Dying Days of the Deplorables

The insurrectionist mob that forced its way into the Capitol on January 6 was markedly white and, for the most part, male. It was also thoroughly unpatriotic. Beyond that, who were these vandals?

You may recall a 2016 campaign speech in which Hillary Clinton used the phrase “basket of deplorables”:

You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic—you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that. And [Trump] has lifted them up.

Republicans pounced on her words and tried to present Clinton as contemptuous toward all Trump supporters. But the Republicans were lying (yet again) when they did this. By “deplorables” she clearly meant bigots. About other Trump supporters Clinton said this:

“[They] feel that the government has let them down”…they’re…“desperate for change.”  “[W]e have to understand and empathize with…” these non-bigoted Trump supporters.

I recall this voice from the past not only to express for the hundredth time my disgust for the Republicans’ dishonest caricature of Hillary Clinton, but also to connect the desecration of American democracy on January 6 with Trump’s deplorables. The people who trashed the Capitol building, broke windows, stole whatever they could haul away, and smeared feces on the inside walls were mainly male and overwhelmingly white. Their Confederate flag and brazenly antisemitic slogans tell us they were also overwhelmingly bigoted. These were the deplorables at their seething, snarling worst.

Their hatred for what America has become was evident both in their assault on the electoral process and in their brainless chant of

U S A!

U S A!

U S A!

They seem to think this chant makes them patriotic, but it does not. It amounts to nothing more than a tribalistic invocation that says “Us against you! Us against you!” Whenever I hear this chant I can’t help but recall the similarly tribal German chant of the 1930s “Seig Heil! Sieg Heil!”

I would consider it a great blessing to never again hear a mob shout “U S A!”

 

Meanwhile, about 500 miles to the south democracy roared forward driven by the force of genuine patriots. With the amazing Stacey Abrams taking the lead, voters in Georgia lifted an African-American pastor and a Jewish journalist into the Senate, putting an end to Mitch McConnell’s stranglehold there. The deplorables are truly on the run while American democracy surges. 

 

In a way the victories of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, along with Georgia’s Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, represent crucial victories in America’s ongoing Civil War. It’s not a coincidence that five of the six senators who objected to Biden’s Electoral College victory were from former slave states as were about two thirds of the objecting House members. The foul odor of the former slave-based southern patriarchy remains pungent in its old haunts.

America’s struggle to realize its ideals has been long and hard and certainly it’s not over yet. But the tide is with the real patriots and, despite the nastiness that Trump’s deplorables promise to stir up in the near future, their glory days are unequivocally behind them.

 

Memorial Day 2020

Two of my great-great-grandfathers served the Union during the Civil War. In fact, I inherited a carbine that I believe was used by one of them, most likely by Private Patrick Flynn of the 2^nd New York Cavalry. Today is a day for remembering the fallen from our nation’s wars and, though neither Private Flynn nor Private Jacob Gorth (18^th Indiana Infantry) lost their lives during their service, the former was apparently wounded during the Gettysburg campaign. In fact, as I wrote in a July 2010 post, Private Flynn may have actually won the war for the Union.

In that post, inspired by a spirit of fun, I made light of cavalryman Flynn’s Gettysburg service, and I think – though I don’t exactly owe him an apology – that I do feel I shouldn’t fail to keep in mind the sacrifices he made for the Union’s cause. These sacrifices deserve more than the short shrift I gave him in my July 2010 blog. At the time I found it amusing that he was honored for his service at Gettysburg when, as I discovered, he never actually saw action on that storied battlefield.

This somewhat more serious regard for my ancestors’ Civil War service comes about because I learned that Private Flynn missed Gettysburg probably because he was wounded in a cavalry clash against Jeb Stuart’s rebels in June of 1863 just as Robert E. Lee was leading his army out of Virginia toward Pennsylvania. On top of this, I recently read five different diary-like accounts of Civil War veterans, one of which, Three Years in the Federal Cavalry, was actually about Private Flynn’s regiment. Reading about the experiences of these veterans has imbued me with a new respect for what they went through – all-around hardship, lousy food, lousy clothing (riddled with actual lice), sleeping in the rain, slogging through muddy, barely passable roads, and, of course, the frightening bloodshed of battle. I made a point to read both Yankee and Rebel accounts, but I naturally feel greater connection with the former, given that they were not defending slavery and they were, very much, fighting for us, the Americans of today.

So, hats off to you both, Privates Flynn and Gorth.

Hats off also to two of my most worthy Orlando-area neighbors, Major Dan Mullally of the U.S. Marines and Lt. General Mark Hertling of the U.S. Army, both now retired. Dan, who was kind enough to speak to my Vietnam War class, had led a company of marines at Khe Sanh just after the 1968 Tet offensive had subsided. He has said that one of his proudest achievements was bringing all of his marines home alive despite having led them during one of the hottest periods of combat in the Vietnam War. General Hertling’s many years of service included enough combat to teach any veteran humility and sobriety about the reality of going to war. He has recently served as a commentator on CNN and sometimes offers his thoughtful and informed opinions on that network’s website.

So, to all our good veterans, men and women who have served with courage and distinction, please know that you are not forgotten, and your service does not go unappreciated. Even today, 155 years after the fact, I have nothing but admiration and gratitude for what Privates Flynn and Gorth endured.

