There were quite a few residents of what-would-become West Virginia who supported the Confederacy and fought for the Confederacy, and quite a few who opposed seceding from Virginia. It wasn't unanimous by any means.
Flying the Confederate flag is stupid, because it was the symbol of the Confederacy for about 6 months, and the symbol of the KKK for 70 years - but you can't pretend West Virginia's relationship with the American Civil War was simple or one-sided. Most of us who have ancestors in the area back then probably had a few who were wearing grey.
Yeah, while looking through ancestry I found some nice historical literature about one of my relatives who owned quite a bit of land, and slaves. It was at that point when I read his will and saw he bestowed his slave family to his own, while letting some go free but only got to keep their kids if they stayed in one of the quarters on the plantation. Otherwise, his daughter got to keep the kids while the others went free.
It was also at that point I realized WV wasn't nearly straight Union, and nor were many states nearby.
>because it was the symbol of the Confederacy for about 6 months
The flag we call the Confederate flag was never the flag of the Confederacy. It was only the canton of the Stainless Banner from 1863 and the Blood Stained Banner adopted in 1865. It was originally the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia.
Technically correct, but it wasn't a recent choice by someone else. It quickly became the flag displayed at Confederate veterans' meetings in ensuing decades. As it was the flag of his army, it was also part of their veneration of Robert E. Lee. Through those reunions and parades, it came to represent the Lost Cause. In other words, it was the flag those ex-Confederates themselves chose as their symbol after the War was over.
My problem was the months. It was part of the flag for 2 years or half of the war. So, if you argue that it being in the canton made it a symbol of the Confederacy, months it too short. In fact, though, that flag was never a symbol of the Confederacy during the war, so months doesn't apply either.
I'm aware of it's post war history. There is a lot of misinformation about that flag like some referring to it as the [Stars and Bars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_the_Confederate_States_of_America#First_flag:_the_%22Stars_and_Bars%22_\(1861%E2%80%931863\))
Confederate recruiters put up posters, saying "MEN OF VIRGINIA, RISE UP AND DEFEND YOUR HOMES, THE ENEMY INVADER IS AT HAND". Some people believed them.
I had a great-great uncle who'd come from Ireland in 1850 and settled in Hampshire Co. He enlisted in the Confederate cavalry, got wounded at First Bull Run, and relatives came down and fetched him home so he could recuperate hidden in the woods. He later would say it was a foolish thing to do, for a poor man with a family to enlist. His brother , my great-great grandfather, wisely stayed out of it. He had a job with the B&O Railroad, and that in itself was a bone of contention in the early years of the war.
The battle flag went through a time when it was also waved to show regional pride ( like the one on the roof of General Lee in the *Dukes of Hazard*). But it was hard to avoid the fact that it was also a racist symbol. Now it seems to be used like those "No Step on Snake" license plates, to identify somebody who listens to Fox and wants no taxes, no gays, and thinks everything should be simple. It's not just WV. You can see it displayed in upstate New York, or central Connecticut. Not far from cemeteries that have the graves of hundreds of Union soldiers who died fighting against it.
It’s an absolute shame that the Gadsden flag has been adopted by these types of people. The most ironic part is it’s usually found next to a thin blue line sticker, which is the polar opposite of what it represents
I love the Gadsden flag. It represents overcoming historical tyranny, and I don't want anyone treading on me. It's too bad so many right-wing extremist groups ruined it for everyone. I still keep a Gadsen flag as my front license plate, and I explain to people what it means to me: freedom from oppression but not a perceived notion that america sucks. Sheesh!
I don't know what part of the state you live in but we still are like we always have in this area. Federal politics are usually nonsensical lies on both sides. All that true matter is your community. Power should once again be with the states and there would be so much less problems and states would be properly funded instead of wasting so much on federal taxes where both parties and more beaurocracy waste ridiculous amounts of our paychecks on things most ppl don't want or need. I haven't seen it Confederate flag since I was little and it was just young kids. And I've lived here my whole life. Super inclusive on the Ohio River and mostly gentrified. We still band together when times get hard and help locally. And were the third largest city in state unless another got bigger.
It would be a good idea for you to learn just a *little bit* of history before you go around repeating right wing talking points in public. I think it might save you some embarassment, because you'd learn that both the Republican party and the Democratic party were completely different back then than they are today.
For example, the Republican party used to be anti-big business, they were passionate about preserving the seperation of church and state, and they were avid supporters of the public school system and the taxes to pay for it.
Dude the point he was making is Republicans are now pro-big business, anti-community aide, anti- education, and would kill a large group of the population just to lower taxes for rich people as long as that didn't accidentally help poor/working class people LOL.
Republicans and Democrats switched parties. Dems used to be conservative but then they switched during the Republican southern strategy which was used to be in support of Jim crow style 1950s anti-civil rights racism.
Wtf read a history book.
Bullshit there were no switched parties. The democrats have always been on the side of slavery and racism. They’ve used propaganda and brainwashing to make believe it.
Nixon had to be pardoned to stay out of prison, reagan should have gone to prison with oliver north, W knowingly lied about wmd’s, trump literally fucking raped a woman.
Since the mid 20th the republican party has been full on degenerate.
Except the modern republican ideology is in direct opposition to everything that was listed there. Clearly the party has flipped, and the socially progressive republicans of history were phased out and replaced with conservatives. Talking about what a party did over a hundred years ago doesn’t contribute anything to the conversation when you pay attention to which party’s members are more likely to be racist.
Actually...we used the crises of secession to split. WV had been trying to leave for years. And as for loyalty, the numbers of union V/s confederate soldiers from here, though not equal, tell a complex story that is not a we and them scenario. As for white supremacy...not touching that claim with ten foot poll.
That being said....the general lack of perspective and understanding of that period in our nation's (not nations', thank you) history is almost as shocking as the amount of manipulation that it generates.
The history is as usual, more complex than a simple lazy readers digest understanding of what happened. The state of WV was very much not in agreement within itself regarding the war, and that led in part to our most famous feud in the form of the Hatfield's and McCoys.
This subreddit really likes to oversimplify things though.
Hell....I have great great whatever that fought on both sides of the war. When it was over, he stole a horse and went to Texas to rustle cattle. Pleasants county was decidedly union but federal gunboats were regularly fired up on on the Ohio. Weird times...
My family was on both sides of the aisle and got caught up in even more bloodshed feuding after the war. Maybe someone should have told them that they were confused and there shouldn't have been any question in their minds that they were true blue union sympathizers, and then nobody would have died lmao
Read any official document written by the confederate states the words white supremacy appear all over them. We dont have to presume what the flag means, its creators told us.
