hegemony
Carl Glover (glover@msmary.edu)
Wed, 26 Mar 1997 14:40:29 -0600
(D)ear Bro(the)(r)s an(d) Sis(ter)s,
The word "hegemony" raises a number of provacitve issues for us.
Perhaps the first has to do with pronunciation. Is it "he GEM on y" as in
"Yo SEM it y", or is it "HE[D]GE emon y" as in "AL i mon y", (something I
would avoid paying but would love to receive). Actually, according to the
musty old copy of Funk and Funk in the Ask Carl Archives, the proper
pronunciation is "HEGG e mon y", as in "EGG McMuffin." I can't remember
whether the "g" is hard or soft, which brings up another problem I
wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.
At any rate, in the course of doing my research on Civil War hero
Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, I happened upon some information about an
obscure skirmish that is relevant to our discussion of the term hegemony.
As you may know, in the North, Civil War battlefields were often named
after the creeks where the battles were fought, while the Confederates
preferred to use town names to identify battles. Hence the Battle of
Antietam (Creek) in the north was referred to as the battle of Sharpsburg
by southerners. The Yanks got whipped at Bull Run, but it was a victory
at Manassas Junction to the Rebs. So what about hegemony?
Well, Stonewall Jackson's Corps of Robt. E. Lee's Army of Northern
Virginia ran into some unexpected problems on the morning of June 4th,
1862, when a detachment of Fighting Joe Hooker's Army of the Potomac
attacked Jackson's rear flank. The skirmish itself was inconsequential,
but it upset Stonewall Jackson so much to be taken off guard that he lost
both his religion and his hat. But wouldn't you know it, Gen. Lee found a
zeugma. This skirmish took place on the Hegemony Creek, which runs
between the Chickahominy and the Rappahannock, connects with the Accaquan,
and empties into the Chesapeake Bay. In the north, it was known as the
Battle of Hegemony, but in the south it is still known as the Battle of
Syllepsis (the nearest town), where tourists can still lose their
illusions and their car keys.
Warm regards
Carl W. Glover
glover@msmary.edu