The sentiment of the acknowledgement of warriors at Appomattox is not lost on me, it took some of sharp pain of surrender away for our ancestors.

I cannot say it was less bloody than other wars. It just cannot be. There were christian acts and generals but there were also the cold-blooded killers too, lots of them. There were the sadist like General Butler. There were too many deaths, too many atrocities and too much destruction to say it was a 'good' war.

Western expansion turned attention away from reconstruction. Many left to go West. I don't believe it was Northern christian morals that kept the peace or that of Southerners. The Southern people rolled over and accepted their fate. They lost too many men, too many woman and children, too much property, and most important, they lost their will. They resisted reconstructions ideas with what little they had, it was the only defiant spark left in them; but for the most part, they were just done.

______________________
David Upton