Talk:Deo vindice

"CSA firmly believed"
"The CSA firmly believed that the Christian God was on their side during the American Civil War, and made repeated proclamations to that effect."

This could probably use a source.

23.240.131.64 (talk) 09:10, 13 October 2014 (UTC)


 * The phrasing of that line is somewhat strident, but it does reflect some of the debate reported by Semmes in the cites. I'm not sure what would be the best substitute to make it more encyclopedic.


 * There is another interesting aspect of the actual Latin chosen, noted both in the Semmes report of the committee as well as a blog entry by a modern Latin scholar at UNC Greensboro (David Wharton): vindex also can at times mean "punisher", changing the meaning to "with God as our punisher."  While the Wharton article notes that is not what was intended, the wording does make the choice prophetic in light of the result of the war and the primary motivator of the cause that prompted it.  http://littleurbanity.blogspot.com/2004/12/deo-vindice.html Red Harvest (talk) 06:33, 6 November 2014 (UTC)

Thanks Dunson Baker (talk) 19:56, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

Semmes account in Southern Historical Society gives the wrong year
I'm going to have to re-edit to fix years because the primary date given by Semmes and used in the 1888 article reposted at civilwarhome online is incorrect. He remembered (or someone misprinted back in 1888, because I've seen it in the image of the original) the date of debate on motto being 1864, but the actual date found in the Confederate Congressional Journal and another source is 1863 and the motto is that adopted as the result of this debate. http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/22conf/1863stat.html#p167 Red Harvest (talk) 07:45, 6 November 2014 (UTC)