Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 29.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

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[128] have used, and are still using, these means to convince the world that they were right and that we were wrong. They are striving, too, to teach our children that this was the case, and for thirty years their histories were taught in our schools, unchallenged, and in that way the minds of our children were prejudiced and poisoned against the acts and conduct of their parents in regard to that conflict. We therefore feel that we owe it to ourselves and to the memories of those who suffered and died for the cause we fought so hard to maintain, to let our children and the world know the truth as to the causes of that conflict, and how it was conducted. This Camp has, as we have said, done much in that direction; it can do much more; and, in our opinion, no higher or more sacred duty could be imposed or undertaken by men.

There were during the war, and there are now, many brave and true men at the North. There were many such in the Federal armies, and there were many of these who, whilst taking sides with the North on the question of maintaining the Union, were shocked and disgusted at the methods pursued by it to accomplish that result. These have written and spoken about these methods, both of what they thought and of what they knew, and we have only gathered up some of this testimony in support of the justice of our cause, and of the course pursued by us to maintain it. Surely the North cannot complain if we rest our case upon their testimony. We have done this almost exclusively, both in this and former reports. The history contained in these reports, then, is not only that made, but also that written by Northern men.

As we have said, many of these were brave and true men, and one of them wrote that the acts committed by some of their commanders and comrades were enough to make him ‘ashamed of the flag that waved over him as he went into battle.’ Is it surprising that such was the case?

It is said that General Hunter had to deprive forty of his commissioned officers of their commands before he could find one to carry into execution his infamous orders.

We have drawn this contrast, then, between the way the war was conducted by the North and the way it was conducted by the South, for many good reasons, but especially to show that the Confederate soldiers never made war on defenceless women and children, whilst the Federal soldiers did, and that this was done with the sanction of some of their most noted leaders, some of whom, as we have seen, shared in the fruits of the depredations committed on these defence-