5 Comments

Newspaperman Edward Pollard was the one who coined the phrase "lost cause," not William Pollard.

Expand full comment

Thank you for you comment and for subscribing. As Deborah Lipstadt said in a TED talk “second editions are where historians fix their mistakes.” Thank you again, all the best.

Expand full comment

I had better let Gary Gallagher and Alan Nolen know. I got that from their book. Bad on me, I accepted their word as prominent Civil War and Reconstruction historians rather than checking their work. Thank you for checking mine.

Expand full comment

My pleasure, a small contribution to what appears to be a great writing. I have already purchased the book, and am anxiously awaiting delivery. I have railed for years against those who have accepted the "pseudo-historical ideology" of the Lost Cause as gospel truth, and especially the vilification of General Longstreet as a part of it.

Expand full comment

Thank you again. What the Lost Cause people did to Longstreet was disgusting. He became the man blamed for all of Lee’s terrible decisions because he reconciled and served in Reconstruction governments, and he dared to criticize Lee’s decisions as others were turning him into the saint-hero of the Confederacy. He figures in my narrative of what happened after the war. Thank you again.

Expand full comment