[KG_Jag]

The strong weight of Constitutional and legal scholarship through 1860 clearly supported the right of individual states to succeed from the United States. In fact this exact topic was addressed at our February Civil War Round Table meeting. So those that support the legal right of the Southern States to succeed have a very strong case.

I don't know many modern day "fans" of the Confederacy that support slavery. But looking at any social issue through the eyes of values and beliefs of nearly 150 years later is not very instructive, often shedding more heat than light on a subject. In addition the supporters of Civil War history generally feel that the warriors and traditions of the Confederacy are under strong and unfair attack by those who look at history with only modern eyes and values (which will someday be subject to the same scrutiny). Many feel threatened and offended by modern efforts to equate and treat the Confederate flag as the Nazi Swastika. You cannot and should not attempt to erase history by banning its symbols. There is much honor, bravery and other positive qualities that are also associated with the Confederacy and its flag. My advice is: deal with it all. This is from a person who's ancestors, at least the few who had arrived, fought for the North.

Sherman has been viewed by many Southerners for a very long time as a pariah. Interestingly, this view took a decade or two after the end of the Civil War to germinate. Sherman in fact fought a modern war, and wisely destroyed the ability of his enemy to make war and supply its troops. Southern critics often seem to forget the much less forgivable brutality of some of their own actions, such as at Fort Pillow and by their irregular raiders.

Why has the Civil War burned so strongly and for so long? Look at the casualties. Look at how it changed the relative power between the states and the federal government. Look at the impact of reconstruction and then re-reconstruction in the southern states. Realize that some European powers believed that American could be reconquered--until the Civil War. Remember that the President felt that he had to have a former Confederate general lead our troops in Cuba during the Spanish American War (1898) to assure that we would fight together as one nation. It is very difficult to overstate the importance of the Civil War on US history.