Larry Morgan,
Washington, NC.
I have long regarded the Confederate Battle Flag (CBF) as an anachronism for which we Americans have shown remarkable tolerance. It is to the nation’s credit that although Jefferson Davis spent some time in prison, he and his top generals were not summarily executed, as would have happened in most other countries at that time. But the outrage shown by many southerners over the protests against the CBF, in the wake of the Charleston massacre needs a stronger rebuttal in the public forum. It is outrageous that the media have shown faint concern for the hundreds of thousands of Union troops and civilians who were killed by a treasonous army whose main purpose was to perpetuate slavery. I grew up in Kentucky. My paternal grandfather was born in 1878 near Shelbyville, KY. He alwas reminded his grandchildren of the stories his parents told about the aftermath of the Civil War. Kentucky, being a border state, tried to mediate a truce that would avoid a war. Sadly, the state ended up with both Union and Confederate governments – the worst possible predicament, where as Grandfather eloquently noted, “Both armies stole our horses, drank our whiskey and raped our women.” When the war ended, Kentucky was a wasteland with widespread famine. Without crops and livestock, families began eating rats, then dogs, and ultimately and shamefully, their beloved horses. Southerners who still trot out the “Confederate/Southern Heritage” argument should look in the mirror and ask if they have any since of shame and regret for the death and destruction their “heroic” ancestors inflected on northerners who simply objected to slavery. So, the longer this “Southern Heritage” nonsense continues, I will have nothing but scorn for Confederate soldiers who enthusiastically fought to support slavery. For those soldiers who were drafted and forced to fight Union troops, even though they were abolitionists, I can only pity their tragic plight.
Regards, Larry Morgan
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