  You can walk 
through the woods on ridges and find earthworks still in place.  It is 
real.  Every May 13, the Re-enactment of the Battle of Resaca is jam 
packed.  People remember, because it is their history, it is their land, 
it is who they are..and you know what, even with all their loss, I doubt 
they would think of it as a 'sad occurrence' in our history.

Bev

--
BevanRon of EarthNSky Farm   NW Georgia USDA Zone 7
34.498N 85.076W    Bev is Earth, Ron is Sky