Larry, This is very well written & oh so true. Isn't it a suprise, often even to ourselves, what a few years of maturity & life experiences can do to our thinking about this subject of war ? Although I found in my research that some of my ancestors went from north Knox & Union County, Tennessee up thru Cumberland Gap to Kentucky to enlist in the Union Army, I clearly remember comments while growing up back in east Tennessee about those 'damn yankees'; and stories of hardship, hunger, & privatation keep that history & that feeling alive even today. Of course, I also remember black people sitting in the back of the bus and 'white only' water fountains in Knoxville during that period.... So I guess we have to accept that some of our ancestors suffered so terribly from that inferno that forgiveness may never be coming from some descendants, as similar to Scarlett O'Hara in 'Gone With the Wind' (after Sherman's march) some still harbor a steely determination to even the score in some way. Fortunately for our generation, that feeling now is expressed non-violently and more constructively through the arena of politics & states' rights. Dennis In a message dated 4/23/2005 3:38:02 AM Mountain Standard Time, johnsonl@flash.net writes: > Like many I grew up supporting one side in the Civil War over the other. > In > my case I sided with the CSA. In later years after learning that there was > nothing civil about the Civil War and what an absolute mistake it was for > father to be fighting son, brother to be fighting brother, etc., I figured > out the fact that there is no glory in killing or in war. I have accepted > the fact that neither side was justified or glorified by it. I no longer > support one side over the other. I view the Civil War as a mistake and a > tragedy because it divided America and family and it cost us dearly, both in > > the destruction to our country and in the loss of family. North or South, I > > no longer take sides, I view them all as being Americans who got caught up > in the tragedy of war. >