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Got banned from a Facebook history group for pointing out a common myth about the Civil War
So I'm in this local history group for my county, mostly old photos and people asking about old buildings. Somebody posts this long story about how a certain general slept in their ancestor's house before a big battle. I've actually seen the real records from the county archives, the general was 60 miles away that whole week. I politely said 'hey just so you know, the official records show he was somewhere else that day' and linked to the scanned letter from the library of congress. Within an hour I was banned. The mod said I was 'disrespecting local heritage.' I guess some people would rather have a good story than the truth. Has anyone else run into this where verified documents get you kicked out of a group?
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juliarodriguez4mo ago
That reminds me of when I tried to correct someone in a local facebook group about a family cemetery that supposedly had a revolutionary war soldier buried there. I actually found the guy's pension records and his death certificate showed he died in a different county and was buried on his own farm thirty miles away. The person running the group got all defensive and said "well that's what my granddaddy always told me" like that somehow overrides official government documents. They didn't ban me but they did delete my comment and tell me to stop spreading "confusion.
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lewis.mila4mo ago
Oh man, I feel your pain on this one. It's wild how people will dig in their heels over a family story even when you show them actual scans from the Library of Congress. Julia's example with the cemetery is a perfect match too - it's like people think their granddaddy's memory is more reliable than a death certificate signed by a doctor. I get that these stories make history feel personal and special, but the truth is usually just as interesting once you know it. The real record of that general being sixty miles away actually tells us a lot about how travel and communication worked back then, which is pretty cool if you ask me.
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