I do have exactly one story about how a monument actually taught me something about history and it's the story of how I saw the marker in the park in Frederick, MD - which I saw by chance visiting a friend for a barbecue - of how Jubal Early robbed the town during the Civil War
-
Show this thread
-
If you're a Civil War geek you know this as part of his push through the Shenandoah in the summer of 1864 culminating in the Battle of Monocacy on July 9 But I'm less interested in battlefield stuff
1 reply 2 retweets 21 likesShow this thread -
If you weren't a soldier, then the more impactful event is that on the way to the battle they raided the town for supplies They looted all the valuables from everyone they could carry and forced the mayor to have the bank vault opened at gunpoint
1 reply 4 retweets 25 likesShow this thread -
The bank held the town government responsible for paying the debt and it took them literal decades to pay it off from tax revenue They put the marker up in like the 1930s after they made the last payment (in the middle of the fucking Depression)
1 reply 3 retweets 28 likesShow this thread -
That marker taught me more about the Civil War than all the statues of generals and soldiers and shit I've seen before or since Fuck the Confederates And also fuck the banks
3 replies 5 retweets 71 likesShow this thread -
Replying to @arthur_affect
Fuck the gentle peace. The bank SHOULD have been made whole, by seizing the wealth of rich non-slaveowners in the south. (Obvs, rich slaveowners’ wealth should have been liquidated and given to freedmen)
1 reply 2 retweets 7 likes -
Replying to @lawnerdbarak
Yeah the thing is the much more famous portrayal of soldiers looting and robbing and burning was the Union doing it to the South, a la Gone with the Wind But the Union really was just responding to the Confederates having started it
1 reply 2 retweets 13 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @lawnerdbarak
Also, robbing a slaveowner is just robbing a robber This was a whole thing, the Union Army taking in escaped slaves as "contraband" (archly describing them as property lawfully seized in the heat of battle)
1 reply 2 retweets 18 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect
Using a slave to aid a rebellion was conceived of as analogous to using a ship to conduct piracy: the ship was simply forfeit. Even if the owner was innocent and the ship was stolen! (This is the origin of asset forfeiture)
1 reply 1 retweet 13 likes
Yeah unlike the rough and ready "self-funding" nature of the Confederates' partisans the Union tried to keep things relatively aboveboard They couldn't just take stuff from slaveowners, it had to be auctioned off and the proceeds went to the Treasury
-
-
Replying to @arthur_affect @lawnerdbarak
Fun fact, overseeing these auctions and the lawful distribution of funds from contraband could only be done by an officer who held the rank of colonel or higher It is because of this that it is traditional to address the conductor of an auction by the courtesy title "Colonel"
1 reply 3 retweets 11 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @lawnerdbarak
I do greatly enjoy these little traditional ways to steal valor, like how anyone who just has a boat can be a "Captain"
3 replies 1 retweet 14 likes - Show replies
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.