Hoyt Cagle
Revisionism and Fort Pillow
Wed Jul 25 08:42:19 2001


I'm afraid that I have to take extreme exception to portions of your response to my recent post concerning revisionism. If you would bother to read my post dated 14 June under the title "Prisons," you would see that I state, "There were horrible atrocities on both sides, as there are in most wars? I will only say that if you have a passionate view of this topic (on either side of the issue) then by definition you are not an unbiased student of history but are rather more interested in advancing your own agenda." I feel as though you are tarring me with the very brush that I am attempting to fight against. I consider myself to be a serious student of history, not a cheerleader for either side of the issues involved. Far too many of your regulars automatically take up the Southern side on any given issue. They refuse to hear, see, or believe anything the least derogatory concerning the Confederacy, while readily believing all manner of evil connected with Yankees. This was my main premise in the post on revisionist.

As for the Fort Pillow massacre, certainly one of the best-documented atrocities of the war, you call me "extreme" and "absolute" for noting the preponderance of primary source data confirming that the massacre did indeed occur. I note, Mr. Martin, that you have never bothered to read the sworn testimony of persons present that day. I can confidently state this because of your remark that "history is written by the victor," while the testimony was taken and written in 1864, before there was a victor. Perhaps, despite your avowed wish "to look at things pragmatically and without bias," you yourself are somewhat (sub-consciously?) prejudiced toward the pro- Southern point of view. You certainly seem (like many others) to have made your mind up without bothering to review the evidence at all, much less pragmatically and without bias. I do not, in any sense of the word, intend any of my observations in this or previous posts to be construed as a personal attack on anyone, but rather only as observations of the lack of objectivity of many connected to this board who consider themselves to be serious students of history.

I certainly wish that the Confederate Congress had held hearings on some of the Union atrocities that occurred during the war. That way, we would have as good documentation on them as we do on the Fort Pillow massacre. I submit, however, that it would have done the revisionists no good. They would still take as Gospel the Confederate hearings, and totally discount as"propaganda" the Union ones.

Regards,
Hoyt Cagle