I am on record here as ambivalent about Lincoln and praise his terms he offered to my kinfolks.....Sherman too though I am not crazy about Bill otherwise.
I think Boothe got what he had coming considering.
Lincoln had his pluses and minuses....and both were kingsize.
Southern re-revisionists are not the only ones on Abe’s legacy’s arse....libertarians and others as well.
I just can’t get all warm and fuzzy over him but I don’t hate him.
Now Thaddeus Stevens and Sumner...yes sir...I don’t see much redemption there.
Some Yankees are still just like that...unlikable.
I used to not think highly of Stevens, but my opinion of him has gone way up over the years. I think if his all at once vision of Reconstruction had been carried out, we would avoided a lot of difficulties later. I admit that Sumner is harder to warm up to.
Sherman and his lieutenants saved my family's region from a lot of lawlessness and made the world a lot safer place for the ordinary citizen there both Union and reb, so I have some positive impressions of the man.
And I totally understand how you must think of the liberal world's widespread holier than thou attitude toward Mississippi. You don't have to be a fan of the Confederacy to see that the state has been the #1 source of cheap moral indignation over the years for many who are willing to cast the first stone though hardly without sin themselves.