“The Four Seasons of the Confederacy” by Charles Hoffbauer
The Lost Cause narrative did as much to distort and mythologize the history of the Confederate soldier as it did to the story of enslaved people. Bringing empathy and an acknowledgment of their humanity to the study of Confederates is as much a part of challenging the Lost Cause’s continuing hold on our public memory of the Civil War as is re-centering and studying the lives of the enslaved themselves.
Adam Domby has some great stuff in his book, The False Cause, about how the Democrat political machine in the south used a combination of patronage, veteran and slave pensions, racial status, and other social pressures and benefits to obscure parts of history that didn't conform to the lost cause narrative. He documents people changing stories about resistance to the draft or desertion or their party registration in order to get their pension. It's a great book. I can't wait to read his new one.
This deconstruction of the memoirs is happening. Patrick Lewis' take on Sam Watkins, of course. I wrote a blog post on Carlton McCarthy's memoir for the VDHR series earlier this year on the Lee Monument cornerstone box contents (that no one saw). John Kneebone here in Richmond is doing a thoughtful take on Robert Stiles' Four Years Under Marse Robert.
They all do the work of sanitizing and sanctifying the lives and suffering of Confederate soldiers in a way that elides... well.... everything in their experience that didn't conform to the post war sentimental image of non-political and innocent boy soldiers.
But, to your recent points, the fact that they did suffer emotional hardships and trauma in the service is apparent despite their best efforts to cover it up with a sentimental elan... and it is a genuine emotional relic of their time at war.
Would love to read a reassessment of the genre in general.
You are absolutely right re: the trauma that many of these men faced. We should be able to study it without running the risk of being labelled a Lost Causer or worse.
Works such as Kenneth Noe’s Reluctant Rebels does a first rate job of skewering one of the most powerful parts of Lost Cause mythology, born of wartime propaganda: the willingness of all males in the Confederacy to respond to the call of war. Indeed, 15% of CS soldiers were conscripts, with many enlistees post-1862 driven more by social pressure than patriotism to enlist. Loyalty to one’s mess mates may have made for dutiful soldiers in most cases, and certainly a sense of “Confederate nationalism” did manifest itself in the ranks of the ANV in particular, but how much of that was a product of tactical success on the battlefield, faith in its commander, and soldierly camaraderie, rather than acceptable of the political program behind the ongoing war, is an important context to explore.
The Confederate Memorial Association building, know as Battle Abbey when I was a child, was taken over by the Virginia Museum of History (now the Virginia Museum of History and Culture). The Charles Hoffbauer murals, “The Four Seasons of the Confederacy” remain in an exhibition known as “The Lost Cause: Myths, Monuments, & Murals” which includes the sculpture of Robert E. Lee previously on view at the U.S. Capitol as one of two representing Virginia.
I find the VMHC description of the exhibition very apt to this discussion:
“About the Exhibition: The Lost Cause was a widespread effort by former Confederates after the American Civil War (1861–1865) to justify and glorify the Confederacy. The Lost Cause manifested in different ways over many generations—from history textbooks to street names to various forms of memorialization. As with most of their counterparts, the monument and murals displayed in this gallery, as well as the gallery itself, tell us more about the intentions and values of the people who created them than about the historical subjects they depict.”
The VMHC does an outstanding job of interpreting these murals. It's a wonderful example of how, what is essentially a memorial to the Confederacy, can be transformed into a first-rate museum exhibit.
I think the key concept is in the passage you included from Carmichael's forward to "The Wharton's War." Carmichael writes: "Empathy should not be confused with acceptance of the unacceptable or conflated with sympathy for the detestable. Empathy is about understanding how a life in the past, which seems morally incomprehensible and unjustified today, made sense to those who were living it then."
This is the "sound barrier" that historians and readers of historical works (primary or secondary) need to overcome, to break through. It is to understand people in their own spaces and times. It is not condoning behavior, but studying their lives for understanding them and for seeing ourselves as we all are, sharers of that humanity, good or ill.
In reading about periods we now look back on in horror I'm often reminded of Hannah Arendt's observation about the perpetrators of those deeds and how they were people. It grounds me when I start feeling self-righteous, but also impels me to do better. History isn't fiction, and we are each in our ways historical actors that will influence and be a part of the course that humanity takes.
I think there is a duty for historians to not only be fair to the people and times they study, but also to be clear to the person who reads their works that the past isn't just in the past, but is reflected today. "...What's past is prologue" is true, but not in the sense of prophecy. The people of the past - and we today - are only fated to do what we decide.
