<p>I decided to do the Battle of Bentonvile as one of my topics for a major history project. </p>
<p>Its where the last civil war battle occured in NC and I am trying to prove that the confederate soldiers were fighting for a wothy cause; to save 50,000 people and a city from the infamous Sherman's March. I even feel that they were heroic in someway. Those men were straved, poor, and none of them owned slaves. But they stood outside of Durham, North Carolina, and fought against the union and hundreds died. </p>
<p>But someone said its racist today. So it is racist for me to gloify the men at Bentonvile as heros even though they fought for the conferdate. </p>
<p>I think trying to prove that would be very difficult. I don't think it's racist (get real, we do Civil War reenactments!), but I do think it would be hard to prove from a relatively unbiased viewpoint. You might want to take a different angle- analyzing the effects morale and lack of supplies had on the outcome of the battle, perhaps.</p>
<p>Actually its my NHD project, its due next friday and I have most the stuff done already...but I still have until wednesday to change a topic or....yeah...</p>
<p>It was one of the suggested state topics......I am suppose to tie that into "taking a stand in history"</p>
<p>by "taking a stand" do you mean discussing generals and troops who held their ground and went down swinging? If that is the case, can you compare it to the battle of Thermopolyae?</p>
<p>Great parallel, especially the size differences between the armies. Of course, the Greeks won at Salamis and Plataea, and the Confederates lost. :p</p>
<p>The Civil War was not fought for the release of slaves.
In that case, any battles between the Union and the Confederacy would not have been racially-motivated.</p>
<p>Do it and don't think about the consequences!</p>
<p>This reminds me of that report I wrote in middle school calling the confederate flag a "symbol of freedom" and how "the confederacy was to the US what the US was to England." Yeah, a lot of people are just stupid and won't listen to what you have to say, just the topic you are writing about.</p>
<p>It's not a racist topic, though it might seem that way to students or people who are not educated on the details of United States History. It's a common misconception that the Civil War was fought solely and primarily for the cause of slavery, and I believe it's due to the fact that it's what they teach elementary school kids.. but anyway, what I'm trying to say is that while those educated in US History will not see it as racist, others who don't know as much might think it is because you are glorifying or talking about it from the Confederate side.. idk, hopefully since you are entering a competition everybody will be educated enough to know what you're really aiming for and that you're not trying to be racist.. and wow I am wordy haha</p>
<p>They weren't racists. What most people have wrong about the Civil War is that it was completely fought over the rights of slaves or the rights of blacks. The American Civil War was fought over the rights of the states. So...</p>
<ol>
<li>It's not racist.</li>
<li>The First Amendment. Use it.</li>
<li>People who say it's racist are ignorant about history.</li>
</ol>
<p>Ya, elementary school screws up what really happened in this war. I was taught that it was about slavery and that the north slaughtered the south. when in reality it was the opposite on both those accounts. </p>
<p>the war was about states rights and not being bullied. And man-for-man, the south beat the crap outta the north, despite having a much smaller army. If they would have won it could have been the biggest upset in military history. They might have too if Lee didn't screw up gettysburg.</p>
<p>i wouldn't say it is racist, they were fighing for their way of life, but i would like to make a clarification
"Those men were straved, poor, and none of them owned slaves."
poor whites upheld slavery even though they didn't benefit from it because they always wanted the option of having slaves.</p>
<p>Read "A History of the American People" by Paul Johnson. It really smashes most myths about American history. It is really incorrect to assume that the North was fighting under an altruistic motivation of freeing the slaves ~~</p>
<p>"Confederates in the Attic" also dispels many of hte myths about the Civil War and talks about why there is al ot of stigma attached to the Confederate Flag, and how this is possibly wrong. It's a very unbiased book I think. I had to read it for AP US last year</p>
<p>Yea this Confederate flag thing is a shame. Theres this foo in my AP Gov class who treats the Confederate flag as if it were a mark of the satan. Talk about ignorance and prejudice.</p>