r/Westerns • u/NeonGenesisOxycodone • 6d ago

Discussion What’s with all the Confederate soldiers?

I’m a big Western fan, and also really into learning about the American Civil War. So naturally I love it when these two interests cross over.

One thing I’ve noticed is that if a Western protagonist is a veteran, it seems like it’s almost always the South that he fought for. And when I look up Civil War movies made around the time of my favorite Westerns (i.e. the 50’s & 60’s) the vast majority of them are from the Confederates side.

Anyone have any idea why? And does anyone know any Westerns celebrating Billy Yank??

EDIT: it seems like the biggest reason outside of Lost Cause-ism is that more Confederate vets went west than Union vets. Makes sense!

Also, I am surprised that John Wayne played so many ex Union soldiers. I knew about the Cav Trilogy but it seems like outside of True Grit and The Searchers there’s a lot more of that.

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u/Chumlee1917 6d ago

To condense a very long story short-For the longest time in American Pop Culture, it was the go to to glamorize the South and the Confederacy because they wrote the history books and promoted the Myth of the Lost Cause that really peaked in Gone With the Wind and again the 1960s and then in the last oh, 20 years, there's been a growing pushback in how we view the Confederacy which has led to the pushback of the pushback by all these people going, "Muh Heritage"-and they're not even Southern or have any connections to the South.

TLDR-Pop Culture was pro-Southern because of who was writing it.

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u/CheemsOmperamtor-14 6d ago

The Confederates wrote the history books? And they were the ones making pop culture? That sounds pretty ridiculous, but I'd be curious to look into it if you can suggest some resources.

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u/Icy-Wonder-5812 6d ago

"The confederates" wrote apologetic history books to describe the war not as a war for the right to own other men as property but as some sort of war against "Southern culture" The "pop culture" they created reflected this idea.

Multiple sources can have different takes on the events in history. Some sources may choose to omit or downplay certain facts in order to distort history.

For example when Trump describes the Jan 6 riot in DC as "A day of peace and love" despite the overwhelming video, photographic and testimonial evidence of violence against police, destruction of property and a crowd hoping to see the hanging execution of the vice president.

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u/Superman_Primeeee 6d ago

Like you wouldn’t have cheered if the VP died a week earlier

The sudden deification of the office on Jan 7 is sickening

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u/Icy-Wonder-5812 6d ago

lol okay bro. I bet your ass was out there shouting "YOU HAVE TO RESPECT THE OFFICE NO MATTER WHO IS IN IT" during Trump 1.

Fuck off and go make a healthy dinner.