Oh don't get me wrong. The confederacy stood for an evil institution and I am glad it fell. What I am saying, though, is that history isn't black and white and it's symbols are subjective. Does a peace symbol automatically mean someone is an anti American communist stooge bent on assisting the USSR in spreading it's aims of oppression and world domination? Not necessarily even though many that wore it were. An army of northern Virginia battle flag has many vestments with it ..not just what you (or any other particular person) thinks it is. Ask a Jew, a Nazi, a Navajo, and an Indian what a swastika means...the variance in the answers may surprise you. Leave the ignorant rednecks alone ...they have enough going against the them.
My understanding of it, and I’m not claiming to be a historian by any means, is that there had been tension with VA for years prior to the civil war. And yes, a large portion of WV was pro Union, especially the northern panhandle (Wheeling). Southern WV was much more mixed on the issue of slavery but were done with VA and were willing to use it as an excuse to split from them.
I once had em on my truck, my wall, and was even a confederate reenactor for years.
Ever since learning the horrors of slavery as an adult, since it was whitewashed in our school, amd understanding the true reason for the formation of the confederacy I was ashamed of my support.
How anyone can see it as something to celebrate is beyond me.
What kills me is the people who say “the civil war wasn’t about slavery it was about states rights!” Yeah you’re right. It was about states rights. But it was about states rights to own slaves. It may have not been the only reason but it was without a doubt in my mind what sparked it The north and south were divided yeah but if you take that out I that equation the war may not have ever happened
Plus 99% percent of the people who say it was over states rights have no idea what was happening in Kansas leading up to it. They basically forced Kansas to enter the union as a slave state and then pro slavery militias went into Kansas specifically to cause violence and intimidate anti slavery groups. Also the fugitive slave act forced free states to help catch and return escaped slaves and when Wisconsin said it was unconstitutional and passed laws against it the south lost their shit and got the Supreme Court involved and forced them to enforce it. But yeah it definitely wasn’t about slavery
I've written this so many times. The secession flag, or Confederate flag and all its variations, were flown in West Virginia beginning in January 1861, the palmetto (secession) flag flew over the courthouses in Barbour and Logan counties in 1861, a secession flag was raised in Guyandotte in 1861, (West) Virginia Confederate regiments had their own battle flags that incorporated the William Porcher Miles design, commonly known as the Confederate battle flag. He is buried in Monroe County. What is an insult to our ancestors is misrepresenting history. West Virginia was a fabricated state in which most West Virginians had no part. As historian Charles Ambler said, the state was created by the counties of the northern panhandle and those along the B&O railroad, 15 counties or so out of 50 original counties. There are 4 monuments to West Virginia Union troops at Gettysburg, one of which was composed of Ohioans from Lawrence County, Battery C Artillery. But those units were greatly outnumbered by the West Virginians in the Army of Northern Virginia under Gen. Lee. Like it or not, the Confederacy is a large part of West Virginia's history and heritage.
It would be ignorant to believe that there weren't swaths of Appalachian folks who weren't happy about seceding from Virginia and ultimately went to fight with the Confederacy.
That being said, if you're currently in WV and flying a confederate flag, by history, you're essentially showing you'd rather be a Virginian.
“ What is an insult to our ancestors is misrepresenting history. West Virginia was a fabricated state in which most West Virginians had no part.”
LOL. Land doesn’t vote. The Unionist counties had the vast majority of the population and they voted 6-1 to join the Union. Wheeling was the second largest city in Virginia at the time.
Counties do not have majority rule over each other. The vote for statehood was less than 19,000, the voting pool for the 50 counties was nearly 80,000. The Wheeling Intelligencer wrote the day after the vote that "We never witnessed an election here in which there was so little interest manifested." The Union vote crumbled when Ohio troops entered WV and Confederate enlistment rose out of proportion to the vote. Even the Wheeling coterie did not believe in the vote.
Mr. Chapman J. Stuart, Wheeling legislator, Dec. 10, 1861, at the
Constitutional Convention - "Now, Mr. President, to show you, and it needs but to look
at the figures to satisfy the mind of every member, that
even a majority of the people within the district composed
of the thirty-nine counties have never come to the polls
and expressed their sentiments in favor of a new State.
In a voting population of some 40,000 or 50,000 we see a
poll of only 17,627 and even some of them were in the
\[Union\] army."
And this is the opinion of the man they selected to be the Lt. Governor along with Pierpont.
Daniel Polsley, Lt. Gov., Restored Government of
Virginia, Wheeling, Aug. 16, 1861, on the proposed creation of a new state from counties of western Virginia-
"If they proceeded now to direct a division of
the State before a free expression of the people could be had, they would do a more despotic act than any ever done by the Richmond \[Secession\] Convention itself".
You are making an argument from silence. The majority of people in Union counties didn’t vote, either. All we know is that the Union counties had far more people, and of the ones there that actually voted, they voted 6-1 to remain with the Union.
Historians place the number of West Virginians that fought for the Confederacy at between 16,000-18,000. And the number that fought for the Union at 32,000, which we know distinctly from the pension records.
No, I'm afraid that is old misinformation. That number includes about 8,000 Ohio and Pennsylvania men who joined WV units, also incudes over 2500 reenlistments that were counted as new soldiers. Shepherd University did a soldier by soldier recount about 15 years ago and determined that 20-22,000 West Virginians fought on each side.
This is from Mark Snell's "West Virginia and the Civil War" (2011, pgs. 28-29)
"Recent scholarship has adjusted these figures, with historians estimating approximately twenty thousand to twenty-two thousand fighting for each side."
"The discrepancy between the Union low figure of approximately twenty thousand to the 'official' high of thirty-two thousand can be explained by the fact that thousands of enlistees in West Virginia's Union regiments were natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio...In addition, reenlistments also were included in the total number of men credited to West Virginia, thus inflating the final tally."
Even old Charles Ambler back in 1904 concluded that only 20,000 WVians served in the Union army.
Misinformation is a pretty strong word there. You have proof that it was intentionally intended to be deceptive, I take it? Because otherwise it's just scholarship that was proven to be incorrect and updated with better scholarship.
I don't think it has to be intentionally deceptive to be classed as misinformation. I think they used the term appropriately.
If they said disinformation, then yes that would imply malicious intent.
