Please refer to the link below for clarification. We do examine both sides and the message boards are replete with examples but when the language becomes highly charged and bordering on insulting then we have to put a left and right limit on the conversation. This helps keep the tone of the board at a level where newcomers feel they can post without being "flamed."

http://history-sites.com/tncwmb/firstvisit.htm

I am a native East Tennessean and my family has been in the region since about 1810. I am accutely aware of the division in the state of Tennessee and Appalachia as a whole during the war.

The "parting shot" at Mr. Hoffman were two points to add granularity to two statements he made earlier and were not nor intended to be "parting shots." To use an analogy, I will lead a horse to water and allow him to drink it himself but I will not tell the horse how the water tastes nor will I force him to drink it. I am a thesis away from completing my Master's Degree in Civil War Studies and I believe it would be academically offensive to attempt to impose an academic interpretation on someone but unfortunately that cannot be said for what our children being taught in school today.

I hope this adds clarity.

Respectfully,

Gerald D. Hodge, Jr.