Steve,
It would be disingenuous to suggest that slavery was not a major issue that helped lead the Southern states to secede.
But the point I want to make is that then, as now, monolithic thinking about a people or a region, leads to false generalities and flawed interpretations.
There were as many reasons for taking up arms on both sides of the conflict as there were men (and women, for a few did) who did so.
Have you ever read a Confederate soldier's diary? I have read hundreds and I assure you, there is no ideology in any of them, only the sad longing for home and loved ones, for the war to end so that ordinary lives could be rejoined. As one lonely, hungry, cold Confederate wrote, "Damn me if I ever love another country."
This subject arose last evening when Bush was criticized for laying a wreath on a Confederate soldier's grave on Memorial Day and I defended him, saying that the Confederate war dead deserved the same honor as bestowed upon the Union dead.
I have little interest in arguing the fine points of the beliefs and politics that lead to the Civil War, for that discussion has no end.
I believe that slavery was and is wrong and that those who defended it were ultimately wrong as well, but it is too easy for us to judge men of previous generations through the lens of modern sensibilities.
I believe that the soldiers who fought on both sides, right or wrong, deserve honor and respect. |
