I probably would best display any intelligence I have by staying out of this discussion but nobody has ever accused me of brilliance so here goes LOL!...

I agree with Dr. Bergeron's assesment but that matters nothing in what others believe or should believe. I just sometimes get the feeling that many of us who honor our Confederate ancestors feel that if we could prove a large percentage of southern blacks were shooting at the soldiers in blue that this discovery would somehow validate our ancestors reasons for fighting and provide evidence of the honorable intentions of the southern fighting man.

My opinion is that we don't need to do this. I believe the reasons most southerners were fighting have stood up well on their own strength. Ideals like the right to self government (as they saw it) are worth fighting for and thus worthy of our pride.