[Antoninus]

Oh get over it. How silly to try to stir up old rivalries with stupid articles like this one. Fact of the matter is, Southerners have been, are, and always will be some of the greatest AMERICANS. The Civil War's already been fought once. As a PA yankee, I'm glad the Union was preserved, if only so that I might call myself the fellow citizen of our good friends south of the Mason-Dixon line.

And I'm not afraid to call valorous individuals like Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson heros. Beware of judging history by your value-of-the-moment. The same may be done to you someday assuming you warrant any historical attention at all.

[SamAdams76]

Fact of the matter is, Southerners have been, are, and always will be some of the greatest AMERICANS. The Civil War's already been fought once. As a PA yankee, I'm glad the Union was preserved, if only so that I might call myself the fellow citizen of our good friends south of the Mason-Dixon line.

I totally agree with your post. I'm glad the Union was preserved and that we can all call ourselves Americans, whether we come from north or south of the Mason-Dixon line. When the Civil War ended, Abraham Lincoln did not want there to be any lingering hatred between North and South. That is why he demanded that his generals offer favorable surrender terms to the South. He wanted to reunite the Union, not keep it divided. Had Lincoln not been so accomodating to the South, I don't think that Lee would have ever surrendered at Appomatox. Instead, Lee would have taken his army to the hills and fought a guerilla war that we might still be fighting today. If you think that is a ridiculous thing to say, consider what has gone on in places like Bosnia and Ireland for hundreds of years now. Had the Union had a president that demanded total surrender and humiliation of the South, there is no way the Union could ever have been reunited.

I think the Reconstruction is one of the most amazing achievements of the United States. I mean, we had this incredibly savage war in which over 620,000 lives were lost. So much hate and bloodshed between the two sides. Yet, thanks in large part to Abraham Lincoln (who stood practically alone in extending an olive branch to the South), we were able to put the country back together in short order. Yeah, we still have a few around who refuse to let it go. But by and large, we have put the Civil War behind us and have moved on to build the greatest nation on the face of the earth.

[Twodees]

Thanks for reaffirming my faith in Americans. There are still some of us left, apparently. We're stronger than those who would divide us.

[stainlessbanner]

Great post - my grandfather was PA Yankee and he married a Southern Florida girl. We always had the Yank and Reb jokes going back and forth growing up.

Your comment about juding history by the value-of-the-moment is so true - we have seen our leadership/politicians defacing historical memorials, gravesites, flags, and other symbols. These socialist/revisionist yahoos are doing it to Southern memorials as well as Union, Revolutionary, etc - our collective history as a people. The war on Southern heritage is the war on American heritage. This stuff has to stop!