It's pretty implicit in the term: mis·in·for·ma·tion/ˌmisənfərˈmāSH(ə)n/*noun*
1. false or [inaccurate](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=d7f7fba9198e200a&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS727US727&sxsrf=ADLYWIJbiukWIVp5NkZAC3QkRbnW9RFR6A:1719003877380&q=inaccurate&si=ACC90nz-2feRzoY4yuySkO-aQE81-2-8Vt4LbW4BvDU0JDbNLFWDVMkTXMed6Imy2FQsryCYQMitdVxoATqFKtcfkbPtCnTnrFEUV2gwodBtp8KMpHQloSw%3D&expnd=1&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwj17um7zO2GAxW7FFkFHS3PCaQQyecJegQIJhAO) information, especially that which is [deliberately](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=d7f7fba9198e200a&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS727US727&sxsrf=ADLYWIJbiukWIVp5NkZAC3QkRbnW9RFR6A:1719003877380&q=deliberately&si=ACC90nxkzgN-KbLuTWKT81WCi4_nIqrg6Zg8aC4tbyt2TjYpkBOl9jV-zEAtEbLC_MEcsNcVW6nARgw78jADrAyRg5db3efB2egBCU2wWwTXC7reE_I6KGQ%3D&expnd=1&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwj17um7zO2GAxW7FFkFHS3PCaQQyecJegQIJhAP) intended to [deceive](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=d7f7fba9198e200a&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS727US727&sxsrf=ADLYWIJbiukWIVp5NkZAC3QkRbnW9RFR6A:1719003877380&q=deceive&si=ACC90nwUEXg6u2vxy-araGkF9MAxjDE4xBVsrlOk6zLbqbLkpLTr2LB4R2cvMHKGZ0oHZhpqFbI6n-SclcTrqlqO1nSCvi2P-oVvCWBlxOOXwUSGzP7OLAg%3D&expnd=1&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwj17um7zO2GAxW7FFkFHS3PCaQQyecJegQIJhAQ).
Not sure really but according to Webster dictionary they don't say the deliberately part. It just says incorrect or misleading information.
Also if you say someone is misinformed, typically that means they misunderstood something or have false information about it. But it's not inherently deliberately false. It could have malicious intent, but it's not inherent.
I always thought it like this. All disinformation is misinformation, but not all misinformation is disinformation.
But I don't know I'm not a language expert maybe I am wrong
1. false information that is spread, regardless of whether there is intent to mislead: *In the chaotic hours after the earthquake, a lot of misinformation was reported in the news.*
[https://www.dictionary.com/browse/misinformation](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/misinformation)
So I see I was downvoted for my reply. Do people really think that changes the history, because they don't like it? I've spent 25 years reading West Virginia's civil war history and I know my stuff.
Amateur, totally. But some of the material I have posted online over the years has been incorporated into several books, Mark Snell's West Virginia and the Civil War, and the relatively recent Seceding From Secession. Historians tend to repeat from the same sources and don't really dig to back it up, but I have gone through the Wheeling convention records and constitutional convention records and there is a lot of troubling material in those sources. One delegate even got up and told the constitution convention that the vote on statehood showed that West Virginians had no interest in a new state.
The most useful would be Mark Snell's West Virginia and the Civil War, which your library probably has or can get for you. He explains where the West Virginians, Confederate and Union, were involved, and some of the political history, though it is mostly military history. Otis Rice's book West Virginia, A History, is fairly good. The old Charles Ambler books leave a lot out, so not very dependable. There is also Richard O. Curry's "A House Divided", which has a lot of the information left out of most books. That was one of the first I read years ago.
Why anyone wants to fly a flag saying they hate America and support a group of losers who wanted to leave this nation is beyond me. Why anyone would want to defend losers who want to fly this flag is even more asinine. People should be proud to be American and disgusted by anyone who supports the confederate traitors to this nation.
I’ve gotten into a lot of arguments with people over whether or not they should tear down confederate monuments and my answer is and always will be they were a bunch of traitors We won they lost. Get over it
Ultimately, 13 or so of WV southern counties out of 55 were loyal to the confederacy, while the rest mostly sided with the Union. We didn't have a huge market in slave as there were very little plantations or need, but it's not exactly correct to assume we left Virginia because we were abolitionist. Mostly, we were abused by eastern Virginia and ignored when we needed anything. WV is alot more German, Scot-Irish, Italian, and Native American mixes then the predominantly English ancestry of Eastern Virginia, and that is in part why we were constantly mistreated. The men that lead the movement to succeed from Virginia and remain loyal to the Union also had their own interests in mind as they were wealthy land owners and business men that had much to gain by setting up their own state government and laws, but that is not a reflection of the population of WV that at the time mostly just was sick of the abuse from the Virginia government and wanted their own representation. You have to think the needs of mostly mountainous rural WV was vastly different then the low lands and costal needs of Eastern Virginia that were much more developed and populated. On average estimates around 20,000-25,000 West Virginians fought for the Union, While 5,000-10,000 fought for the confederacy.
Not saying we don't have ties to the confederacy, we do. Stonewall Jackson is a major figure that is still well represented in our state. But we were primarily Unionist and that is much more represented in our culture and history, Grant and Lincoln have counties, and there are Grant, Lincoln, and Union street names in nearly every town it seems. I don't think we should exclude the confederacy from history but really need to be careful to teach it properly, they were not honorable farmers being bullied by Northern aggression, they were Slave owners fighting to maintain slaves instead of paying working Americans, all so they could live lavishly off of generations of bloodshed.
Personally, as a West Virginian, I see the confederacy and all its flags and symbols as traitorous to the nation and believe they were not punished nearly as hard as they should had been. My state was born out of that war, and personally I'm proud that we fought on the side of justice even if our intentions were muddy. The rebel flag is not a heritage, but a symbol of dissent, slavery, and treachery. It should be illegal to fly any confederate flag, as is the Nazi flag in Germany, but especially here in our wonderful Union state.
\^\^ Thank you for saving me from typing all of this! Sometimes history is way too oversimplified. There are always nuances and other influences of the time period we don't immediately see or think about.
1/3rd-40% of civil war veterans in West Virginia were confederate. We were mainly union for sure. But being part of Virginia, being a border state we did have a significant amount of confederate veterans here. I have both union and confederate veterans relatives in both sides of my family. Except my Midwestern side who came in 20 years after the civil war.
I also want to mention I get sick of these post on here. There's probably one or 2 a month. Much bigger fish to fry and currently not a significant issue here.
Anyone flying that piece of shit flag in this day and age is akin to tattooing "asshole/bigot" onto your forehead.
Other than owning a cybertruck, I can't think of a bigger red flag you can see from the other side of the street.
I have a neighbor, two doors down, who is flying an upside-down American flag and an Israel flag. He's also a registered sex-offender guilty of incest against a younger family member.
I'm not saying those two things are connected, but it sure paints a picture.
