Listening to NPR yesterday, an author made an interesting point during his interview with Terry Gross. He said that it wasn't just the South who bought into the Lost Cause myth. He said the North also latched onto the concept because it allowed the South a measure of honor in being able to to deny that thousands of its citizens had died in defense of slavery. The mutual acceptance of another more honorable motive, even a romanticized fallacy, smoothed the healing process and made the reabsorption into the Union easier.
This, I believe, has carried forward into the present, where even Northerners romanticize the notion of the Confederacy and the proud rebel soldier.Gone with the Wind was just as popular in Chicago as it was in Atlanta, and if you remember, the opening title read..
There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South... Here in this pretty world Gallantry took its last bow... Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave... Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered. A Civilization gone with the wind...