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Position:Home>History> How come the confederate generals weren't executed?Question: How come the confederate generals weren't executed!? These men were traitors to the United States of America and should've been summarily executed for their actions!. They were traitors and slavedrivers, not heroes!. Likewise the Confederate veterans who requested pensions as rewards for their treason should've been lined up and shot!. Their shameful past should've been kept in the dustbin of history, not celebrated!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: General Grant and the leaders in the North were very concerned by the possibility that the Southern soldiers would take to the hills and continue a guerrilla war against the North after the Southern army was defeated!. This was considered a distinct possibility at the time!. General Lee headed this off by telling the troops to go home and stop fighting, but if he and the other officers of the South had been tried the resistance would have certainly continued!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Maybe you should start actually reading about all these "slave-drivers!." Not every Confederate general owned slaves or even wanted to fight to keep slavery!. Further more, if the actions you proscribed had foolishly been carried out it would have resulted in the war being begun again, this time for the traitorous actions of the federal government towards men who had surrendered and signed treaties of surrender which ensured they would live!. Yes, traitorous because the government would have openly betrayed the agreement of those treaties just to take lives of men who had fought for a different nation!. You need to take that into account before spreading your mindless and thoughtless hate!.Www@QuestionHome@Com The idea was to bring about reconciliation, not to increase the suffering!. Consider what happened at the end of World Wars 1 & 2!. In 1919, Germany was blamed for the war and forced to pay reparations; most historians agree this led to the rise of Hitler and World War 2!. In 1947 the United States set up the Marshall Plan to rebuild those economies devestated by the war!. Which policy do you think worked better!?Www@QuestionHome@Com Hello i think that the basis of your argument is flawed prior to the shelling of fort sumner, military officers swore an "oath of allegiance to their respective state" only after the shelling was the oath amended to "a new oath of allegiance" , whereby the officer swore fealty to the Union irrespective of their state or county http://thomaslegion!.net/generalrobertele!.!.!. therefore officers in the confederacy were under no obligation to support the union, and when their states seceded !.!.!.!. their oath ensured loyalty to the states decision - SO THERE WAS NO BASIS FOR CHARGES OF TREASON (the officers had sworn no oath to the union, nor was the union a binding agreement !.!.!. merely a collection of states) eg!. Robert Lee was anti seccesion , but once it occcured !.!.!. commented that he could not in good conscience serve in an army that was anti virginia Personally i admire people like general lee who had no slaves, fought bravely , lost his mansion / estate !.!.!.!. and was honourable enough to apply for amnesty after the war And it fascinates me that the Union think they were right, they never fought to free slaves !.!.!. they fought to preserve the union , whereas the south fought for freedom from union oppression !.!. most states would never have joined the union if they realised it was a permanently binding decision !Www@QuestionHome@Com Your argument is entirely hypocritical!. You want them to have fought to keep the South in the Union, but then made it not a full part of the Union, and treated like a colony under imperialistic notions!? That's how the South at the time felt treated (for various reasons ranging from slavery to economics) so this would have just laid the foundation for more resentment than there already was!.Www@QuestionHome@Com they are heroes in my book if i was around bacck then i would have been standin proud right beside them bastardsWww@QuestionHome@Com |