War Blame Quotes

For years after the Civil War, many Southerners blamed the negative manifestations of the war on the wicked Yankees, rather than look to their own actions of starting the war and prosecuting it long after it was clear that they could not win.

Oates was a Confederate Colonel during the Civil War. His statement almost started a brawl as the Memorial Dedication was a joint North-South participation event. Northern politicians, officers and men were outraged and rose to their feet with several mounting the rostrum to refute Oates intemperate remarks. However, like Southern politicians of the 1960s, they produced a lot of redneck support with such extreme statements. The main reason this quotation is important is that most politicians of North and South wanted to get the animosity of the Civil War over with and to do so sponsored these memorial events where both sides could celebrate and remember the bravery of men fighting and dying for their cause. The photographs of former enemies shaking hands which the newspapers ran frequently, would give the impression that by the 1880s the hatred and animosity of the Civil War was behind the nation. However, that was not at all true. Most veterans of both sides maintained their hatreds throughout their entire lives. Even their children carried the hatred into the next generation. Politicians were expected to not open the scabs of the old wounds in public, but many like Oates found political utility in not doing so. The moral outrage of many in the North remained until WWII when regional unity genuinely transcended the Civil War. See {639364} for a Northern example with no political motive but with uncontrollable moral outrage.