[drjimmy]

And just how did that work out for the vast majority of average soldiers and citizens of the South?

It's funny (in a pathetic way) how jeffersondem et al. have been arguing throughout this thread about the terrible dictator Lincoln starting the war and Johnny Reb just fighting back against the evil conquering hordes of Northerners--and then cva comes on and "defends" the Confederacy by saying no, Johnny Reb was a bloodthirsty yob literally itching to kill anyone from the North.

[central_va]

For the South is was a war to get away form the North. There was never at any time a threat of Northern conquest. The thought is preposterous both then and now. So the Southerner relished going toe to toe with the Yanks but only if they kept coming "down here". Face it Lincoln's war was optional and he could have both prevented and stopped it at any time. He didn't want to.

You can pretend the North was in a death struggle for its very life during the Civil War but that is both silly and false. The South didn't have the desire or the resources to conquer the North. It isn't why it seceded in the first place.