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"And finally I know that Sherman’s actions, while harsh, shortened the war by 6 months "

Well, I guess that makes it alright then. Want to win? Just terrorize innocents (Hmmm...sounds familiar!). If the south had adopted Sherman's tactic of terror and cowardly inhumane treatment of innocent civilians, Washington D.C. would be a Confederate tourist site today. We didn't burn and pillage as we went and Lee wouldn't have allowed it.

You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out."

Fine statement, he should probably be posthumously tried for war crimes. It sounds like Sherman's real fight was with Lincoln and the Union forces in Mobile Alabama. You know...the ones that fired the real first shots of the war.

You just have it your way. If I honor my Southern heritage it means I hate and dishonor blacks. You honor your heriatage and you are Indian hater I guess. That reasoning doesn't make much sense to me but to each his own.

Last point, Lee is remembered fondly by historians (North and South), and Sherman/Grant are not. Why is that?

History trivia:
Did any Southern state(s) have an elected black State Senator just months prior to the WONA? If so, name it/them.

Lee lived off the land throughout his campaigns in the north. His troops routinely issued demands for food and supplies from northern towns that they occupied, threatening to burn the towns if demands weren't met. After all, Gettysburgh occured because Harry Heath sent his troops there to loot a shoe factory. The irony is that the factory had been stripped by Ewell's men a few days before. And when Early's men burned Chambersburg, Pennsylvania in June of 1864 I don't recall Lee making any complaints about it.

As for the indians, you seem to forget that the Cherokee nation was uprooted and sent west on their Trail of Tears inthe 1820's at the behest of the people of North Carolina and Georgia. Most of the initial troops were Georgia militia. Don't preach to me about love and respect for Indians. Neither side has clean hands where that is concerned.

As to Lee vs. Sherman and Grant, where the heck did you get that statistic - League of the South? Lee was as fine man and a good general but he met his match in Grant and Sherman. Lee beat every general the North sent against him until Meade. Grant beat every general the south sent his way period.

OK, I'll bite on the trivia question. What's the answer?