David,

What would you have "realistically" wanted the North to do after the war? Peaceful reunification to me means, I don't get dragged out in the street or imprisoned or put on a work farm. Granted, martial law was in place and the South was under military occupation, but there was no mass imprisonment of former soldiers or people thrown out of their homes, except for non-payment of taxes, but from my study of other wars and their aftermath, we got off a lot better than most.

As far as International pressure, I've never heard this before, but I'd be interested to hear more. No matter how our Southern hearts would like to think otherwise, I believe the North could have easily crushed any post-war resistance and no one outside the U.S. could have done anything about it.

Have you read any biographies of Garfield or McKinley? I have, and consider them admirable and fair men. You'll notice these presidents were both assassinated, which I must admit was part of my reason for reading about them.

Jim