The Other Side of History
Sometimes Past Events Were a Bit Different than People Believe
Commonly accepted "facts" about important-or not so important-events in the past are not always exactly accurate. Sometimes there is an alternate explanation.
Popular versions of history may become famous because they provide a romantic or heroic view of people or events. Important utterances during times of stress are simply misheard. For political reasons, remarks wrongly are attributed to a famous personage.
For example, Civil War general Thomas Jackson got his nickname “Stonewall” at the Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas) July 21, 1861. At a critical point, with the Federal Army increasing pressure on the Confederates, General Bee saw Jackson and his Virginians on a ridge and supposedly cried out, “There is Jackson standing like a stone wall! Let us determine to die here and we will conquer.” However, it was rumored what Bee actually said was, “There stands Jackson—like a damned stone wall!” The former meaning is certainly kinder to one of the greatest tactical commanders who ever lived.
Flights of poetry, when applied to historic events, sometimes lead to a change of viewpoint. School children once had to memorize Lord Tennyson’s poem, “Charge of the Light Brigade,” including the famous lines, “Their's not to reason why, Their's but to do and die” (often misquoted as “. . . do or die.”
The subject was an event in the Crimean War (1854). An English brigade, consisting of 673 men, was ordered to attack an enemy force. The charge was later described in the English House of Commons as, “A feat of chivalry, fiery with consummate courage, and bright with flashing courage.”
Rather than being a brilliant military maneuver, the charge resulted from a misunderstanding of orders, causing the Brigade’s commander to lead his troops against the wrong enemy force, consisting of close to twenty battalions and some fifty or more cannons arranged in an open jaw of death. Losses by the British vary, but probably were at least one third killed or wounded and another third captured. Compared to the 22,000 total British total losses in this war, this was an insignificant event. Nevertheless, the Tennyson version is enshrined in British history.
In popular memory, the storming of the infamous Bastille Prison in Paris on July 14, 1879 launched the French Revolution. The holiday is still celebrated in France as Bastille Day. From the significance given to the event, one would think the purpose was to release multitudes of political prisoners jailed by a corrupt monarchy. Actually, when the Bastille was stormed, there were only seven prisoners inside: four counterfeiters, two madmen, and a young aristocrat who had displeased his father.
For a final example, at pertinent times in political campaigns, Abraham Lincoln’s alleged “Ten Points” are resurrected.
1. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
2. You cannot strengthen the weak by weaking the strong.
3. You cannot help small men up by tearing big men down.
4. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
5. You cannot lift the wage-earner up by pulling the wage-payer down.
6. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
7. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
8. You cannot establish sound social security on borrowed money.
9. You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man’s initiative and independence.
10. You cannot help people permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.
Unfortunately for the political pamphleteers, these “Ten Points” are a hoax. The points were copyrighted in 1916 by William J. H. Boetcker and over the years have been picked up by various groups to support a position. Lincoln scholars conclusively state that any connection to Lincoln is spurious.
