Last March, Aaron was deployed to a force under direct control of General Robert E. Lee. General Lee, after failing to break the siege of Petersburg, retreated on April 2 and set Richmond on fire in order to prevent the Union soldiers from getting the supplies. A few days later, when he tried to join the other Confederate forces in North Carolina, he was trapped at the town of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. His army fought back bravely, but still suffered a drastic defeat. And unfortunately, Aaron sacrificed his life to defend his honor as a Confederate soldier.
On April 9, Lee formally surrendered to the Union. And in two months, all the remaining Confederate generals surrendered as well. The war finally came to an end.
Lee's Surrender
As a Marylander, I mourned for my lover's death while I celebrated the Union victory of the four-year-long war. As the 13th Amendment was ratified in December, 1865, slavery has disappeared in the United States of America. Although I stand neutral on the issue of slavery, I truly feel sorry for Aaron's family. They not only lost two brothers, but also lost their slaves and their way of living. I visited their family earlier this year, and I'm very shocked by the extent of destruction in the South. Big cities like Atlanta and Richmond lay in ruins, and many plantations were wasted. These were all traumatic impacts of the "total war", and the abolition of slavery. Reconstruction has started, but the recovery of southern economy is slow and hard. Many former slaves, as well as former slave owners, are disoriented because their old way of living is gone. Although the African Americans are now granted the right to own land and control their own lives, the promise of freedom isn't fully delivered because many of them don't know where to start.
Destruction in the South
I have to say that all these misery is very impressive. The end of the war did bring back the southern states to the country, but also brought in the problem of southern hardships on economy. Now, the South mostly relies on northern investment, and agriculture remains the center of economy in the South while the North is going through sweeping industrialization. I think the Union should have done something, or at least come out with a plan for reconstruction before they completely throw out slavery. Their goal of abolition is achieved, while the South is left in chaos and ruins. The South will no longer threat to secede, nor will it question the federal authority. The federal government is now playing a bigger role in our nation.
On the other hand, the North celebrates its victory as well as its economic bloom. The northern tariff protected northern industry from foreign competition, and led to a big progress in manufacturing and a quick spread of industrialization. The nation, therefore, has risen as one of the best economic powers in the world. I hope this trend will continue to grow, and I also hope that the South will soon walk out of the shadows of the war.
Northern Industrialization
I know Aaron would be upset if I ever told him this when he was alive, but I have expected the Union to win this war. The Union enjoyed Lincoln's steady leadership. He not only successfully kept the nation together, prevented the secession of border states and maintained unity within the nation, but also participated in commanding the war and appointing reliable military leaders such as Grant and Sherman. The Emancipation Proclamation also played an important role in the Northern victory, since it inspired peole's will to fight, and also attracted African Americans to support the war. And of course, I think the most important reason was the North's advantages in population and resources. They also had a better use of technology, such as railroads and telegraphs. The South lost the war mainly because they ran out of men and supplies, and they suffered huge losses and destruction under the strategy of "total war". If they had more resources, the war might have a different ending, or at least it wouldn't have ended as quickly.
Another astonishing event that happened after the war was President Lincoln's assassination. On April 14, 1865, Lincoln was shot while attending a comedy at Ford's Theatre, and he died the following morning. The shooter, John Wilkes Booth, was later found to be participating a plot of killing all the influential northern leaders so that the South would have a chance to defeat the North while they are in chaos.
Assassination of Lincoln
Of course, this conspiracy group was executed in the end. They did not succeed in killing any of the other important northern leaders, although the secretary of State, William Seward, was attacked and seriously injured.
The death of Lincoln reunited the North. Both supporters and critics started to praise Lincoln's great leadership, and viewed him as a national hero as well as a symbol of freedom. His assassination played a big role in bringing the nation together after the war ended.
Lincoln's Funeral
However, I don't personally agree that Lincoln was such a perfect president. He did have outstanding skills as a powerful leader, but he abused the concepts of freedom by suspending habeas corpus and announcing "the draft". He centralized too much power to enforce what he believed was right. But he ignored the voice of the Southerners, like Aaron's family. He took away slavery, threw the South into the air, but did not give it wings. I'm afraid he was not the best representation of the people in his nation.
All in all, the war has drawn to a conclusion, and so has this blog. Aaron has left us forever. As a southern slave owner and a Confederate soldier, Aaron insisted his doctrines and followed his beliefs until the very end. He was a caring lover, an honorable soldier, as well as an inspiring friend. Dear reader, I hope you have enjoyed learning about Aaron's unique perspectives on various events that have happened throughout all these years, and I'm truly glad that I have met him in my life.
I will preserve this blog, so that Aaron's voice can be heard, and we can all take a minute to reflect on the tension and warfares during the past years before we move on to the next page in life. Wars are always cruel, but they push us towards historical progress.
In rememberance of Aaron Ainley. Amen.
Bibliography
Alltime Conspiracies. The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. YouTube.
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Barnard, George N. Ruins of Confederate Charleston. 1866. MSNBC. Web. 22 Feb.
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remembering-the-american-civil-war-150-years-later#slide7>.
Brady, Mathew B. Lincoln's Funeral on Pennsylvania Ave. 19 Apr. 1865.
Brady-Handy Collection. Lib. of Cong., Washington, D.C. Library of
Congress. Web. 23 Feb. 2016. <http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/
brh2003004934/PP/>.
Guillaume, Louis. Robert E. Lee's Surrender at Appomattox Court House. 1867.
Appomattox Courthouse National Park. The Telegraph. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
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LOC Reproduction. Depot of the U.S. Military Railroads, City Point, Va. 1864.
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