Confederate

One hundred and sixty-one years ago, in a forgotten farmer’s field, two elite, pioneering American special operations forces clashed: only one group would fully survive.

The Confederacy planned arguably the first October Surprise–a bold attack at Cedar Creek to defeat a Union army—a desperate bid to aid the Copperhead Peace Democrats at the ballot box.

In the fall of 1864, both Union and Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley were caught in a cycle of violence and retribution. The Civil War is marked by nuance, tragedy, and the unexpected sacrifices and triumphs of the human spirit. Two significant events helped bring an end to this bloody stalemate.

This week marks the 160th anniversary of Robert E. Lee’s surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox. The final significant turning point of the Civil War may not have occurred without the previously unknown contributions of Sheridan’s Union Scouts.

In early September 1864, the war was not going well for the North. Lincoln had staked the Republican Party’s political future on military victory over the Confederacy, yet Confederate General Jubal Early’s army had nearly marched on Washington. Another military failure on the battlefield would be disastrous for Lincoln.

Modern conflicts are increasingly fought less on traditional battlefields and more through irregular warfare like disrupting supply chains, conducting psych ops, and other strategic maneuvers—including timing attacks with an eye toward media coverage and upcoming elections.

Next week Americans will celebrate the founding of our country, but most probably don’t realize how close one hundred and sixty years ago in July 1864 America came to being permanently torn apart.

On April 18, 1864, author Herman Melville rode through the twilight, embedded with the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry, on a scouting mission deep in enemy territory.

Confederate guerrilla leader John Singleton Mosby continually urged his Rangers to “get the bulge” on their opponents by attacking first, using the element of surprise to swiftly and violently make the most of their small numbers to subdue their opponents.

Confederate guerilla leader John Singleton Mosby and his intrepid Rangers are known for their incredibly daring feats, but they weren’t always successful. One chilly night in the winter of 1864, the Union calvary met the Confederates’ surprise raid with a bloody defeat.

Mosby himself seemed to have a vampire-like ability to rise from the dead, being severely wounded a handful of times, but always staving off death and capture.

Special operations forces require special men. Union major Henry Harrison Young was such a man—born for war.

The Union Army had one of their best chances to capture and destroy Mosby’s Rangers, the comparatively small elite unit, at that time, of Confederate guerilla warriors terrorizing Federal troops in Northern Virginia.

Countless times in American history, commanders have promised to have the boys home by Christmas. In December 1863, in desperate need to relieve Knoxville, Tennessee, from the pressure of the surrounding Confederate troops, the Union high command planned a daring raid.

The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that a state law preventing the removal of a Confederate monuments or changing a historical names is legal.

Project 21 is criticizing NBA’s Le Bon James for claiming America is racist while wearing a logo of a retailer that sells Confederate merch.

The House voted Monday evening to override President Donald Trump’s veto of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, in a 322-87 vote.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) stated Tuesday that he is “okay” with removing the names of Confederate leaders from U.S. military bases, breaking with President Donald Trump on the issue.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) on Thursday expressed support for removing the names of Confederate figures from at least some U.S. military bases.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday rejected the idea of renaming U.S. military bases named after Confederate leaders, declaring: “Our history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be tampered with.”

Police in Richmond, VA, are looking for a woman who was caught on cameras last week defacing a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

Protesters in North Carolina defaced a statue to a WWII general because they thought it was a Confederate statue, according to a report.

A conservative black lawmaker in Florida has filed a bill that would prevent local governments from tearing down Confederate monuments and statues.

A Confederate statue that has stood for more than 100 years in a cemetery in Rome, Georgia, was vandalized, causing up to $200,000 in damage, authorities say.

The board of trustees of a North Texas school district voted unanimously last week to replace the Confederate namesake of an elementary campus to instead honor a revered educator, but the decision raised questions over the way they handled the matter — behind closed doors.

Charges have now been dropped against three of the protesters charged with destroying a Confederate statue that stood in downtown Durham, North Carolina, since 1924, reports say.

The Anaheim School Board met Monday afternoon to decide whether to remove Savanna High’s “Johnny Rebel” mascot from the school grounds due to its confederate history.

One Texas school board ousted its high school’s Confederate namesake, General Robert E. Lee, on Monday night, unveiling its replacement name: LEE High.

A Texas middle school abruptly dropped its mascot, “Rebel,” and did so without any formal discussion with parents or taxpayers. They said their decision stemmed from community “concerns” surrounding the national conversation on Confederate iconography in the public forum.

A late afternoon restraining order temporarily blocked the City of Dallas from removing a bronze statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee on Wednesday.

Despite the media and their Democratic counterparts working full speed to spin the lie that threats of political violence are on the rise in a polarized Trump era – with the Confederate monuments, they claim, serving as an “obvious flashpoint” – the events that took place in Charlottesville on August 12, and what President Trump said or didn’t say in the days after, did not lead to this.

The Rev. Robert Wright Lee IV, a descendant of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, took centerstage at the MTV Video Music Awards Sunday and urged viewers to find “inspiration” to fight racism in the left-wing Black Lives Matter and Women’s March movements.

A Texas principal announced Thursday that the high school band can no longer play “Dixie,” the Confederate era song later popularized in the post-Civil War South, because of “safety” concerns.

A slew of online petitions surfaced this week, fueling the politicized narrative to re-brand Texas public schools named for historical figures linked to the Confederacy.

Inner-city blacks are rejecting calls from a Chicago pastor to tear down a local George Washington monument and change the name of Washington Park. For one community organizer, the attacks against our nation’s historical monuments are an attempt to manufacture a race war that won’t help anyone in the black community.

Earlier this week, Birmingham, AL Mayor William Bell ordered a Confederate monument situated a block from city hall covered up, out of view of the public.