us hist

Abraham Lincoln. Jefferson Davis. Ulysses S. Grant. Robert E. Lee. Stonewall

Jackson. William Tecumseh Sherman. Gettysburg, Shiloh, Antietam and Bull

Run. Appomattox. Having been born and raised in the South, it would have been

impossible for me to not know these names. The “War of Northern Aggression” is

still fought in the minds of some who refuse to let go of the “Glorious Cause.” I

have never been comfortable or content with the rallying cry of “the South shall

rise again!” yet have always felt the pull of my southern roots. I marvel at the fact

that such sentiments could coexist with the strong sense of patriotism that led

me to join the United States Army at the age of eighteen. Growing up, I found the

entire concept of the Civil War troubling and confusing. I didn’t grasp how a

country less than a hundred years old could turn on itself so viciously or how it

could put itself back together.

The subject of the War ...