Did some research. This is from the Sons of Confederate Veterans web site. Not the best source, But I think their research on Confederate history is reasonably accurate. Wikipedia has similar results. Legislation was passed for medals but wasn’t implemented due to the war.
A few medals were given after the war by various Veteran organizations and by The Sons of Confederate Veterans . But that’s not an official award by the Confederacy.
[QUOTE=US Constitution; Article III, Section 3]
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted
[/QUOTE]
The treason act is more for groups or organizations. For example, an extremist militia group that declares “war” against the government. It would quickly be put down and people killed or arrested. Many charges would apply, and probably treason too.
The Confederacy was formed by democratic state voting. Some states like Missouri choose to stay in the Union. Others like Virginia and Tennessee voted to leave. Eleven former US states voted to leave the Union. Former US legislators helped create the Congress of the Confederate States. A President was chosen. Many officers like General Lee resigned from the US military and joined the Confederate military. I’ve read nearly half of the students at West Point resigned just prior to the war.
Given the broad scope its considered a Civil War. A major fracture of a country that resulted in an estimated 640,000 deaths. Not unlike the Civil War in 1930’s Spain and the nine year English Civil War, 1642–1651.
Its true the victors of any war write the history.
All irrelevant, of course. As states cannot unilaterally secede from the United States, the fact the Confederate states voted to form a new country does not change the fact they waged war against the United States.
Look, try and remember you can’t view history thru modern (politically correct) eyes. What about before the Nineteenth Amendment giving women the vote? Or native Americans? Or that the vast majority of Americans only became aware of the electoral vote/popular vote concept in 2000, but its always existed, and originally the presidential electors were not just a rubber stamp vote.
Was the US not a ‘democracy’ then?! And if it wasn’t, what was it?
It’s a sliding scale, obviously. I won’t argue with you there - no democracy has ever been perfect in the past, and none is perfect today. Still, if you have to draw a line between “democracy” and “not democracy”, then I think the existence of chattel slavery would be a very good place to put it.
And besides, I find it hard to care about “states’ rights”, when rights were the last things these states cared about.
I think we are getting off on a tangent again. This doesn’t have a lot to do with whether Confederate soldiers were awarded medals. Let’s try to stick to the question in the OP.
The exact same numbers of Distinguished Service Crosses, Silver Stars, Bronze Stars (with V device), and Commendation Medals (with V Device) were issued to Union and Confederate Soldiers - Zero. They didn’t exist. There was a precursor to the Silver Star, a Silver Citation Start that was not a separate medal but a device worn on campaign ribbons. It was awarded if you were mentioned in official citations for gallantry.It wasn’t created till 1918 but was retroactive to the Civil War. 53+ years after the end of the war you’re looking at veterans tacking it on to the ribbon of a medal. Whether any Confederate veteran did just that based on a citation from his side… who knows.
Good point. I’d forgotten those medals are fairly modern inventions.
The Civil War is pretty unique in deaths. It was a perfect storm of outdated formations vs. early modern weapons and primitive medicine. Doctors didn’t realize they needed to sterilize the saw they used for amputations. They used the same saw for one patient after another. A lot of men survived amputations and died days later from infections. That’s what happened to Stonewall Jackson.
It took a lot of courage to charge into those modern weapons. The early infantry formations had guys bunched up shoulder to shoulder. One canister shot could take out a dozen guys. Imagine seeing that happen to your friends and the officers still insist you stay in formation. They deserved any medals that were available.
Slavery was the reason they wished to secede. The war was fought on the issue of whether they had such a right of secession or whether, as the North claimed, the Union was indissoluble. There’s nothing complicated about this.
Secession happened. Several states had left the Union. But the Civil War was fought because the CSA chose to fire on Ft Sumter, and the northern states violently objected to the attack. There was no popular outcry in the north to go to war over secession.
The “right of secession” vs “indissoluble union” issue could have been handled by the courts. Not that the CSA government or courts recognized the USA’s demands.