‘Now that’s quite a reach. Davis knew very well what was going on there, and obviously approved.’
No reach at all, I don’t dispute what Davis’s position was anywhere on this thread.
What I have said is it depends on which histories you take as the ‘gospel’. what I mean is there are a host of information stores from both sides, top tier like Lincoln and Davis, but also diaries, letters, journals, newspaper accounts, and historical works from staffers within each cabinet, each army, and sometimes each of the various commands that offer more depth, and differing timelines.
Consider the war took place over a century ago here, among our homes for the most part (primarily our Southern friends homes to be blunt....chuckle) and yet we STILL don’t have a definitive timeline of who said what when, how it was said, what the context was, etc etc etc.
When you factor in much of whats cited today was nothing more than ‘spur of the moment political rhetoric’...well, you can draw multiple conclusions from the exact same event, from multiple perspectives.
Thats why the era remains so facinating to me, and millions of others, here and around the world. There has simply never been a conflict quite like our Civil War.
The conduct of the CSA at Andersonville tarnishes the claims to have 'fought for an honorable cause'.
But there is one sure thing in this world; abuse US soldiers when their in a POW status is a sure path to wealth.