Having lived in both Jackson, Mississippi (burned three times by Sherman) and Chambersburg, Pennsylvania (the only northern town burned by Southern troops), I may have a very peculiar view towards the late unpleasantness between the states.
I believe that it was begun to preserve states rights and conversely perserve the union, but won to set men free.
And I do not believe that it could be won until it was clearly won for that purpose.
As a Mississippian or Georgian there is no doubt that I would have I would have served in my local regiment in defense of my home.
As an Ohioan or Pennsylvanian, I would have enlisted to preserve my country.
Both sides were right. But the "righter" side won. The amazing thing is that after the hostilities were over, and after the unfortunate imposition of punitive reconstruction after the murder of Lincoln, we were able to be one country at all.
Remember why Jefferson Davis was never put on trial after the war. He would have won his case.
Remember also that Lee took the oath of Allegiance, and really began the healing.
Remember also that Joe Johnston caught the cold that eventually killed him because he refused to cover his head as served as a pallbearer at William Tecumseh Sherman's funeral.
Remember that one of this nation's most hallowed sites, Arlington National Cemetary, came into being because the Union's comissary general Meigs greatest possible insult to Lee was to bury Yankee dead in his wife's garden.
I have visited many Civil War battle sites and I am always awed by the persistence with which American fought and slew American. I marvel at the regimental histories of the Twentied Maine and the First Minnesota and all of those barefooted, lean and hungry men who charged cemetary ridge and would have followed Lee anywhere.
"that this nation of the people, by the people and for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
Sorry for the maudlin sentimentality.
[ August 27, 2002, 02:00 PM: Message edited by: MikeJ ]
I believe that it was begun to preserve states rights and conversely perserve the union, but won to set men free.
And I do not believe that it could be won until it was clearly won for that purpose.
As a Mississippian or Georgian there is no doubt that I would have I would have served in my local regiment in defense of my home.
As an Ohioan or Pennsylvanian, I would have enlisted to preserve my country.
Both sides were right. But the "righter" side won. The amazing thing is that after the hostilities were over, and after the unfortunate imposition of punitive reconstruction after the murder of Lincoln, we were able to be one country at all.
Remember why Jefferson Davis was never put on trial after the war. He would have won his case.
Remember also that Lee took the oath of Allegiance, and really began the healing.
Remember also that Joe Johnston caught the cold that eventually killed him because he refused to cover his head as served as a pallbearer at William Tecumseh Sherman's funeral.
Remember that one of this nation's most hallowed sites, Arlington National Cemetary, came into being because the Union's comissary general Meigs greatest possible insult to Lee was to bury Yankee dead in his wife's garden.
I have visited many Civil War battle sites and I am always awed by the persistence with which American fought and slew American. I marvel at the regimental histories of the Twentied Maine and the First Minnesota and all of those barefooted, lean and hungry men who charged cemetary ridge and would have followed Lee anywhere.
"that this nation of the people, by the people and for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
Sorry for the maudlin sentimentality.
[ August 27, 2002, 02:00 PM: Message edited by: MikeJ ]
What makes you think that you wouldn't be an American if the South had won? Remember, the South was the Confederate States of America! 
