The Friday Link for 7/21/21

I need to revisit something I've had to repeat over and over again for the last 20 years.  If you are a proud Minnesotan and if you love the United States, you need to STOP FLYING AND DISPLAYING THE DAMN CONFEDERATE FLAG!!!

I know, all caps.  Sorry.  I'm more than a little miffed about this.  Apparently, there's some dumb idiot in Sauk Rapids who owns a bar that displays the Confederate Flag. The Confederate States were traitors, who attacked the United States, who attacked the United States with the primary intent to continue the heinous act of slavery, and an enemy who killed hundreds of thousands of US soldiers and citizens. You might as well display the flag from al-Qaeda.

(Side note: I used to say the Nazi flag but it became clear many of the people I was trying to shame for their displaying of the traitorous southern imagery might not be too upset to fly the Nazi flag.)

In regards to why flying the Confederate flag is a DEEP betrayal for any Minnesotan, all you have to do is know the history of the 1st Minnesota, the unit which on July 2nd, 1863 saved the Union at a tremendous cost.

It was insanity as 262 Minnesotans took on around 3000 Confederates, AND WON! Winning in this case was holding back the far superior force until reinforcements arrived, but they did it.  The cost was the greatest single-day loss of life for any military unit in US history to still be standing at the end of the day.  Eight-two percent died or were injured in 5 minutes.  But they held the field.

It's interesting to hear the modern narrative that the 20th Maine was the unit to save the day, and they were outstanding on the far flank of the Union lines, but the 1st Minnesotans were historically known as THE unit from Gettysburg.  They were considered by presidents and military leaders for over 100 years to be the men who saved the United States. 

Now take down the damn Confederate flag and show some respect. 

Two from the National Battlefield Trust as they both go into detail about the 1st Minnesotan.  

The second video is good because it gives you an overview of where the first video was shot. You can see the fence line and the treeline by the little swale.  It gives you a better idea of how much carnage happened in such small spaces, a chaos that would be revisited by the US military with D-Day in WWII. 

Finally tonight is a video that actually does the diagram of the 1st Minnesota charge.

Stay healthy, have a great weekend and God Bless the 1st Minnesota.