Stan --

Bear with me a moment. Imagine first that the Germans won World War II. Then try to imagine concentration camp survivors attending German veterans reunions. If members of the latter group actually attended, would anyone have their minds changed by being "exposed to their former enemies"?

Can you or anyone else recall a war in which American soldiers treated civilians as Southerners were from 1861-65? In order to promote desertion in the Confederate armies, Federal leaders - not just Sherman -- advocated burning out families of Confederate soldiers, causing hardships for the aged and the infirm &c. I have yet to read much suggesting that Federal soldiers didn't enjoy this kind of activity. Have you?

During World War II, German propaganda warned Europeans that if Americans landed on the continent, civilians would get the same kind of treatment that Sherman's men had given the people of Georgia and South Carolina. I'm sure that foreign language versions of "Gone With the Wind" had been seen by Europeans. Why wouldn't they believe it?

If the question of Northern treatment of Southern civilians bothers some of us today, imagine how strong feelings might have been a century ago!