Jacob Gorth (aka Goerth), post-Civil War, when he rode with Buffalo Bill out west.

Happy Birthday, General Sickles

Few events in history have been more fascinating to me than the American Civil War. As an adolescent, I learned the names of all the corps commanders at the Battle of Gettysburg, and was even familiar with some of their quirks. For example, Confederate General Richard “Baldy” Ewell could not sleep in an extended position, but had to curl his frame, wooden leg included, around a stool, before he could doze off at night.

But in the Department of the Grotesquely Outrageous (or is it Outrageously Grotesque?), Baldy Ewell is nothing compared to Union General Dan Sickles whose birthday it is today.

Sickles was born to a wealthy and prominent New York family and quickly became accustomed to deferential treatment from those around him. Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, he used his political connections to wangle an officer’s commission in the U.S. Army. This was in spite of his lack of significant military training. The truth is, however, that he had already become famous before the war, having made headlines as a flamboyant politician and notorious womanizer.

His first political position was as an assemblyman in New York’s state legislature where he came to be known for his numerous love affairs and for escorting Fanny White, the well-known owner of a local brothel, into the Assembly’s chambers. He doubled down on this scandal by taking Fanny with him on a trip to Europe – leaving his pregnant wife home alone. According to Wikipedia, Sickles presented Fanny to Queen Victoria, introducing her with the name of one of his political opponents.

In February of 1859 Sickles discovered that his beautiful young wife was having an affair with Philip Barton Key, the son of the composer of America’s National Anthem, and the District Attorney for Washington, D.C. Sickles, a man of action, confronted Key one Sunday in Lafayette Square in the heart of Washington, and, crying out, “Key, you scoundrel, you have dishonored my home; you must die!” shot the unarmed Key multiple times, thoroughly killing him. (Reports that Sickles actually declared, “My name is Daniel Sickles. You have shagged my wife. Prepare to die,” are apparently unfounded.)

Washington’s District Attorney was now dead, of course, so Sickles promptly surrendered himself to the city’s surviving authorities and was taken to jail.

Again, from Wikipedia:

“He received numerous perquisites, including being allowed to retain his personal weapon, and receive numerous visitors. So many visitors came that he was granted the use of the head jailer's apartment to receive them. They included many congressmen, senators, and other leading members of Washington society. President James Buchanan sent Sickles a personal note.”

The murder trial took place in the spring of 1859 and Sickles secured as his defense lawyer Edwin M. Stanton, the future Secretary of War, a man of considerable political ambition. Stanton based his case on the idea that the infidelity of the beloved Mrs. Sickles had driven the Congressman insane with jealousy and, not being of sound mind during the shooting, could not be found guilty of murder. Sickles was acquitted on April 26, 1859, the first person ever to win a case on the basis of temporary insanity. Today, in reference to the Sickles acquittal, February 19 is celebrated as “Temporary Insanity Day.” I’m not sure why it isn’t February 27, the actual day of the murder, but, in any case, I understand that appropriate eCards are available.

As a Civil War general, Sickles clung to his outrageous ways. He maintained that he still loved his young wife, but he also found the company of other women (of varying reputations) irresistible. He was aided in his affairs by his friend and superior officer, General Joseph Hooker, who was so connected in the public mind with ladies of the night that a spurious theory arose claiming that the noun “hooker” was derived from association with this general’s name. Charles Hanna writes in his 2010 book Gettysburg Medal of Honor Recipients, that “Accounts at the time compared [the army headquarters of Sickles and Hooker] to a rowdy bar and bordello.”

At the Battle of Chancellorsville in May of 1863, Sickles, as head of the Third Corps, helped thwart a crushing blow against the Union Army, turning a potentially catastrophic defeat into a merely humiliating one. But it was at Gettysburg two months later where Sickles’ behavior stirred up some controversy. He had been ordered to maintain a solid line of defense along Cemetery Ridge, but he decided, on his own initiative, to advance his corps forward, thus leaving a gap between his troops and those of his fellow Yankee generals. When the Confederates attacked, Sickles’ corps was almost annihilated and Sickles himself lost a leg to a rebel cannonball. Though some commend Sickles’ maneuver, most regard it as a dangerous blunder that almost cost the Union the battle.

Sickles’ mangled leg was amputated, but it was saved as a relic of the battle, and it, or at least its bones, can be seen today at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Maryland.

After the war, President Grant made Sickles the U.S. minister to Spain. It may be that the president was hoping to put an end to the scandals that surrounded the former general, but if so, this plan was not entirely successful. For soon after arriving in Madrid, Ambassador Sickles, apparently undiminished in his raffish impulses, stirred up rumors of an affair between him and Queen Isabella II. America’s next war, of course, was with Spain, but I don’t claim any known connection between Sickles’ unremitting debauchery and the War of 1898.

Upon his return to the U.S., Sickles struggled for years to bolster his reputation as an outstanding general who made all the right moves at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and the other battles in which he was a participant. He died in 1914 at 94 years of age, but, if he could communicate with us today from the beyond, he would surely claim for himself a “10” in the area of generalship.



That’s about all I have on General Sickles. I just thought it might be fun, in honor of the general’s birthday, to think back on a time when churlish, self-important blowhards held sway in Washington society.