I don't know if this is true....but I loved the story. I am
a huge fan of historical storytelling and this one is most excellent. I hope you enjoy it.
"The Real Story
is much more interesting and has gone untold in fear that feelings would be
hurt. It’s a story of war, the most brutal and bloody war, military might and
power pushed upon civilians, women, children and elderly. Never seen as a war crime, this was the
policy of the greatest nation on earth trying to maintain that status at all
costs. An unhealed wound remains in the hearts of some people of the southern
states even today; on the other hand, the policy of slavery has been an open
wound that has also been slow to heal but is okay to talk about. The story of THE BLACK EYED PEA considered
good luck relates directly back to Sherman's Bloody March to the Sea in late
1864. It was called The Savannah Campaign and was lead by Major General William
T. Sherman. The Civil War campaign began on 11/15/64 when Sherman 's troops
marched from the captured city of Atlanta, Georgia, and ended at the port of
Savannah on 12/22/1864. When the smoke
cleared, the southerners who had survived the onslaught came out of hiding.
They found that the blue belly aggressors that had looted and stolen everything
of value and everything you could eat including all livestock, death and
destruction were everywhere. While in hiding, few had enough to eat, and
starvation was now upon the survivors.
There was no international aid, no Red Cross meal trucks. The Northern
army had taken everything they could carry and eaten everything they could eat.
But they couldn’t take it all. The devastated people of the south found for
some unknown reason that Sherman ’s bloodthirsty troops had left silos full of
black eyed peas. At the time in the
north, the lowly black eyed pea was only used to feed stock. The northern
troops saw it as the thing of least value. Taking grain for their horses and
livestock and other crops to feed themselves, they just couldn’t take
everything. So they left the black eyed peas in great quantities assuming it
would be of no use to the survivors, since all the livestock it could feed had
either been taken or eaten. Southerners
awoke to face a new year in this devastation and were facing massive starvation
if not for the good luck of having the black eyed peas to eat. From New Years
Day 1866 forward, the tradition grew to eat black eyed peas on New Year’s Day
for good luck. Pass the peas,
Please!"
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