The Final Effort and Myth of The Lost Cause

The final point that can be made on the topic of the South's downfall is their last attempt at being 'right'. This is shown in the effort of the lost cause. The Lost Cause is a propaganda attempt by the south to convince Northerners that the war was unjustified and the south was more of a pure society than that of the north. This is shown well in books written after the civil war such as these two novels. In The Surrender of Johnston's Army the retreat and surrender is described as "the surrender of the most gallant army that ever battled for right and justice". It is rare and normally does not occur that a surrender is described as "gallant" and that the surrendering party has fought for "right and justice". This shows the attempts by the lost cause to prove that the South was pure or right and that the North steamrolled them for no apparent or just reason. Not only is this evident in the surrender of Johnston's army but also in The Memoirs of Fredrick Augustus. In this novel, Fredrick states that a "Distatrous revolution has swept away all the old landmarks of the country". This quote demonstrates the idea that the north was a crushing force that ruined the south and wiped away it's history. The Lost Cause is a pity attempt at making Northerners, who may not have even fought for the north, to believe in their cause in an uncorrect manner. It attempts convince people of a fight that never happened and a principle of a 'country' that never existed, neither the principle nor the 'country'.