I want to say "thank you" to all the people on this list who have been taking
the trouble to post information about The Civil War. It is interesting to read
history when expressed in so many different ways which I suppose reflects the
personalities and experiences of the individual writers. 

I was born and reared in Ohio and learned a minimal version of history about
The Civil War as taught by government schools. I guess that "pegs" me a
Yankee. So be it.

In recent years, however, I have become more interested in genealogy and your
insights have been revealing as genealogy is not concerned about politics-
only facts. As my genealogy studies have taken me through the pioneer south,
it has been my privilege to learn more about what really happened. That is the
glory of genealogy- the history of personal events as well as the overall
events which were interpreted for us.

Folks on both sides seem to use the terminology espoused by the central
government (i.e., "North","South") when discussing the events, history and
people.
This is really a political struggle begun in 1776 and continues yet today in
1998. A more descriptive terminology used by our nations' forefathers would
need to more properly be "Federal" versus "Local", or "Central Government"
versus "State Goverrnment". And this is the major struggle still going on
today in Washington, D.C.

I enjoy Jeff Foxworthy because he is embarassingly and yet, unashamedly so
close to reality in his presentations that we can laugh with no reserve. And
yet it is also realistic to speak of The Holocaust inflicted by the Central
Government upon its' own people folowing The Civil War. In many ways, a far
worse scenario that ever occured in World War II. A peace begun so gallantly
by Generals Grant and Lee was devastated so thoroughly by a vengeful Congress
with The "Reconstruction" Act. We are experiencing a continuation of a work
started by Thomas Paine. The largest migration in the history of mankind took
place in the decade following World War II with the movement of people from
the South migrating to Northern cities. And now, we are seeing a reversal of
that migration. I choose to leave this brief  discussion with these few
representative and apparent examples.

Shelby Foote and his masterful epic showd us again that true history is
learned more from the common people rather than from historians in their ivory
tower. As more and more people learn more, government propaganda becomes less
effective. Look how we hate to acknowledge the foibles of our politicans, who
are the closest thing we have to nobility in this country. And, even now, we
still don't like to be the one who will say the king has no clothes on even
though it is obvious to everyone.

Anyway, "thank you" to all those who have taken the time, on this list, to
help all of us understand more of what we may not even like. 

Thank you and please keep up the good work.

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