Okay, but who appointed Sheridan?
Other than that, nice post.
By the way, the southeast and parts of the great plains are the most healthest (which doesn't say much) part of this country is the Southeast and parts of the Great Plains. The rest of the country seems to be coming apart at the seems because of the arrogance of government at all levels (local, state, federal).
And the irony is that the South forsaw this over a 130 years ago and wanted no part of it.
That, and also who appointed Schuyler Colfax, Henry Wilson and so forth. Grant ultimately had the final choice in his cabinet and running mates and they were among the most unsavory and corrupt persons to ever occupy those roles between the founding and the Clinton administration.
I tend to agree. The war also saw the beginning of the end of "federalism" and our nation has inexorably progressed toward democracy (tyranny) and centralization and away from the Constiutitonal republic that our founders sacrificed so much to give us. If I were alive in 1861, I would have joined the Confederacy. Jackson and others saw slavery as wrong, but believed (as I do) that the South would have abolished it on their own if left to their own devices. I didn't see any northerners welcoming free slaves after emancipation. The radical republicans like Thaddeus Stephens and others were hatemongers who knew nothing of brotherhood or forgiveness. The south had slavery, but the north had greed, corruption, and rampant secularism.