My Great Grandfather was enlisted in the 29th Alabama Infantry Regiment and I have his photo right here over my desk.
His brother died in the war and is buried not ten feet from my Great Grandfather. My Dad is buried about twenty yards from them.
Southerners fought to repel Yankee invaders. The personal reasons of individuals have little to do with the overarching claims of the politicians or academics. You come down here to kill and destroy lives, they'll fight you. It was as simple as that. That's all I ever tried to get across.
We should all note that the British Empire abolished slavery in planned stages without a war. Our Un-Civil War did not have to happen.
Amen. As many have noted upthread, it was really about the money. The attacks on morality were some of the psy-ops of that particular war.
Your ancestors were pawns used by evil men who fought and caused the deaths of some 600,000 Americans so they could keep an entire race of beings in bondage and NOTHING is ever going to change that.
You Southerners opened fire on Ft. Sumter.
Your side invaded Maryland and Pennsylvania and got your asses kicked.
One of my great grandfathers served in the 119th Illinois Voluntary Infantry, fought his last battle at Fort Blakely, near Mobile. Wounded, wound got infected, almost died in New Orleans hospital. It's said that after the war he walked home from New Orleans to Quincy, Illinois, to save the cost of riverboat transport.
If that seems like a long walk, he had already force-marched several times that far, with a pack & weapon, during the war.
My great grandfather's family was fresh off the boat from Europe, and it's said that his younger brother joined the Confederate cavalry, though we can't prove it. G.G. had two encounters with Nathan Bedford Forrest, and likely admired the Confederate cavalry man's dash & courage. Younger brother might have picked up on that...