Cold Mountain, the book

by Charles Frazier. Anyone out there who imagines himself or herself to be a Redbone would do well to read this book. Speaking for myself, I was not taught the history of the South, but rather, I was taught the Myth of the South. There's a helluva lot of difference. Most of our ancestors avoided the Civil War. Some of the bucks in Texas who never accepted nor understood why they were rejected by their White neighbors, joined the Confederate Army, but most of our ancestors just stayed home and avoided the Home Guard. Some even worked with the opposition. Ask Don Marler about Copperheads.

Major Samuel Ragsdale inherited a batallion from Lt. Col. Andrew Daly. He aggressively recruited groups previously ignored: Cajuns and Redbones. Most of the Redbones who served in the Confederate Army served with Samuel Ragsdale. I'm sure he promised them acceptance as Whites after the Civil War. What other reason would have motivated them to join the forces of a political idea that saw them as inferior?

My line of Ashworths stayed in the swamps and kept on with their lives. I think that any present day Redbones who finds pride in the Southern "noble cause" to be about the same as someone who brags about his grandparents being mentally retarded. Hello?

Read Cold Mountain, and then come back and tell me how proud you are of your ancestors who were stupid. Come back and tell me about it, if you don't mind. I can't promise I won't make fun of you behind your back, but I do promise to be polite about in public. Send me an email or post in the comments here. Oh come on, now. I already make fun of most of you, which is helluva lot kinder on my part than most of you are towards me.

The South sucks. It always has. It treated our people like shit, just about the way you now treat homosexuals. Just as you wrap yourself in your half-assed, ignorant understanding of THE BIBLE, Southerners used to preach about how we, your Redbone ancestors, were less than human and justified it with that same Bible.

Here's an old Redbone saying for you to ponder: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

At the time of the Civil War, Southerners considered Redbones to be just another bunch of niggers. Nowadays, it's not so much about race as it is economic class, and let me tell you, most of you fools have digressed in social standing.

That's just my opinion. If your opinion is different, speak up. Write a comment, or better yet, start your own damn blog.