"Trying to understand the reasons and the reactions of our ancestors."

Bless you, Pam. You have stated exactly why I am so interested in the Civil War. Every one of my great-great-grandfathers, along with every one of their brothers and nephews, fought on the Southern side in the war -- not a single "Yankee in the woodpile," as they say. I was bred, born and raised in the great State of Tennessee.

I try mightily to understand the momentous events of the 1860's, how it affected my ancestors, why they made the choices they did, and so on. I didn't live through those events, of course, and I certainly never knew or ever met my great-great-grandfathers, so I can only study those times from across a great gulf of time, with a mind that was not shaped by life in the mid-19th century, but by life in the mid-20th century -- a Southern boy who grew up pledging allegiance to the National flag in school every day, a flag that represents an indivisible republic; a Southern boy who was further influenced by 27 years of service in the United States Army; a Southern boy who has traveled to most parts of the world and gets down on his boney knees every night and thanks God that he was blessed to be born an American.

I want to try to understand why my ancestors perceived and reacted to the world so much differently than I. And I can only do that, I believe, by serious study and introspection, not by proclaiming outdated slogans, pretending to be an un-Reconstructed Confederate, and taking personally things I did not personally experience.