St. Maximos' Hut

I spent middle school and high school in Manassas, VA, where there were 2 battles and the Confederacy won both of them. A prominent downtown street is Mosby Street, named for the subject of the previous post. One of the large high schools in town is Stonewall Jackson, named for the general who became prominent at the First Battle of Manassas. It was a real culture shock when I moved to Cleveland and saw pictures of Sherman and Grant instead of Lee and Jackson.

On a related note of talent expended in the wrong way, I'm reading the new biography of Eichmann by David Cesarani. One of the most interesting features (to this administrator) is the relatively detailed coverage of bureaucratic battling inside the Third Reich. It is reassuring to know that evil acts can be mitigated by the same forces that make it difficult for groups of people to accomplish good things.

For those of you interested in moral theology, history and combinations thereof, here is an outstanding feature from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Here is the description of a letter from Gen. John Mosby, CSA,

The South was My Country
How can a soldier be proud of the country he defends while at the same time opposed to the cause he is fighting for? John S. Mosby, the renowned Confederate partisan leader, dealt with this moral dilemma years after his war ended. Mosby despised slavery, and believed the South had seceded to protect this peculiar institution. Yet he fought to defend the practice as he felt his patriotic duty to his nation outweighed all other factors. After the war, Mosby befriended General Grant and joined the Republican Party, but held firm to his belief that, “I am not ashamed of having fought on the side of slavery – a soldier fights for his country – right or wrong – he is not responsible for the political merits of the course he fights in …The South was my country.” Mosby remained proud of having fought for the Confederacy, even though he disliked an essential part of what the war had stood for.

Mosby’s attitude was not shared by many of his peers. In the wake of Reconstruction a growing number of Southerners began to argue that protecting slavery had not been the real cause of the war, and some even claimed that slavery was in fact a just institution – a notion that persists even today. These ideas spread and grew into the “Lost Cause” movement, a romantic vision of the South which would eventually gain vast exposure from the popularity of films including “Birth of a Nation” and “Gone with the Wind.” In this letter (GLC03921.21) Mosby attacks men who supported this mindset with all the fury of a great warrior. Was Mosby correct in faulting these men for their views, when they believed they were only trying to protect the Confederacy he defended so bravely? Was he a hypocrite to condemn slavery while taking pride in fighting in its defense? Mosby expressed a complex and fascinating set of beliefs about the Civil War, at a time when its history was just beginning to be written.

The document presents some very interesting questions in terms of truth, duty, morality, and basic ethics, as penned by a very complex man who knew how to wage economic (and guerilla) warfare. You can view the original, the transcript, and related materials here.

Just came across this interesting blog, devoted to state and local government tax incentives.

Taxing Peter to pay Paul has always struck me as unjust. Now I can keep up with Paul's special interest lobbying.