Day: October 8, 2012

Kevin Levin Strikes Back at Yankee Apologists

Brooks D. Simpson7 Comments

Last year Kevin Levin, still smarting from seeing his Philadelphia Phillies go down to defeat in the 2009 World Series to the New York Yankees, relocated from Virginia to the greater Boston area, where he quickly embraced the Red Sox to such an extent that he may well have strangled that ball club, which has never been the same. To make things worse, the New England Patriots took notice of Kevin’s presence and soon found themselves on the short end of the score in Super Bowl XLVI … to the New York Giants.  It is rumored that Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas saw what was going on and decided to sit out the 2012-13 season, which at the moment looks like a ceremonial gesture, as no one else in the NHL is playing, either.

Now comes evidence that Kevin is striking back against Yankee apologists. Today on Civil War Memory he features a map from 1888 portraying the spread of slavery through the United States (as well as that part of British North America that became the United States). He has the temerity to ask why the map overlooks the presence of slavery in the northern colonies/states.

Here’s the map in question:

I await news that the Southern Heritage Preservation Group has extended a lifetime membership to Kevin. Apparently his hatred of all things Yankee(s) has become a cause of concern to those who rejoice in the triumph of the Union. Maybe he’ll be called Copperhead Kevin.

Kevin, we hardly knew ye.

Have These Battles Been Won? Really?

Brooks D. Simpson6 Comments

During the session on blogging at the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College last June, moderator Peter Carmichael claimed that certain interpretive battles concerning the Civil War had been won: I suggested otherwise.

In truth, I would have liked to have had a discussion defining these battles, outlining what they were over, what contending parties believes (there may well be more than two answers), who “won,” how, and why.

Several news stories this past week about the historical opinions of various officeholders suggest that certain battles are far from over, and that we might err in rushing to declare who won.

Ask Arkansas state legislator Jon Hubbard about slavery, and he might well tell you it was a blessing for the enslaved, even if it was “a blessing in disguise.”

Or take the views of fellow Arkansas state representative Loy Mauch, who seems quite comfortable with the Confederacy, denounces Lincoln as a Nazi, and embraces the League of the South (I wonder if he makes public his desire for southern independence). Mauch also reportedly defends slavery.

The war for Civil War memory continues.