Good point Jack the Sailor. There is still a resvoir of racial resentment and thinly cloaked intolerence in parts of the south I have been to. Little things are sometimes said with a wink like YOU are in on the real attitude toward black folk. I never winked back.

Had the North been more fair minded and less rapacious during the Reconstruction I believe much of the resentment would have died away by now. That's another one of those endless speculations though. What happened IS what happened and the work goes on from where we are now.

olliamh, the US Civil War is one of the most studied wars of all times and analyses of the same has been required learning for West Point officers, if I remember correctly. It was a transition from the European style used by Napoleon and others into true modern warfare. Again, you have the wonderful advantage of being 150 and some odd years removed. Thank you for your superior military insights. As for Robert E. Lee, he was a much respected military man on both sides of the Mason Dixon Line. He was also reluctant to enter the war and this is well documented.

Also let me ask you if you are as adamant about the slavery that goes on today in this country and around the world. Are YOU ready to fight against it? You sound as though you are and there is a crying need for those who will take on the issue.

Slavery in one form or another has been around since longer than history and has been practiced in every culture at one time or another. It was often a means of survival and people on the outs desired to be slaves rather than to strave to death or worse. Certain Romans slaves held high offices and conducted the business of their masters faithfully and were members of the household. Some Southern slave owners sought to do right by those they owned and faced a hostile opposition by members of their own community and family. Some worked to get slaves out of the south. They were good people who were part of the culture in which they were born. Needless to say, I never met General Lee and I certainly do not know what was in his heart beyond his own words.

Up to World War One, the Civil War was the greatest conflict of all times. I'm drawing on memory now but i believe that it involve four times the number of troops all told of the Napoleonic Wars. Those who participated, those who conducted the war had never been through such a thing and they were constantly breaking new ground.

You bring up an interesting issue, especially seeing that blacks fought on both sides too. As stated elsewhere, the economy of the South was slavery dependent and slaves escaping to the North was a tremedous determent as lincoln knew it would be when he issued the Emancipation Declaration. It was a war tactic. Was it right? No. Not much is right about wars. It's mass murder on an almost unimaginable scale. The thing about wars is that once begun it involves everyone to some degree because at that point, the point of war, you are fighting for your very lives as well as for the lives of all those at home. The shame be upon those who push for war and not negotiation.