Julius Franklin Howell joined the Confederate Army when he was 16. After surviving a few battles, Howell eventually found himself in a Union prison camp at Point Lookout, Maryland. In 1947, at the age of 101, Howell made a rare recording at the Library of Congress, in which he described his enlistment, sudden capture, and his experience in the Union prison camp. This is his firsthand account of the Civil War.
8 Comments
Robert Ryan Farrell
October 5, 2024, 7:33 amA voice from the past – very interesting. Slavery, along with tariffs and state's rights were all causes of the war. But the reason southern men fought I believe, was because their homeland was invaded by foreigners.
REPLYWhy the northern men fought and invaded the South is a more complicated question.
Some no doubt were politically minded and fought to preserve the union. A smaller number fought to free the slaves. But most probably fought because their fellow citizens signed up. It helped that they were all well-paid. And then there were the German and Irish immigrants who for financial or sentimental reasons, signed up.
I struggle to understand how men could agree to invade and burn down someone else's country, for whatever reason.
DAVID SWEATT@Robert Ryan Farrell
November 14, 2024, 5:06 pmMY GREAT GRANDFATHER, a SOUTH CAROLINIAN, owned no slaves.
HE FOUGHT FOR FOUR YEARS IN THE ARMY OF THE CONFEDERACY.
AN ENLISTED MAN. HE FOUGHT ENTIRELY WITHIN VIRGINIA.
WHY?
BECAUSE HIS STATE WAS INVADED!!!!
WHAT WOULD YOU DO???
THIS IS WHY SO MANY SOUTHERNERS STILL SAY: "FORGET HELL!!!
REPLYOpenWire@DAVID SWEATT
November 27, 2024, 7:23 pmSouth Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union on December 20, 1860. This action was prompted by the election of President Abraham Lincoln, which many Southerners viewed as a threat to their way of life as pro-slavery states.
REPLYWilliam
October 19, 2024, 1:16 pmnice
REPLYJacqueline
October 22, 2024, 1:59 pm"The night they drove ol Dixey down".
REPLYHarold Waxman
October 28, 2024, 4:19 pmYou missed one prime factor in the cause which is always a factor to consider: Industrial vs Agrarian. Unless your intention was to include it under 'tariffs.' Two separate life styles, one based on Cotton, Tobacco, Rice etc. versus a healthy and growing industrial complex.
You could accurately state that a line of demarkation existed where the Tobacco belt ended and the Corn belt began. Likewise geography (Appalachia) played a minor roll with the creation of West Virginia aiding the Union cause.
Re States Rights, it's only fair to remind folks that the Constitution never covered the right of secession. If the Deep South thought they could not secede from the Union they never would have signed on.
REPLYHarold Waxman@Harold Waxman
December 18, 2024, 6:55 pmI think most folks cannot relate to the fact that there were 9 million slaves in the Southern states and the thought that all of a sudden they could be set free was a scary scenario that could only be rejected. Sherman's 40 acres and a mule was never going to fly peacefully.
As a historian I have to wonder why Lincoln didn't evacuate Fort Sumpter and wait for options. Nevertheless your readers should understand that leaving the Union was never covered in the Constitution given that Andrew Jackson forced his Vice-President, John Calhoun of South Carolina, to give up on his threat to leave the Union.
It's difficult to fathom secession but the grounds for it were in our collective faces in 1860. Because no law was broken the South had no choice but to prepare for the War of Northern Aggression.
The sad part is that reconstruction was working to bring the races together when the Republicans sold out the Negro in a corrupt bargain in the election of 1876. Because of that failure we were a hundred years before confronting the plight of our black citizens.
REPLYH
William Gillin
January 3, 2025, 7:06 amFascinating to hear the voice of a Civil War veteran! Thank you for posting this.
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