William T. Cocke wrote:
> On Fri, 19 Feb 1999 11:47:28 -0500 (EST) "Terry A. Smith"
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > ps so what, specifically, is the Damnations TX's song "Kansas" about?
> > There's no lyrics in the record, so I haven't been able to ferret out the
> > words precisely, but the tune apparently involves the "bloody Kansas"
> > pre-Civil War period (or maybe post-Civil War?). I thought it was pretty
> > neat that a band has enough historical savvy to make a (very good) song
> > out of a fairly obscure historical reference point. Or maybe they're
> > singing about the rock band...
>
> Off the top of my head, Kansas was called "Bloody Kansas"
> in the decade or so leading up to the Civil War because it
> was a hotbed of unrest and violence due to the fact that it
> wasn't certain which way it would enter the Union -- slave
> or free. Thus it became sort of a magnet for extremists on
> both sides of the slavery issue. Shoot-outs, murders,
> lynchings, and what we would call terrorism today, all took
> place in Kansas in the 1850s, as both sides tried to win
> the upper hand. In a way it was a ghastly foreshadowing of
> what was to come.
It was "Bleeding Kansas", but William's memory is pretty right on otherwise.
Like every other state admitted to the Union after the Missouri Compromise,
Kansas' slave or free status was hotly debated, and was left to the residents
themselves to decide by vote. Thus both sides tried everything possible to get
the "right" vote. The definitive history of the Missouri-Kansas Civil War by
Jay Monaghan is aptly titled "Civil War On The Western Border 1854-1865". The
war started here in a sense, and was fought here in a way that directly
affected and involved "civilians" like never before. (Ever heard of "Bloody
Bill" Anderson, or Jesse James?<g>John Brown got his first kills here.) In a
sense it was thus a precursor to modern warfare in much the same way as the
rifled musket and entrenchments were. (The Union's infamous Order Number 11
forcibly removed many locals from their property without compensation and
swelled the ranks of the guerrillas) Kansas went for the Union eventually, but
Missouri natives were by and large Southern sympathisers- The Missouri State
Guard went over to the South along with most of the state government, and were
led by Missouri's leading citizen, Sterling "Ol Pap" Price. It was the large
influx of mostly German and Irish immigrants in the St. Louis area (many of
whom had escaped conscription or revolution or famine in their native
countries) that formed the backbone of early Union resistance in Missouri and
at the battle that saved the state for the Union, Wilson's Creek. (Nice
battlefield tour, BTW)Junior and I discussed some of this at some length awhile
back onlist, and it doesn't probably belong here, but it is fascinating to the
locals at least. Noted director Ang Lee finished filming a movie here last
spring, "To Live On", that supposedly deals with the issues of the neighbor
against neighbor guerrilla warfare around these parts. Notables include Skeet
Ulrich, Jim Caviezel and, um, Jewel. How much of it the movie gets "right" is
definitely up for grabs (I'd be thrilled with a "Glory"-like proximity to
realism) but the exposure of the border conflict to a wider public will be
kinda cool.
Oh, got all carried away there. Twang content from William re: Damnations TX:
> Intelligent, well-written, country-tinged rock and roll.
He got that right too. <g>
b.s.
p.s. Oh yeah and Steve Earle's "Ben McCulloch" is an excellent piece of
historical writing as well as a good song of some southern recruits who "see
the elephant" at Pea Ridge.