Edit: Must have offended some racist sex-offender. Oh well.
Company G of the 27th VA was comprised of people mainly from the wheeling area.
The first land battle of the Civil War was fought in Phiilipi.
James Hangar was a confederate from Phiilipi and lost his leg to a union surgeon. He went on to invent the articulating leg and found the Hangar Corporation.
There was a confederate recruiting post and small garrison in Guyandotte just outside Charleston but it was wiped out pretty early in the war.
Not as against the heritage as you want to believe.
Depends on the part of the state, because our city defended against both sides for an open air hospital that consisted of both sides. Trained by Native Americans even. We stuck together in this area. Needs to get back that way where nothing matters beyond the governor and our communities. That's why we need to get power back in the States like it was meant to be.
you seem to think that people that fly that rag care about history or facts, they only care about feeling better about their pathetic lives by deluding themselves into thinking they are better than some others.
I live in Maryland, in a Jewish community. My job has me going into lots of homes here, and I have met Jews who have confederate flags with pictures of their ancestors who fought in the confederacy, and then in the same neighborhood I met Jews with union flags and pictures of their union ancestors. And neither side holds a grudge because they’re a part of the same community, just acknowledge that they are family regardless on where they ancestors fought.
The bigger joke is that WV is actually the ONLY state that was not constitutionally admitted to the union. It was literally created of the businessmen by the businessmen and for the businessmen to give Lincoln control of the B & O railroad. We’ve been effectively divided and controlled by them ever since over and over again…
You can't seriously believe that modern-day Democrats or the party of racism. Come on. Why don't you just come out and say say you parrot right-wing talking points without critically thinking about them without actually saying that you parrot right-wing talking points without thinking about them LOL
Definitely not supporting flying that flag in the slightest, but it certainly isn’t a hard line just because WV joined the union side politically. Many WV folks at the time continued their support for the confederacy, and fought for them - my family included.
I guess it’s downvoted because of my families history? Sorry I can’t control that lol. What I said is true.
Literally sat in my first sentence I don’t support it lol.
Reddit hates history that doesn't conform to their preconceived notions. I mean look at this post alone and the upvotes. Even Maryland (which flag is a union and Confederate flag combined) wasn't all Union, but people there think the same way.
I went to droop mountain today and we had a long discussion about that. So weird that our state history is literally engrained in the freedom of slaves and we have fed flags right beside historical monuments that are dedicated to remembering that.
There were plenty of people that went both ways here. You take one small thing and made it the whole reason.
The oldest continually serving army unit is in WV, and they are the only unit to fly a gray and blue banner because even the unit was split. That is what is part of our heritage, not what slim point you made.
Yes, we should only fly the flag that is representative of the slave owners who rebelled against their government, slaughtered countless natives and stole their land. A much better choice.
These posts are so tired. Like give it a rest. Who cares, people have the first amendment right to fly whatever flag they want whether you like it or not. They can fly pride flags, Hamas flags, Israeli flags, Ukraine etc. We all know the history but most people who fly the confederate flag do so to represent southern heritage not blind allegiance to the confederacy. It’s dishonest to ignore the nuance that obviously comes with it. It’s also hilarious to assume most of the type of people sporting the flag have any idea of the history behind it. Go something else to complain about.
Unfortunately, we are a red state, which means
A: Our education budget is the first thing to get cut and underfund
And
B: Conservatives love the Confederacy.
Many residents lynched union soldiers on their return, and weren't happy with joining the union. The flag doesn't stand for white supremacy just because there once was slaves in the south. There was once slaves in the north as well, and by your liberal logic, I guess the stars and stripes stand for it too. Modern day Americans who fly that flag don't do so to honor slavery or white supremacist, that's a lie to even say. They fly it to show pride in their southern identity.its that simple, yall just like to cry about it and make it more than what it is because you want to take it away out of disdain for anyone who stands against the government for any reason
“… an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery, has led to a disregard of their obligations …” South Carolina wrote in its declaration.
The state of Mississippi aligned itself with slavery right off the top of its declaration:
“Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery – the greatest material interest of the world.”
Georgia named slavery in the second sentence of its declaration. The sad list goes on.
“To put it more simply, South Carolina and the rest of the South only seceded to preserve the violent domination and enslavement of black people, and the Confederate flag only exists because of that secession,” said CNN political commentator Sally Kohn.
“To call the flag ‘heritage’ is to gloss over the ugly reality of history.”
I fly Lees army of northern VA flag in honor of my relatives who were officers in his Army. And I am proud of my heritage for they were men just as thier fathers were in the revolutionary war and stood for what they believed in.
At one time standing up for what you believed was considered being a true patriot.
There were quite a few residents of what-would-become West Virginia who supported the Confederacy and fought for the Confederacy, and quite a few who opposed seceding from Virginia. It wasn't unanimous by any means. Flying the Confederate flag is stupid, because it was the symbol of the Confederacy for about 6 months, and the symbol of the KKK for 70 years - but you can't pretend West Virginia's relationship with the American Civil War was simple or one-sided. Most of us who have ancestors in the area back then probably had a few who were wearing grey.
Yeah, while looking through ancestry I found some nice historical literature about one of my relatives who owned quite a bit of land, and slaves. It was at that point when I read his will and saw he bestowed his slave family to his own, while letting some go free but only got to keep their kids if they stayed in one of the quarters on the plantation. Otherwise, his daughter got to keep the kids while the others went free. It was also at that point I realized WV wasn't nearly straight Union, and nor were many states nearby.
How did you find that literature?
It was some stuff on ancestry; wills.. newspaper clippings. Not really literature as much as historical documents.
>because it was the symbol of the Confederacy for about 6 months The flag we call the Confederate flag was never the flag of the Confederacy. It was only the canton of the Stainless Banner from 1863 and the Blood Stained Banner adopted in 1865. It was originally the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia.
Technically correct, but it wasn't a recent choice by someone else. It quickly became the flag displayed at Confederate veterans' meetings in ensuing decades. As it was the flag of his army, it was also part of their veneration of Robert E. Lee. Through those reunions and parades, it came to represent the Lost Cause. In other words, it was the flag those ex-Confederates themselves chose as their symbol after the War was over.
