Confederate Soldier Interview on Southern Sentiment, why the South fought with General Julius Howell

the south did not fight for the preservation or extension of slavery [Music] i was born on the 17th day of january 1846 i go back as far as way long in the early 50s my first recollection of public living and especially political living as i call it was when i learned as a boy of nine or ten that my home was in in the state of virginia i didn't know about states before that time then time passed pretty rapidly because i was attending high school and i remember distinctly the occasion when the john brown the poor man sought freedom for the slaves he's there in my state i heard about it pretty distinctly i felt sorry and yet sympathizing with my elders i felt some resentment now while some in my section southeast virginia i knew some brutality as i call it exercise towards some of the negro slaves as a whole the got along very well now my father's negros why i've associated with them that being the baby of the family i didn't have any white children associates therefore i played around with the negro children four years passed by then came up the great struggle when the republican party had become a power in the land in 1860 nissa lincoln was elected as you know and i remember that there was a good deal of excitement in my section that the negro slavery would be interfered with would be set free and all that well i didn't feel much interest about it because i i felt kind of toward the doctors and they were kind of with me and with my family now i was attending school as i said and when in the spring spring of 61 when uh news came that war was actually declared in fact it had been coming when south carolina as we heard seceded from the union well wonder now what mr lincoln will do when he is uh seated on the presidential chair well there was a variety of feeling about it even among our 75 100 young men boys at school but right at once and what was declared about half of our youtubers young men over 18 could school join companies of infantry cavalry and in their homes and surrounding counties and in that vicinity i want to go too but my father said now son you're too young i was just 15. yes level past and if the war continues long enough you may have an opportunity well so i rested and the war began and i heard about it and i heard that at william butler williamsburg some of my classmates fell in the battle there well i grieved about that because they were boys that i've been brought up with they were a little older than i but i felt sorry that they were killed then in 62 although general lee had still a pretty good army he began to need more men naturally although the big battles are the largest feathers have not come yet but my neighbors around there some of them who were over 45 kinsmen of mine some of them began to uh just get up to get up a company of cavalry and i a boy of 16 and a half years old joined the cavalry company which afterwards was attached and counted with others among the 24th virginia cavalry now for a long time then from over 62 on until 64. great battles had been fought in there we heard the battle of gettysburg and finally our core our camp company was taken away from the blackwater border guarding this that section of the country from the in fact in incursions of federal soldiers who might cross the blackwater river and show on and come over into confederate territory we were taken in the spring of 64 our regiment was in the neighborhood of petersburg and while we were camp just north of petersburg general grant began his invasion of that part of virginia we heard about it and i remember very distinctly one morning we heard that general lee had crossed james up north and was coming down the temp pike road to in the direction of petersburg just near us and the next morning happening to look while i was on guard across the james river there we saw long lines of blue at the infantry of the the army in the united states flags on the other side of the james coming down to the beyond the mouth of the appomattox river that flows into the genes and in order to cross on the pontoon bridges and thus begin the invasion of that part of virginia and in the city petersburg thus i was not with that part of the army my regiment was moved up north of virginia out of richmond i mean north of richmond and thus we guided that city for several months while general lee and general grant were struggling there near petersburg while that was going on there were some skirmishes and one well small battle i was in i was not in any of the large larger battles probably fortunately maybe unfortunately well general uh will commanded the the donald lee's corps near richmond and i remember we would call up one day and took the david town road and some mile or two i don't know we never counted distances or time in those days we turned off from the road main road and went down a road through wood afterwards came to an opening and there was a line of blue boys and some artillery and we charged them and that's where i was struck the first and only time in my leg which led me up uh two months i sent home on furlough now i want to bring in one or two little points there that might be sort of interesting some we were around richmond my regiment was all the time then on doing little of nothing while at that war was still going on and after a while a saturday evening the first day of april 1865. we've ordered and by the way in the meantime about half of my regimen had lost their horses the confederate soldiers owned their own