Thread by @jaderesearch

@margaretbarthel I don't do podcasts. I prefer to read the text, Faster. But the @Polk_Azov Battalion, #DefendersOfMariupol do NOT identify with Hitler. Their hero is #PatrickHenry They ID with #AmericanPatriots They are @Ukraine's #Patriots They want freedom. Is she McLean as in McLean House?

@margaretbarthel @Polk_Azov @Ukraine What does insipid transplant Barthel know about this history? McClean is an art historian & the destruction of those superb equine statues, great works of art that put Richmond on European tour guide lists as a place to see, is cause of destruction of $2B History/Heritage toursim

@margaretbarthel @Polk_Azov @Ukraine Adding context explaining the real history associated with equine staues was recommended, along with removal of Jeff Davis, and addition of statues of The Fourteen African American Union soldiers who helped win key battles outside Richmond, each winning Medals of Honor.They WON/2

@margaretbarthel @Polk_Azov @Ukraine Contrasting TheFourteen African Americans, who WON the war with the DEFEATED Southern generals added INSIGHT, understanding, perspective & healing. Itg is imperative to stop inflicting Victim Consiousness on African Americas & to empower them, while accurately telling the story.

@margaretbarthel @Polk_Azov @Ukraine 4/ This story then fits as part of The Story of Virginia, a splendid historical collection & narrative of Virginia History by @VirginiaMuseum that begins with original settlements, Walter Raleigh claiming all North America as #Virginia, #Jamestown, #Yorktown #Appomattox,more.

@margaretbarthel @Polk_Azov @Ukraine @VirginiaMuseum 5/ Virginia history extends more than 437 years, with #Jamestown as the first permanent settlement. Descendants of those shipwrecked on Bermuda in #TheTempest still live here. The CivilWar lasted 4 years, less than 1% of that history. So many died in the Civil War, that mattered.

@margaretbarthel @Polk_Azov @Ukraine @VirginiaMuseum 6/ Such loss, such devastation does remind me of #UkraineRussianWar I get that. Only 6% of Virginians owned slaves at the beginning of the Civil War. The others fought because they were invaded, barns burned, homes looted. I know from family history, nothing burned, just stolen.

@margaretbarthel @Polk_Azov @Ukraine @VirginiaMuseum 7/Those who enlisted went to defend their homes & families, as Lee also did initially, he said he would lift his sword only to defend his country, #Virginia After Davis wanted him to go to Mississippi to defend HIS state & plantation, Lee dodged by proposing taking the war North.

@margaretbarthel @Polk_Azov @Ukraine @VirginiaMuseum 8/ Lee decided to attack #Antietam, losing badly, many killed. Then #Gettysburg, again not a defensive battle, lost badly, turning the tide of the war. Most of the southern soldiers who enlisted were not slave owners, & opposed slavery, including JebStuart, most in the VaValley

@margaretbarthel @Polk_Azov @Ukraine @VirginiaMuseum 9/Like Iraq's Sunni tribesmen, who had no love for Sadaam, were not Bathists, they fought to defend their homes & families against a more powerful invader with more money, manpower, technology. It is like #Ukraine in that sense. At a point, though, it became ONLY about slavery.

@margaretbarthel @Polk_Azov @Ukraine @VirginiaMuseum 10/ The Confederacy called a draft, but sons of fathers who owned at least 20 slaves were exempt from the draft. From then on, it was ONLY about slavery. There were other issues such as 1828 & 1832 tariffs imposed on agriculture-tools & products. The draft was about slavery.

@margaretbarthel @Polk_Azov @Ukraine @VirginiaMuseum 11/ That's when the war became solely about defending slavery. History is always more complex than the stories that become a dominant narrative. And History is always written by the winners.

@margaretbarthel @Polk_Azov @Ukraine @VirginiaMuseum Anyone interested in understanding people's lives of the era, I recommend a book of letters from that time compiled by the descendants of Sally Strong Baxter Hampton, "A Divided Heart" Sally was an intelligent, educated northern belle of prominent family who came south.On Amazon

@margaretbarthel @Polk_Azov @Ukraine @VirginiaMuseum @threadreaderapp unroll