Thanks. I wandered into these discussions based on curiosity and I find myself getting sucked into them more and more. Fortunately my dad was a Civil War fanatic and I picked up my interest in the war from him. And I'm learning a lot from the rest of you, at least those on the Northern side.
People don't want to learn anything which doesn't conform to their biases. I was fortunate in growing up without any biases one way or the other. If anything, I was originally biased towards the Northern version of events. It was decades later that I began to realize all may not be as I had been led to believe.
You have given insight into your motivation in this discussion. Doubtlessly your father was very Pro-Union in his fanaticism and therefore you come by yours naturally.