horses and when they lost the horse it was difficult at that stage to secure a substitute anyhow i lost mine i've forgotten just now how i don't don't lift i don't believe it's in battle however at that time now orders came for a dismounted part or d mounted i might say other regiment to fall in line and march we stopped on the way and spent the night at a saturday night the next day was a beautiful day sunday we didn't know what was going on we were we were within a mile of richmond and there was a turmoil there and that day as you all know that day the uh president davis was attending his usual services at his church in saint paul's church right in the midst of the sermon this door front door open and a courier rushed in and ready went up to president davis had it in the paper he opened it and it was a dispatch from general lee saying mr president i am so heavily oppressed by the enemy that i'm compelled to abandon petersburg mr davis arose and left and this the public they congregation broke up and in a few minutes almost it was pandemonium then in richmond we marched out of richmond early the next morning on the third and started in the southeastern direction i really know which way uh which way now where we were going but afterwards it showed that we were attempting on the general u.s command to come in contact with general lee somewhere down uh southwest of petersburg well the under general sheridan overtook us our command of about three thousand at intermedia at emilia county virginia and after fighting several hours while general europe surrendered us and thus i became a captive i went to prison along with this command and we landed in point lookout maryland down here and the day after we reached there as a curious boy i rose pretty early we just got in there the afternoon before i was pretty early and went out to see how things looked around in there there were 20 000 of us a large encampment having to look across in one direction i don't know which well that was a flagpole and a flag on it just rising i stopped and looked at it with curiosity it stopped when it got halfway well i knew what halfway a flag on a pole meant i looked at it i thought well the rope that handles that flag must have a nut in it and i'll see a man president going up that's cold on timely i waited a whole minute and i casually turned my face in another direction and that was another flagpole with flag half-mast already so i put my head in the tent there were five six others of us i was boys there must be some big yankee dead i wonder who it can be of course we had no means of knowing and then we waited for about an hour the sergeant blew a builder we 150 of my company fell in and as soon as he finished calling our names a number of us rushed up and the sergeant what does the half flag mean his face failed he says president lincoln was shot last night well the uh the feeling that there are there feeling that came over us 20 000 men in just that one of course there were several other prisons as you know but as for me and a boy just 19 i didn't know what to think i couldn't feel any hatred doing mr lincoln especially i didn't feel any special hidden to what any federal soldier and when i began to think uh how kindly general grant afterwards on the nine acted toward general lee i uh i felt kindly told him now comes up the question of what we southern soldiers fought for my friends as a boy of 16 and a half years old i didn't think about any of abolition of slavery my mind was developed enough to take in what the politicians had in mind and hence there was no trouble after the freedom of the slaves about half of the digress and my father the left and went to norwood to be under as they considered protection but another half 40 50 of them remained damn cultivated the crops until after the war the south did not fight for the preservation or extension of slavery generally as is well known was making arrangements to free his negros and his father-in-law had already grown up a curve part of his will free his nigras my friends was a great curse on this country that we had slavery and i thank god that i did not bring up my boys and girls under a system of slavery on which i was brought under [Applause] what did you boys fight for then here's what that many people do not know that as a young man that way i couldn't understand it fully but i look back now and see my part in it and so what we struggled for and that was for states rights for states rights and as many of you know immediately after the war the rights of the various states well especially in the south were very much curtailed if i use that word and since then i have noticed you let things come up that encroach on the ordinary states rights which we have preserved and we find that the north the boys that wore the blue with us in preservation of the state's rights general lee as is well known was making arrangements to free his negros and his father-in-law had already grown up a cup out of his will free his and saw what we struggled for and that was for states rights our state's rights and as that many of you knew immediately after the war the rights of the various states well especially in the south were very much curtailed if i use that word the south did not fight for the preservation or extension of slavery if you'd like to learn more about private julius howe and the 24th virginia cavalry the links to all of the source material are in the 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Length: 18min 28sec (1108 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 16 2020