Scouting for Racism…I mean Food!
Some of you may be aware that my son is a member of the Boy Scouts of America. Recently they went on a trip to the Antietam National Battlefield. This has led to some … interesting developments that have thrown me for a little bit of a loop, and thus my posting.
On the way down, evidently there was some friction between Austin and his ‘friend’ Brendan. Some of you may remember Brendan as a boy Austin made friends with several years ago, until Austin threw a snowball at a sign and it splattered on Brendan, at which point they “broke up” for like 2 years. This year, they finally became friends again. Until this trip. They rode down in Brendan’s mom’s car, and the stories differ here, but in summary Austin and Brendan so annoyed the third boy in the car (who I consider to be an excellent boy) that this boy on his own decided to switch seats so he was in the middle so he didn’t have to put up with the two of them poking and prodding and annoying each other. On the way back, Austin got stuck in a completely different car, without any entertainment because everything was in Brendan’s Mom’s car, for 4 hours with kids who didn’t know him and who were reading/playing the DS or something like that. So, 4 hours of boredom on the way back.
The time at the campsite was evidently fun enough. They took a tour of the battlefield, and one of the troop’s adult leaders discussed the history of the battlefield and of the Civil War. Or as the speaker might have considered saying, The War of Northern Aggression. In other words, a very Confederate States of America viewpoint. I discussed the history lesson with Austin on the way home from the meeting tonight (more on that in a minute) and his understanding was that the North unilaterally declared war on the South because they didn’t like slavery.
Of course, it’s not that simple. In fact, according to CivilWar.com, April 12, 1861 was the first shot fired in the war. By General Pierre Beauregard, of the Confederate States of America Army. That’s right, the South fired first. 7 days later, Lincoln orders blockades of Southern ports, limiting their logistic support, thus severely damaging the CSA’s ability to fight the war, and in the end probably winning the war for the Union. Technically, the Union didn’t start aggressive action until Feb 22, 1862, when General Order #1 was enacted to have the Union Army begin offensive action against the CSA.
So, the history lesson is flat out lies. During the meeting tonight, they’re discussing the trip, and how it was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War (at least the bloodiest in the north, sayeth Wikipedia). The tactical victor of this battle is unclear, but the strategic victory was clearly that of the Union, as Lee retreated back to Virginia to lick his wounds and regroup. Lincoln used this ‘victory’ as political motivation to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. None of this is discussed in the meeting, but is given here for context. The Troop Leader, the adult in charge of the Troop, the big cheese, says as an aside, “The wrong side won.” In the context of the discussion, it’s my belief that that he was referring to the whole war, not this specific battle. In either case, it seems to indicate to me an agreement with the Confederates, not the Union.
In summary, the adults on the trip lied about who started the war and the troop leader is sympathetic to slave-owners.
I perhaps over-generously emailed the Adult Troop Leader, and asked him to clarify his remarks. I expect he will fail to justify them in a way that I find at all agreeable. In which case this last meeting was the last Boy Scout event Austin will attend.
Originally posted at Phoenix Rising.