I would only add that the Lost Cause has evolved into the neo-confederate political realm. Historical presentism is used to justify political positions; ignoring issues of race and the long term economic, social, legal, and political impacts of Jim Crow. I think the Lost Cause narrative is more present in the sense that it continues to distort and mythologize the history of the confederate solider to achieve new political means and establish a fictitious norm.
"Bringing empathy and an acknowledgment of their humanity......". Had the Civil War ceased at the Appomattox Courthouse, that would be do-able. But .... we've had over 155 years of terrorism in this country. Indeed, what you're suggesting is challenging, but from where I (and others) stand, it's more like an attempt at revisionist history. Putting a bow on poop doesn't make lesser poop.
Thanks for the comment, but I am not sure I understand the point. If what you mean by "revisionist history" as an attempt to correct the many distortions about the war than I and many other historians like me are guilty as charged.
The point is --- attempting to explain the mentality of a group of people who were/are guilty of crimes against humanity by "bringing empathy and an acknowledgement of their humanity" is a very tall order. I am not a wordsmith and most likely guilty of maybe using the wrong word (revisionist), but I don't think so. I have African, Irish, and Croatian DNA, so I try not to paint with a broad brush, I know not everyone south of the Mason-Dixon participated in the atrocities of slavery and afterwards, but, a blind eye was utilized. I respect your attempt at empathy and acknowledgment, but I insist on being picky with my empathy.
I am not suggesting that we excuse behavior that we know to be morally wrong. Our goal as historians and students of history should be to understand the past in all of its complexity and contradiction. As I suggested yesterday, we should explore the past in the same way that we hope future generations will one day try to understand our generation. That is all I am suggesting.
It did indeed "educate" generations of Americans about the Civil War through the Lost Cause. It's exactly why I posted it here. We need to understand the difference between history and memory. Studying the actual history of Confederate soldiers is the best way to begin to understand how paintings like Hoffbauer's distorted the history of the war and beyond.
Adam Domby has some great stuff in his book, The False Cause, about how the Democrat political machine in the south used a combination of patronage, veteran and slave pensions, racial status, and other social pressures and benefits to obscure parts of history that didn't conform to the lost cause narrative. He documents people changing stories about resistance to the draft or desertion or their party registration in order to get their pension. It's a great book. I can't wait to read his new one.
Well worth reading.
This deconstruction of the memoirs is happening. Patrick Lewis' take on Sam Watkins, of course. I wrote a blog post on Carlton McCarthy's memoir for the VDHR series earlier this year on the Lee Monument cornerstone box contents (that no one saw). John Kneebone here in Richmond is doing a thoughtful take on Robert Stiles' Four Years Under Marse Robert.
They all do the work of sanitizing and sanctifying the lives and suffering of Confederate soldiers in a way that elides... well.... everything in their experience that didn't conform to the post war sentimental image of non-political and innocent boy soldiers.
But, to your recent points, the fact that they did suffer emotional hardships and trauma in the service is apparent despite their best efforts to cover it up with a sentimental elan... and it is a genuine emotional relic of their time at war.
Would love to read a reassessment of the genre in general.
I am going to comment on Lewis's piece at some point soon. I thought he did a great job.
Linking to your blog post here because it's really well done: https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/news/cornerstone-contributions-carlton-mccarthys-detailed-minutiae-of-soldier-life-in-the-army-of-northern-virginia/
You are absolutely right re: the trauma that many of these men faced. We should be able to study it without running the risk of being labelled a Lost Causer or worse.
Thanks for the link and the kind words. The editors on this really mangled what I wrote so I'm a bit jaundiced about it!
TY for the link!
Works such as Kenneth Noe’s Reluctant Rebels does a first rate job of skewering one of the most powerful parts of Lost Cause mythology, born of wartime propaganda: the willingness of all males in the Confederacy to respond to the call of war. Indeed, 15% of CS soldiers were conscripts, with many enlistees post-1862 driven more by social pressure than patriotism to enlist. Loyalty to one’s mess mates may have made for dutiful soldiers in most cases, and certainly a sense of “Confederate nationalism” did manifest itself in the ranks of the ANV in particular, but how much of that was a product of tactical success on the battlefield, faith in its commander, and soldierly camaraderie, rather than acceptable of the political program behind the ongoing war, is an important context to explore.
