Some of my ancestor suffered under the same delusions as yours. So what? There was NOTHING under attack by the Union prior to the Revolt. If people didn't see what the realities of the time were they often simply did not have the education sufficient to understand what was happening.
RAT propaganda was just as effective in 1860 as in 2004 and gulled millions to move against their best interests.
"There was NOTHING under attack by the Union prior to the Revolt. If people didn't see what the realities of the time were they often simply did not have the education sufficient to understand what was happening."
The reality of the time was that their homes, land and possessions were threatened by hostile invasion. That they had no hand in provoking the invasion is immaterial; you defend your home and family. Simple as that. If I am following your logic, I suppose my family should have abandoned all they had and fled across the Blue Ridge and kept on going. Not really practical, and fraught with more potential peril than staying and fighting. As I said, things were far from monolithic, and it is very easy for you to sit in judgement 150 years after the fact. You've fallen prey to a class warfare mentality, much like modern Democrats, in their attempts at maintaining control over the minority vote... all African-Americans think the same, according to Democrats, and all want the same thing. Sound familiar?