July 3, 2020
Tomorrow our leader will visit Mount Rushmore, which I’m sure he believes was carved on July 4, 1776 and is therefore why we celebrate the date – just as he is sure something happened at Pearl Harbor and thinks historians should look into it.
In fact, we celebrate the Fourth because it was the day, in 1863, when the Vicksburg Garrison surrendered to General Grant, dooming the Confederacy.
Today is Pickett’s Charge Day. On the afternoon of July 3, 1863 the high tide of the Confederacy splashed briefly over a low stone wall in Pennsylvania only to be sent reeling back down toward Virginia with its tail between its legs, the result of 50% casualties. Pickett’s post battle report was apparently so bitter that it was ordered destroyed (it was really Lee’s charge, and more like a slow stroll into the maw of Death).
On the Third of July we celebrate what a weird country we have.
Among those gunned down at the Angle was Confederate General Lewis Armistead. Per Armistead’s wishes, his Bible and personal effects were sent by his commanding officer, General Longstreet, to Union General Winfield Hancock’s wife. These had been Armistead’s wishes because Hancock was his best friend from school days The men who shot Armistead down were under Hancock’s command.
Yipes! Think about that. I’m sure neither general would fit into easy classification by today’s standards as liberal or conservative. These two were, no doubt, very much alike.
I can think of no other time or place in human history where sides lined up and mowed each other down with such determined ferocity over organizing principles and the rights of a third party. All sides need to remember this. Sweating the details of law (even in the most gawdawful way, such as at the Angle on that hot, humid day) is what makes our country great – not statues. May that law always be one that puts genuine good and human principles into action. May those laws always be for the greatest good of the most people.
MOE
M.I.C.H. – Modernity, Intelligence, Complexity, Humanity