Excellent post.
Thanks!
It's a wonderful book.
The Confederate Memorial Association building, know as Battle Abbey when I was a child, was taken over by the Virginia Museum of History (now the Virginia Museum of History and Culture). The Charles Hoffbauer murals, “The Four Seasons of the Confederacy” remain in an exhibition known as “The Lost Cause: Myths, Monuments, & Murals” which includes the sculpture of Robert E. Lee previously on view at the U.S. Capitol as one of two representing Virginia.
I find the VMHC description of the exhibition very apt to this discussion:
“About the Exhibition: The Lost Cause was a widespread effort by former Confederates after the American Civil War (1861–1865) to justify and glorify the Confederacy. The Lost Cause manifested in different ways over many generations—from history textbooks to street names to various forms of memorialization. As with most of their counterparts, the monument and murals displayed in this gallery, as well as the gallery itself, tell us more about the intentions and values of the people who created them than about the historical subjects they depict.”
https://virginiahistory.org/exhibitions/lost-cause
The VMHC does an outstanding job of interpreting these murals. It's a wonderful example of how, what is essentially a memorial to the Confederacy, can be transformed into a first-rate museum exhibit.
Elizabeth, I’m curious. How did you become an advocate of removal of Confederate monuments from federal public land?
I think the key concept is in the passage you included from Carmichael's forward to "The Wharton's War." Carmichael writes: "Empathy should not be confused with acceptance of the unacceptable or conflated with sympathy for the detestable. Empathy is about understanding how a life in the past, which seems morally incomprehensible and unjustified today, made sense to those who were living it then."
This is the "sound barrier" that historians and readers of historical works (primary or secondary) need to overcome, to break through. It is to understand people in their own spaces and times. It is not condoning behavior, but studying their lives for understanding them and for seeing ourselves as we all are, sharers of that humanity, good or ill.
Exactly.
In reading about periods we now look back on in horror I'm often reminded of Hannah Arendt's observation about the perpetrators of those deeds and how they were people. It grounds me when I start feeling self-righteous, but also impels me to do better. History isn't fiction, and we are each in our ways historical actors that will influence and be a part of the course that humanity takes.
I think there is a duty for historians to not only be fair to the people and times they study, but also to be clear to the person who reads their works that the past isn't just in the past, but is reflected today. "...What's past is prologue" is true, but not in the sense of prophecy. The people of the past - and we today - are only fated to do what we decide.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment.
I would only add that the Lost Cause has evolved into the neo-confederate political realm. Historical presentism is used to justify political positions; ignoring issues of race and the long term economic, social, legal, and political impacts of Jim Crow. I think the Lost Cause narrative is more present in the sense that it continues to distort and mythologize the history of the confederate solider to achieve new political means and establish a fictitious norm.
"Bringing empathy and an acknowledgment of their humanity......". Had the Civil War ceased at the Appomattox Courthouse, that would be do-able. But .... we've had over 155 years of terrorism in this country. Indeed, what you're suggesting is challenging, but from where I (and others) stand, it's more like an attempt at revisionist history. Putting a bow on poop doesn't make lesser poop.
Hi Gary,
Thanks for the comment, but I am not sure I understand the point. If what you mean by "revisionist history" as an attempt to correct the many distortions about the war than I and many other historians like me are guilty as charged.
The point is --- attempting to explain the mentality of a group of people who were/are guilty of crimes against humanity by "bringing empathy and an acknowledgement of their humanity" is a very tall order. I am not a wordsmith and most likely guilty of maybe using the wrong word (revisionist), but I don't think so. I have African, Irish, and Croatian DNA, so I try not to paint with a broad brush, I know not everyone south of the Mason-Dixon participated in the atrocities of slavery and afterwards, but, a blind eye was utilized. I respect your attempt at empathy and acknowledgment, but I insist on being picky with my empathy.
I am not suggesting that we excuse behavior that we know to be morally wrong. Our goal as historians and students of history should be to understand the past in all of its complexity and contradiction. As I suggested yesterday, we should explore the past in the same way that we hope future generations will one day try to understand our generation. That is all I am suggesting.
It did indeed "educate" generations of Americans about the Civil War through the Lost Cause. It's exactly why I posted it here. We need to understand the difference between history and memory. Studying the actual history of Confederate soldiers is the best way to begin to understand how paintings like Hoffbauer's distorted the history of the war and beyond.