Richard M Jones

The Non-Life of Jebediah Shaddox Richard M Jones

The Civil War has given rise to many myths. One of those myths is the picture of a "solid South". Many yeoman (middleclass) farmers in the South did not support the war and resisted both conscription and providing raw materials for the war. The Home Guard was organized to force cooperation from war resisters. My great uncle, a Shaddox, several uncles back refused to fight for the South and found his way north to fight for the Union after the Home Guard killed his Father. This is a fictionalized account of his escape north, his service in the Union Army and his return home. The story emphasizes the adverse effects that war has on normally kind and honest people. The Civil War is often called the War Between Brothers. It divided families as much as it divided a nation. The Civil War was America's trauma. We still feel the aftershocks of the fiery rhetoric that stirred the pot of racial unrest and sectionalism. One more war for the rich fought by the poor.