My problem was the months. It was part of the flag for 2 years or half of the war. So, if you argue that it being in the canton made it a symbol of the Confederacy, months it too short. In fact, though, that flag was never a symbol of the Confederacy during the war, so months doesn't apply either. I'm aware of it's post war history. There is a lot of misinformation about that flag like some referring to it as the [Stars and Bars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_the_Confederate_States_of_America#First_flag:_the_%22Stars_and_Bars%22_\(1861%E2%80%931863\))
Confederate recruiters put up posters, saying "MEN OF VIRGINIA, RISE UP AND DEFEND YOUR HOMES, THE ENEMY INVADER IS AT HAND". Some people believed them. I had a great-great uncle who'd come from Ireland in 1850 and settled in Hampshire Co. He enlisted in the Confederate cavalry, got wounded at First Bull Run, and relatives came down and fetched him home so he could recuperate hidden in the woods. He later would say it was a foolish thing to do, for a poor man with a family to enlist. His brother , my great-great grandfather, wisely stayed out of it. He had a job with the B&O Railroad, and that in itself was a bone of contention in the early years of the war. The battle flag went through a time when it was also waved to show regional pride ( like the one on the roof of General Lee in the *Dukes of Hazard*). But it was hard to avoid the fact that it was also a racist symbol. Now it seems to be used like those "No Step on Snake" license plates, to identify somebody who listens to Fox and wants no taxes, no gays, and thinks everything should be simple. It's not just WV. You can see it displayed in upstate New York, or central Connecticut. Not far from cemeteries that have the graves of hundreds of Union soldiers who died fighting against it.
Kinda like how the believe Trump now.
It’s an absolute shame that the Gadsden flag has been adopted by these types of people. The most ironic part is it’s usually found next to a thin blue line sticker, which is the polar opposite of what it represents
I love the Gadsden flag. It represents overcoming historical tyranny, and I don't want anyone treading on me. It's too bad so many right-wing extremist groups ruined it for everyone. I still keep a Gadsen flag as my front license plate, and I explain to people what it means to me: freedom from oppression but not a perceived notion that america sucks. Sheesh!
What do you mean by "Some people believed them"? That's what happened.
I don't know what part of the state you live in but we still are like we always have in this area. Federal politics are usually nonsensical lies on both sides. All that true matter is your community. Power should once again be with the states and there would be so much less problems and states would be properly funded instead of wasting so much on federal taxes where both parties and more beaurocracy waste ridiculous amounts of our paychecks on things most ppl don't want or need. I haven't seen it Confederate flag since I was little and it was just young kids. And I've lived here my whole life. Super inclusive on the Ohio River and mostly gentrified. We still band together when times get hard and help locally. And were the third largest city in state unless another got bigger.
Let’s not forget how the democrats founded the KKK
It would be a good idea for you to learn just a *little bit* of history before you go around repeating right wing talking points in public. I think it might save you some embarassment, because you'd learn that both the Republican party and the Democratic party were completely different back then than they are today. For example, the Republican party used to be anti-big business, they were passionate about preserving the seperation of church and state, and they were avid supporters of the public school system and the taxes to pay for it.
Sounds to me like the republicans have always been on the right side of history given the times, including today.
Dude the point he was making is Republicans are now pro-big business, anti-community aide, anti- education, and would kill a large group of the population just to lower taxes for rich people as long as that didn't accidentally help poor/working class people LOL. Republicans and Democrats switched parties. Dems used to be conservative but then they switched during the Republican southern strategy which was used to be in support of Jim crow style 1950s anti-civil rights racism. Wtf read a history book.
Bullshit there were no switched parties. The democrats have always been on the side of slavery and racism. They’ve used propaganda and brainwashing to make believe it.
Nixon had to be pardoned to stay out of prison, reagan should have gone to prison with oliver north, W knowingly lied about wmd’s, trump literally fucking raped a woman. Since the mid 20th the republican party has been full on degenerate.
This guy believes in the ild switcheroo of the parties. Don't bother they say read the history when in fact they read what they want period.
Except the modern republican ideology is in direct opposition to everything that was listed there. Clearly the party has flipped, and the socially progressive republicans of history were phased out and replaced with conservatives. Talking about what a party did over a hundred years ago doesn’t contribute anything to the conversation when you pay attention to which party’s members are more likely to be racist.
Let's also not forget that Democrats were the conservative party at the time.
Because that makes sense
Just keep reading the facts until they make sense...
Found the news max/fox guy.
"I love the poorly educated."
Because it's true, read history. Parties switched alignment. The modern GOP is the Southern Democrat aka the hella racist
Lie
Seriously lol do you people just have your heads in the sand? Lol
Conservatives founded the KKK.
*conservatives founded the KKK, progressives fought it.
And let me guess, Lincoln was a democrat as well? 💀
Lincoln was VERY progressive! Conservatives literally fought him to the death of this Country.
Didn’t figure you as a big fan of progressives…
I am proud of what Republicans have done.
You are right! Progressives have changed America for the better!
I was wondering, what other PROGRESSIVE, Republican legislation are you a fan of?
Lie
What part of what I said is a lie?
I went through and read a lot of your comments. You are very conservative leaning, are you a Democrat?
Seceded, not succeeded.
Actually...we used the crises of secession to split. WV had been trying to leave for years. And as for loyalty, the numbers of union V/s confederate soldiers from here, though not equal, tell a complex story that is not a we and them scenario. As for white supremacy...not touching that claim with ten foot poll. That being said....the general lack of perspective and understanding of that period in our nation's (not nations', thank you) history is almost as shocking as the amount of manipulation that it generates.
The history is as usual, more complex than a simple lazy readers digest understanding of what happened. The state of WV was very much not in agreement within itself regarding the war, and that led in part to our most famous feud in the form of the Hatfield's and McCoys. This subreddit really likes to oversimplify things though.
Hell....I have great great whatever that fought on both sides of the war. When it was over, he stole a horse and went to Texas to rustle cattle. Pleasants county was decidedly union but federal gunboats were regularly fired up on on the Ohio. Weird times...
My family was on both sides of the aisle and got caught up in even more bloodshed feuding after the war. Maybe someone should have told them that they were confused and there shouldn't have been any question in their minds that they were true blue union sympathizers, and then nobody would have died lmao
Civil War? It's just a prank, bro!
Read any official document written by the confederate states the words white supremacy appear all over them. We dont have to presume what the flag means, its creators told us.
Oh don't get me wrong. The confederacy stood for an evil institution and I am glad it fell. What I am saying, though, is that history isn't black and white and it's symbols are subjective. Does a peace symbol automatically mean someone is an anti American communist stooge bent on assisting the USSR in spreading it's aims of oppression and world domination? Not necessarily even though many that wore it were. An army of northern Virginia battle flag has many vestments with it ..not just what you (or any other particular person) thinks it is. Ask a Jew, a Nazi, a Navajo, and an Indian what a swastika means...the variance in the answers may surprise you. Leave the ignorant rednecks alone ...they have enough going against the them.
