One must bear in mind, that history is written by the victors. In the case of the "American Civil War" (words of the victors), the war was only about the elimination of slavery at any cost! Ok...ok...settle down, and let me explain. :)

We all know that the secession of the the Southern States took place to defend the Constitutional Rights of those states.

Abraham Lincoln and his administration orchestrated a confrontation at Fort Sumter to ensure that Confederate forces took "the first shot", thereby justifying the call for 75,000 troops to "put the down the rebellion". Volunteers quickly responded to fight to "Restore the Union".

The Confederate States reacted to the invasion of their territory with a call to arms. So many men came forward to "defend their home from invasion", that many were turned away. The troops were moved to Virginia to protect Richmond, the new capital of the Confederacy.

By mid-summer of 1861, an ill prepared army under command of the intelligent General Irving McDowall, moved out of Washington to engage the enemy near Manassas. The rest is history.

But whose history do we learn? The Victors. But who was the Victor? It obviously wasn't those that fought to protect Constitutional Rights (ie. the Confederacy). It wasn't the men the North that went to war to restore the Union. No.....there was another faction of the North that went to war "to abolish slavery" and crush all those associated with the evil blight of the nation. They would stop at nothing. Those people were the Radical Republicans.

The Radical Republicans were zealots, that supported immediate emancipation of all slaves and granting of full and equal rights to them. They also wanted the complete dismantling of the plantation system with the property divided and granted to the former slaves, without any compensation I might add. These extreme views (for the times) were held by many in the Lincoln administration.

It was at their insistence, that McDowall attacked when he did, knowing full well that his army was not ready to confront the Confederates. Military leader after military leader within the Union, were comprised or undermined in some way by the demands of this group of extremists. Finally, U. S. Grant came along, and he was willing to conduct the war in a way more in keeping with the views of these non-military advisers. Hammer the enemy relentlessly. The sacrifice of the troops is justified by the cause (ie. the end of slavery).

Grant performed admirably. When the end came, after consultations with the "moderate" Abraham Lincoln, Grant offered Lee terms that would bring about an honorable peace and a less troublesome restoration of the Union. Unfortunately for everyone, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated shortly after. Now I'm not proposing some conspiracy theory, but Lincoln's assassination left Vice-President Andrew Johnson in charge. He was closely aligned with the Radical Republicans and it didn't take long before things started to unravel.

The Radical Republicans foisted "reconstruction" and all it's injustices on the South. Even Andrew Johnson wasn't spared when he tried to mitigate some of the more extreme measures imposed on the former Confederacy by the zealots of the North. So whose history does the NPS espouse. That of the Victors, the Radical Republicans. They had instigated war to eliminate slavery and punish all the evildoers associated with that heinous institution. They succeeded.