A painting depicts the Battle of Wilson's Creek
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley recently engaged in a tortured wrestling match in attempting to identify slavery as the cause of the American Civil War. Neither Haley, nor any other American, should struggle to reach such a conclusion regarding the most horrifying and deadliest event (strictly involving humans) ever to take place on U.S. soil, according to longtime Alabama attorney and civil-rights advocate Donald Watkins.
(Note: the aftermath of the Civil War came almost to the doorstep of my childhood home. The Battle of Wilson's Creek, which produced an estimated total of 2,500 casualties, was fought four to five miles from my family's home -- close enough that friends and I made regular bike excursions to what is now Wilson's Creek National Batlefield. It was the second major battle of the Civil War, the first to be fought west of the Mississippi River. Most of the fighting took place in a woodsy, elevated area called "Bloody Hill." For years, my mother had letters that were written by our relatives -- on the Arkansas side of the family -- while they were soldiers in battle at Wilson's Creek. My mother donated those letters to the national battlefield, and they are on display at the museum where the battle took place.)
The Sinkhole at Bloody Hill, which became a mass grave
Under the headline "Explaining the American Civil War Should Not Be Hard to Do," Watkins writes:
For Nikki Haley and others of her political ilk, explaining the American Civil War should not be hard to do.
Wilson's Creek
The Civil War is a shining example of the greatness of 2,128,948 ordinary Americans from slaveholding and non-slaveholding states who served in the Union Army. Of this number, 640,046 Union soldiers were casualties of war.
According to official government records, 110,100 Union Army soldiers were killed in battle; 224,580 of them died of diseases; 275,174 were wounded, and 30,192 were prisoners of war.
Wilson's Creek National Battlefield
I honor the sacrifices of these 2,128,948 Union soldiers, who were overwhelmingly White Americans. These soldiers left their families, communities, and farms across the country to put an end to the system of private and commercial slavery in our country, even if they had to die to do so.
Technically, Watkins writes, slavery has not been eradicated within U.S. borders:
Slavery, as authorized in the Thirteenth Amendment, still exists within America's state and federal penal systems. No U.S. president, whether Democrat of Republican, conservative or progressive, Black or White, has seen fit to dismantle penal slavery, even though they had/have plenty of legal tools to do so.
Because of the personal sacrifices of these 2,128,948 Union soldiers, my family members of African descent are free men and women today.
The Ray House at Wilson's Creek
I am not aware of any American voter who favors private and commercial slavery. Yet, politicians like Nikki Haley tip-toe around the issue of slavery, as if they believe some GOP voters and Independents want a reinstatement of the old system of private and commercial slavery in the U.S. To my knowledge, no voter wants to enslave any group of Americans.
Americans have a history of standing up to tyranny, Watkins notes:
Twice in American history, ordinary Americans with extraordinary courage rose up to put down tyranny within our borders. The first time this occurred was when the colonists fought and won the American Revolution. The second time this occurred was when 2,128,948 Union soldiers fought and won the Civil War.
After the Civil War was won, America, as a measure of grace, forgave the Confederate Army officers and soldiers who waged a war against the United States.
Personally, I cannot honor anybody who fought and died to keep my ancestors enslaved. However, I fully understand that there are tens of millions of Americans who feel the need to honor enslavers for reasons that are personal with them.
So, why are some Americans -- perhaps with Florida governor and former Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis most prominent among them -- attempting to whitewash history to make it appear as if Americans are OK with being under the thumb of tyrannical overseers?
Bloody Hill
Watkins, like many Americans, struggles to explain that one -- especially here in 2024, in an era where the U.S. population (with access to the Internet, fine public schools, and the world's most outstanding collection of public colleges and universities) -- is the most educated it has ever been. Watkins writes:
I do not believe in any form of enslavement -- no matter how many school boards re-imagine slavery in today's history books to make it seem benign and beneficial to American slaves of African descent.
The American Revolution and Civil War were two great moments in American history. All Americans should embrace and celebrate these moments in our nation's past.
No American should be ever be ashamed of the fact that 2,128,948 Union soldiers fought and won a war to put an end to private and commercial slavery in the U.S.
The western edge of the Civil War: Wilson's Creek, also called the Missouri-Kansas Conflict and the Battle of Oak Hills (as it was known to Southerners.)