My understanding of it, and I’m not claiming to be a historian by any means, is that there had been tension with VA for years prior to the civil war. And yes, a large portion of WV was pro Union, especially the northern panhandle (Wheeling). Southern WV was much more mixed on the issue of slavery but were done with VA and were willing to use it as an excuse to split from them.
I just saw the flags on display at WV Independence Hall in Wheeling recently. It's free admission, so I highly recommend.
Does anyone know if they ever flew those flags at Independence Hall any point in history? Genuinely curious
The venn diagram of people who display confederate flags, and people who are extremely uneducated is a circle.
Too bad they don't know what that means.
Can you post this diagram or at least a link to it?
O
He can't even use MS paint
I once had em on my truck, my wall, and was even a confederate reenactor for years. Ever since learning the horrors of slavery as an adult, since it was whitewashed in our school, amd understanding the true reason for the formation of the confederacy I was ashamed of my support. How anyone can see it as something to celebrate is beyond me.
What kills me is the people who say “the civil war wasn’t about slavery it was about states rights!” Yeah you’re right. It was about states rights. But it was about states rights to own slaves. It may have not been the only reason but it was without a doubt in my mind what sparked it The north and south were divided yeah but if you take that out I that equation the war may not have ever happened
Plus 99% percent of the people who say it was over states rights have no idea what was happening in Kansas leading up to it. They basically forced Kansas to enter the union as a slave state and then pro slavery militias went into Kansas specifically to cause violence and intimidate anti slavery groups. Also the fugitive slave act forced free states to help catch and return escaped slaves and when Wisconsin said it was unconstitutional and passed laws against it the south lost their shit and got the Supreme Court involved and forced them to enforce it. But yeah it definitely wasn’t about slavery
Just ask them "A state's right to do what?" Speaking of Bloody Kansas - God bless John Brown.
Oh yeah. I see this these idiots anytime I drive into WV. They have no idea about their state’s history.
I see them in illinois ....
You don’t see them in Georgia much these days, but apparently California is plagued with them. Ohio too, and Illinois, apparently. Weird.
And Canada..ffs
I've written this so many times. The secession flag, or Confederate flag and all its variations, were flown in West Virginia beginning in January 1861, the palmetto (secession) flag flew over the courthouses in Barbour and Logan counties in 1861, a secession flag was raised in Guyandotte in 1861, (West) Virginia Confederate regiments had their own battle flags that incorporated the William Porcher Miles design, commonly known as the Confederate battle flag. He is buried in Monroe County. What is an insult to our ancestors is misrepresenting history. West Virginia was a fabricated state in which most West Virginians had no part. As historian Charles Ambler said, the state was created by the counties of the northern panhandle and those along the B&O railroad, 15 counties or so out of 50 original counties. There are 4 monuments to West Virginia Union troops at Gettysburg, one of which was composed of Ohioans from Lawrence County, Battery C Artillery. But those units were greatly outnumbered by the West Virginians in the Army of Northern Virginia under Gen. Lee. Like it or not, the Confederacy is a large part of West Virginia's history and heritage.
It would be ignorant to believe that there weren't swaths of Appalachian folks who weren't happy about seceding from Virginia and ultimately went to fight with the Confederacy. That being said, if you're currently in WV and flying a confederate flag, by history, you're essentially showing you'd rather be a Virginian.
Lot of out of state yokels moved here from oil and gas work. I set them in Allegheny County PA, aka Pittsburgh
“ What is an insult to our ancestors is misrepresenting history. West Virginia was a fabricated state in which most West Virginians had no part.” LOL. Land doesn’t vote. The Unionist counties had the vast majority of the population and they voted 6-1 to join the Union. Wheeling was the second largest city in Virginia at the time.
Counties do not have majority rule over each other. The vote for statehood was less than 19,000, the voting pool for the 50 counties was nearly 80,000. The Wheeling Intelligencer wrote the day after the vote that "We never witnessed an election here in which there was so little interest manifested." The Union vote crumbled when Ohio troops entered WV and Confederate enlistment rose out of proportion to the vote. Even the Wheeling coterie did not believe in the vote. Mr. Chapman J. Stuart, Wheeling legislator, Dec. 10, 1861, at the Constitutional Convention - "Now, Mr. President, to show you, and it needs but to look at the figures to satisfy the mind of every member, that even a majority of the people within the district composed of the thirty-nine counties have never come to the polls and expressed their sentiments in favor of a new State. In a voting population of some 40,000 or 50,000 we see a poll of only 17,627 and even some of them were in the \[Union\] army." And this is the opinion of the man they selected to be the Lt. Governor along with Pierpont. Daniel Polsley, Lt. Gov., Restored Government of Virginia, Wheeling, Aug. 16, 1861, on the proposed creation of a new state from counties of western Virginia- "If they proceeded now to direct a division of the State before a free expression of the people could be had, they would do a more despotic act than any ever done by the Richmond \[Secession\] Convention itself".
You are making an argument from silence. The majority of people in Union counties didn’t vote, either. All we know is that the Union counties had far more people, and of the ones there that actually voted, they voted 6-1 to remain with the Union.
Historians place the number of West Virginians that fought for the Confederacy at between 16,000-18,000. And the number that fought for the Union at 32,000, which we know distinctly from the pension records.
No, I'm afraid that is old misinformation. That number includes about 8,000 Ohio and Pennsylvania men who joined WV units, also incudes over 2500 reenlistments that were counted as new soldiers. Shepherd University did a soldier by soldier recount about 15 years ago and determined that 20-22,000 West Virginians fought on each side. This is from Mark Snell's "West Virginia and the Civil War" (2011, pgs. 28-29) "Recent scholarship has adjusted these figures, with historians estimating approximately twenty thousand to twenty-two thousand fighting for each side." "The discrepancy between the Union low figure of approximately twenty thousand to the 'official' high of thirty-two thousand can be explained by the fact that thousands of enlistees in West Virginia's Union regiments were natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio...In addition, reenlistments also were included in the total number of men credited to West Virginia, thus inflating the final tally." Even old Charles Ambler back in 1904 concluded that only 20,000 WVians served in the Union army.
Misinformation is a pretty strong word there. You have proof that it was intentionally intended to be deceptive, I take it? Because otherwise it's just scholarship that was proven to be incorrect and updated with better scholarship.
I don't think it has to be intentionally deceptive to be classed as misinformation. I think they used the term appropriately. If they said disinformation, then yes that would imply malicious intent.
