CSA Oliver Hardy - Confederate Army

CSA: Oliver Hardy’s “Confederate” History! (5.4.2025)

The comedy duo – “Laurel and Hardy” (Stan Laurel being from the UK) still make millions of people laugh all the time. It would seem that like many people living in the Southern States, the family of Oliver Hardy were originally from England. I find the Confederacy to be a complex period of US history – often misrepresented by prevailing narratives. It is as if the dominant narrative-writers want to hide something that was present in the South between 1861-1865 – but which is inconvenient to know today. My own view is that there was Revolutionary dialectics in operation that could have led the US in an entirely different direction. I find that this observation is just as unpopular with neo-Confederates as it is with the Federal government in Washington DC!

Dead Confederate sharpshooters of Hood's Division among the rocks in Devil's Den in front of Little Round Top.

CSA: Remembering the Bravery of “Irish” Company “K” – 15th Alabama – Little Round-Top [2.7.1863] – Gettysburg! (3.4.2025)

The weather was hot – and the Confederates had to advance over open ground before storming an inclined slope (in the form of a steep hill) – with the intention of sweeping the Federals off its top and consolidating the victory. The previous day had seen the Confederates sweep the Federals out of West and Central Gettysburg – and into the hills to its East. Washington was just 80 miles to the South – and legend has it that Lincoln was packing his belongings to flee! I have audio-typed part of a chapter from Stephen Sears’ book – carefully reproducing the text from an Audible edition (in my native British English). This provides a general background to the battle – but does not mention the Irish specifically – other than one or two fighting for the Union. For the story of “Company K” of the 15th Alabama Regiment of the Confederate States of America (CSA) – we must turn to the excellent work of Phillip Thomas Tucker – who has produced an excellent book examining the contribution to the Confederate cause made by the Irish!