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Eggman
01-21-2012, 10:12 AM
I wasn't sure where to put this so I decided the uniform folks are probably most attuned to the authenticity thing. A while back a teammate and I got to reviewing a paper a fellow wrote on what makes a "real" Southerner. The requirements seemed rather restrictive, especially in the ancestor department, and also the behavior requirements. I particularly noticed that people of Dutch decent were excluded, which made me wonder where that left such notable generals like James P. (Dutch) Longstreet and Earl Van Dorn. I know I don't have a chance at authenticity despite my twenty-nine years down here. We Dutch are always harried anyway. Up north where I grew up the non Hollanders had this ditty:
"There's the highland Dutch, and the lowland Dutch, and the Rotterdam Dutch, and the G__ d___ Dutch." My Dakota brothers-in-law always grouped me with the latter.
There were some Dutch that were quite the warriors though. These were the Boers of South Africa. Back in the "Great Trek" days these folks were notable for having been able to mow down the 10th Zulu Hoard with single shot muzzleloaders - these Hollander were fast enough reloaders to actually survive. They did this by having their wives do the reloading.
Two of my great uncles were Boers - Piet and Gert VandeVelde. These two were twins with the typical long beards. They arrived here after the Boer War being not able stomach staying in South Africa under the Brits. Once they arrived here they became African Americans of course.
According to my Uncle Cope these two former Boer farmers were never boring. They were experts at boring out a rifle barrel and also boring fence holes. They had one of the better Boer hog farms in Iowa with a national championsip breeder boar.