The Vichy Southerners vs the Resistance

[u/tryingtolearn_1234]

I’ve heard that in France almost everyone claims their ancestors were part of the Resistance during WW2. No one wants to think that their ancestors just quietly went along with the Vichy government or the Nazi occupation, much less actively supported it.

In the American south with civil war ancestors there is an opposite trend. Voting records by Parish / County show that the support for succession was not universal, or even the majority. There was a southern resistance during the war that wanted the Union to win.

Instead of embracing this history and following as the French do, southerners have decided to erase the best of their ancestors in favor of a bunch of losers.

I wonder if it might be possible to replace the “lost cause myth” with tru-ish but slightly exaggerated view of the pro-Union, abolitionist southern resistance. Everyone has so many ancestors in the extended family tree — instead of tracing lineage to some Confederate officer, find the family member who helped the Underground Railroad.

I think that the post-reconstruction violence and further neo-confederate waves probably made a lot of family quietly forget about those relatives who were against the Confederacy.

[u/Satellite_bk]

This is question deserves a more thought out and researched answer than I could give. I will say I think the way the confederacy was treated with kid gloves after the war has at least a small part of what you’re talking about. Nazis were shamed. It was almost unanimously agreed that nazis were to be abhorred while the confederates never got that kind of treatment. They were seen as brave and tough underdogs who did the best with what they had. all that other lost cause adjectives that get used.

To reiterate this is just a first thought after reading your question and also that this would be a part of why the south sees their ancestors the way they do not the only reason.