Sherman's personal escort on his March to the Sea was the 1st U.S. Alabama Cavalry, a regiment made up from some of the 100,000 southern whites who fought for the United States Government during the Civil War.
Today's marching neo-confederates will somehow twist and reverse that fact by somehow stating those 100.000 white southerners fighting as loyal Americans, were really 'Confederate spies' operating as an entire regiment - behind Union lines...:)
Having grown up in the South, I know there is what can almost be called a pro-Confederate PR machine. For several postwar generations, the Democratic neo-Confederate states through their public schools have taught a glorified and misleading view of the rebellion. In this neo-Confederate fable, slavery is minimized, the South was united behind the rebellion in patriotic fervor and the Radical Republicans were an alien race driven by bitter hatred to the "South". In such a world view, knowledge of the existence of the 1st US Alabama Cavalry has no place.
I would love to see the reaction of such a misinformed Southerner researching his Civil War roots to find that his ancestor served in General Sherman's escort. Priceless!