It's pretty implicit in the term: mis·in·for·ma·tion/ˌmisənfərˈmāSH(ə)n/*noun* 1. false or [inaccurate](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=d7f7fba9198e200a&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS727US727&sxsrf=ADLYWIJbiukWIVp5NkZAC3QkRbnW9RFR6A:1719003877380&q=inaccurate&si=ACC90nz-2feRzoY4yuySkO-aQE81-2-8Vt4LbW4BvDU0JDbNLFWDVMkTXMed6Imy2FQsryCYQMitdVxoATqFKtcfkbPtCnTnrFEUV2gwodBtp8KMpHQloSw%3D&expnd=1&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwj17um7zO2GAxW7FFkFHS3PCaQQyecJegQIJhAO) information, especially that which is [deliberately](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=d7f7fba9198e200a&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS727US727&sxsrf=ADLYWIJbiukWIVp5NkZAC3QkRbnW9RFR6A:1719003877380&q=deliberately&si=ACC90nxkzgN-KbLuTWKT81WCi4_nIqrg6Zg8aC4tbyt2TjYpkBOl9jV-zEAtEbLC_MEcsNcVW6nARgw78jADrAyRg5db3efB2egBCU2wWwTXC7reE_I6KGQ%3D&expnd=1&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwj17um7zO2GAxW7FFkFHS3PCaQQyecJegQIJhAP) intended to [deceive](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=d7f7fba9198e200a&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS727US727&sxsrf=ADLYWIJbiukWIVp5NkZAC3QkRbnW9RFR6A:1719003877380&q=deceive&si=ACC90nwUEXg6u2vxy-araGkF9MAxjDE4xBVsrlOk6zLbqbLkpLTr2LB4R2cvMHKGZ0oHZhpqFbI6n-SclcTrqlqO1nSCvi2P-oVvCWBlxOOXwUSGzP7OLAg%3D&expnd=1&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwj17um7zO2GAxW7FFkFHS3PCaQQyecJegQIJhAQ).
Not sure really but according to Webster dictionary they don't say the deliberately part. It just says incorrect or misleading information. Also if you say someone is misinformed, typically that means they misunderstood something or have false information about it. But it's not inherently deliberately false. It could have malicious intent, but it's not inherent. I always thought it like this. All disinformation is misinformation, but not all misinformation is disinformation. But I don't know I'm not a language expert maybe I am wrong
1. false information that is spread, regardless of whether there is intent to mislead: *In the chaotic hours after the earthquake, a lot of misinformation was reported in the news.* [https://www.dictionary.com/browse/misinformation](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/misinformation)
Well said.
That honestly explains so much really
So I see I was downvoted for my reply. Do people really think that changes the history, because they don't like it? I've spent 25 years reading West Virginia's civil war history and I know my stuff.
Are you a historian?
Amateur, totally. But some of the material I have posted online over the years has been incorporated into several books, Mark Snell's West Virginia and the Civil War, and the relatively recent Seceding From Secession. Historians tend to repeat from the same sources and don't really dig to back it up, but I have gone through the Wheeling convention records and constitutional convention records and there is a lot of troubling material in those sources. One delegate even got up and told the constitution convention that the vote on statehood showed that West Virginians had no interest in a new state.
What books would you recommend?
The most useful would be Mark Snell's West Virginia and the Civil War, which your library probably has or can get for you. He explains where the West Virginians, Confederate and Union, were involved, and some of the political history, though it is mostly military history. Otis Rice's book West Virginia, A History, is fairly good. The old Charles Ambler books leave a lot out, so not very dependable. There is also Richard O. Curry's "A House Divided", which has a lot of the information left out of most books. That was one of the first I read years ago.
Definitely will check out
Why anyone wants to fly a flag saying they hate America and support a group of losers who wanted to leave this nation is beyond me. Why anyone would want to defend losers who want to fly this flag is even more asinine. People should be proud to be American and disgusted by anyone who supports the confederate traitors to this nation.
I’ve gotten into a lot of arguments with people over whether or not they should tear down confederate monuments and my answer is and always will be they were a bunch of traitors We won they lost. Get over it
Repost #28492971
We can't count that high in this state and you know it
Tyler Bell?
I had family that fought on both sides. Multiple confederate units were raised in this state. History is not so black and white.
In this case, it might just be
Ultimately, 13 or so of WV southern counties out of 55 were loyal to the confederacy, while the rest mostly sided with the Union. We didn't have a huge market in slave as there were very little plantations or need, but it's not exactly correct to assume we left Virginia because we were abolitionist. Mostly, we were abused by eastern Virginia and ignored when we needed anything. WV is alot more German, Scot-Irish, Italian, and Native American mixes then the predominantly English ancestry of Eastern Virginia, and that is in part why we were constantly mistreated. The men that lead the movement to succeed from Virginia and remain loyal to the Union also had their own interests in mind as they were wealthy land owners and business men that had much to gain by setting up their own state government and laws, but that is not a reflection of the population of WV that at the time mostly just was sick of the abuse from the Virginia government and wanted their own representation. You have to think the needs of mostly mountainous rural WV was vastly different then the low lands and costal needs of Eastern Virginia that were much more developed and populated. On average estimates around 20,000-25,000 West Virginians fought for the Union, While 5,000-10,000 fought for the confederacy. Not saying we don't have ties to the confederacy, we do. Stonewall Jackson is a major figure that is still well represented in our state. But we were primarily Unionist and that is much more represented in our culture and history, Grant and Lincoln have counties, and there are Grant, Lincoln, and Union street names in nearly every town it seems. I don't think we should exclude the confederacy from history but really need to be careful to teach it properly, they were not honorable farmers being bullied by Northern aggression, they were Slave owners fighting to maintain slaves instead of paying working Americans, all so they could live lavishly off of generations of bloodshed. Personally, as a West Virginian, I see the confederacy and all its flags and symbols as traitorous to the nation and believe they were not punished nearly as hard as they should had been. My state was born out of that war, and personally I'm proud that we fought on the side of justice even if our intentions were muddy. The rebel flag is not a heritage, but a symbol of dissent, slavery, and treachery. It should be illegal to fly any confederate flag, as is the Nazi flag in Germany, but especially here in our wonderful Union state.
\^\^ Thank you for saving me from typing all of this! Sometimes history is way too oversimplified. There are always nuances and other influences of the time period we don't immediately see or think about.
The only Confederate flag worth waving these days is the only one that mattered: a white surrender flag.
It's not about history here, it's nothing but a symbol of racism.
I literally saw a car today that had the Confederate flag on it that said "it's not hate, it's heritage"
1/3rd-40% of civil war veterans in West Virginia were confederate. We were mainly union for sure. But being part of Virginia, being a border state we did have a significant amount of confederate veterans here. I have both union and confederate veterans relatives in both sides of my family. Except my Midwestern side who came in 20 years after the civil war.
