I have read few people over the past years more eloquently cover the end of the Civil War than my friend Streiff. Years ago, he was one of the few to write about the end of the Civil War, 159 years ago.
I think we should all be ashamed of ourselves, just a bit. 159 years ago yesterday, the greatest strife this nation has endured within itself concluded. Only in the past few years have we reached the war dead level that the Civil War alone generated.
We have, 159 years later, the first black President of the United States. He is out of town for the occasion. Most, though not all, of the press passed this anniversary with barely a mention. I think there probably should have been wall to wall coverage.
Next week is the 159th anniversary of the assassination of the Great Emancipator. I myself will try to do better remembering that great man.
These events shaped and still shape us as a nation. Before Appomattox we were these United States and after we were the United States. Before we were young and after we were all forced to grow up. The process of our nation’s civil sanctification, overcoming the sin left in our founding, was traumatic and lingers. Like the Great Flood, what had been was blotted out and things were made new, but sin crept back in quickly.
As a nation, we need to do a better job honoring our history. I think too many forget. Some are too invested in revision. But mostly we look forward. There is nothing wrong with looking forward, but we need to know where we have come from to appreciate where we are headed.
159 years ago yesterday, we headed into a nation that lifted its stars and stripes, not bars, and less than a century later stormed beached abroad to free others with moral clarity. And our sanctification as a nation continues still haunted by the shadow of a surrender at a farm house in Appomattox and the aftermath of the assassination of our President.
