Sally,

I'm looking for a term from an earlier period, which I recall reading on more than one occasion, that described an overly romanticized and sanitized view of the Union's motives and the actions of its army against the Southern civilian population. It just seems strange to me that "Lost Cause" or "Lost Cause Mythology" rolls so easily off the lips, while a comparable analysis of Northern post-war mythology for this period with an appropriate, easily recognized term, no longer exists or is in common use. This view of the righteous cause, for which the North was fighting, was the offset to the death, destruction and atrocities that occurred as a result of the war being waged.

When there is no balance in the discussion of opposing groups, such as the North and the South in the American Civil War, I am fearful of ideologies and partisanship dominating discussions.

Jim