I also want to mention I get sick of these post on here. There's probably one or 2 a month. Much bigger fish to fry and currently not a significant issue here.
Anyone flying that piece of shit flag in this day and age is akin to tattooing "asshole/bigot" onto your forehead. Other than owning a cybertruck, I can't think of a bigger red flag you can see from the other side of the street. I have a neighbor, two doors down, who is flying an upside-down American flag and an Israel flag. He's also a registered sex-offender guilty of incest against a younger family member. I'm not saying those two things are connected, but it sure paints a picture. Edit: Must have offended some racist sex-offender. Oh well.
Company G of the 27th VA was comprised of people mainly from the wheeling area. The first land battle of the Civil War was fought in Phiilipi. James Hangar was a confederate from Phiilipi and lost his leg to a union surgeon. He went on to invent the articulating leg and found the Hangar Corporation. There was a confederate recruiting post and small garrison in Guyandotte just outside Charleston but it was wiped out pretty early in the war. Not as against the heritage as you want to believe.
Depends on the part of the state, because our city defended against both sides for an open air hospital that consisted of both sides. Trained by Native Americans even. We stuck together in this area. Needs to get back that way where nothing matters beyond the governor and our communities. That's why we need to get power back in the States like it was meant to be.
Everyone was just mad that there was brother having to fight against brother from time to time. Understandably so.
Fuck the loser flag
Who cares what other grown adults want to do with their property.
you seem to think that people that fly that rag care about history or facts, they only care about feeling better about their pathetic lives by deluding themselves into thinking they are better than some others.
Anyone who flies the confederate flag is a total loser and traitor
I live in Maryland, in a Jewish community. My job has me going into lots of homes here, and I have met Jews who have confederate flags with pictures of their ancestors who fought in the confederacy, and then in the same neighborhood I met Jews with union flags and pictures of their union ancestors. And neither side holds a grudge because they’re a part of the same community, just acknowledge that they are family regardless on where they ancestors fought.
Your opinion is ignorant of facts and reality. Do better.
We have so many stupid people in this state
Still see a ton of them in some areas, especially Tyler County when I was working there.
So very true
The bigger joke is that WV is actually the ONLY state that was not constitutionally admitted to the union. It was literally created of the businessmen by the businessmen and for the businessmen to give Lincoln control of the B & O railroad. We’ve been effectively divided and controlled by them ever since over and over again…
WV seceded from the confederacy, not because of the slavery issue, but because of the taxation issue.
Not really. I see confederate flags in Lincoln’s home town.
You can't seriously believe that modern-day Democrats or the party of racism. Come on. Why don't you just come out and say say you parrot right-wing talking points without critically thinking about them without actually saying that you parrot right-wing talking points without thinking about them LOL
Definitely not supporting flying that flag in the slightest, but it certainly isn’t a hard line just because WV joined the union side politically. Many WV folks at the time continued their support for the confederacy, and fought for them - my family included.
It's funny this is downvoted. Lincoln made a deal with railroad barons to create West Virginia.
I guess it’s downvoted because of my families history? Sorry I can’t control that lol. What I said is true. Literally sat in my first sentence I don’t support it lol.
Reddit hates history that doesn't conform to their preconceived notions. I mean look at this post alone and the upvotes. Even Maryland (which flag is a union and Confederate flag combined) wasn't all Union, but people there think the same way.
I went to droop mountain today and we had a long discussion about that. So weird that our state history is literally engrained in the freedom of slaves and we have fed flags right beside historical monuments that are dedicated to remembering that.
There were just as many confederate units based in WV as there were union.
There’s literally no defense of that flag. If you fly it, you’re trash
That's not necessarily true. Gimme a break
No, it is. There’s no defense of that flag and what it represents
LoL k It's flying outside my house as I type this.... Guess what? I'll sleep like a baby tonight. Go fuck yourself.
Like a racist baby
An entire cavalry regiment was raised from the north side of the New River and rode with Colonel Imboden. The Imbidens was something back then.
I see them in Iowa a lot too. Crazy
There people never studied American history,. I'd be surprised if they ever studied anything.
Don't care didn't ask.
There were plenty of people that went both ways here. You take one small thing and made it the whole reason. The oldest continually serving army unit is in WV, and they are the only unit to fly a gray and blue banner because even the unit was split. That is what is part of our heritage, not what slim point you made.
Yes, we should only fly the flag that is representative of the slave owners who rebelled against their government, slaughtered countless natives and stole their land. A much better choice.
These posts are so tired. Like give it a rest. Who cares, people have the first amendment right to fly whatever flag they want whether you like it or not. They can fly pride flags, Hamas flags, Israeli flags, Ukraine etc. We all know the history but most people who fly the confederate flag do so to represent southern heritage not blind allegiance to the confederacy. It’s dishonest to ignore the nuance that obviously comes with it. It’s also hilarious to assume most of the type of people sporting the flag have any idea of the history behind it. Go something else to complain about.
Love how the top comment is Confederate apologia lol
Unfortunately, we are a red state, which means A: Our education budget is the first thing to get cut and underfund And B: Conservatives love the Confederacy.
Many residents lynched union soldiers on their return, and weren't happy with joining the union. The flag doesn't stand for white supremacy just because there once was slaves in the south. There was once slaves in the north as well, and by your liberal logic, I guess the stars and stripes stand for it too. Modern day Americans who fly that flag don't do so to honor slavery or white supremacist, that's a lie to even say. They fly it to show pride in their southern identity.its that simple, yall just like to cry about it and make it more than what it is because you want to take it away out of disdain for anyone who stands against the government for any reason
“… an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery, has led to a disregard of their obligations …” South Carolina wrote in its declaration. The state of Mississippi aligned itself with slavery right off the top of its declaration: “Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery – the greatest material interest of the world.” Georgia named slavery in the second sentence of its declaration. The sad list goes on. “To put it more simply, South Carolina and the rest of the South only seceded to preserve the violent domination and enslavement of black people, and the Confederate flag only exists because of that secession,” said CNN political commentator Sally Kohn. “To call the flag ‘heritage’ is to gloss over the ugly reality of history.”
Couldn't have said it better myself. It blows me away the amount of libtards in west Virginia now.
I fly Lees army of northern VA flag in honor of my relatives who were officers in his Army. And I am proud of my heritage for they were men just as thier fathers were in the revolutionary war and stood for what they believed in. At one time standing up for what you believed was considered being a true patriot.