I don’t know where Chris O’Carroll (10/3, Letters) was when they taught American history at his school, but it is evident he wasn’t paying attention.
If you want to know who the real hatemongers were during the Civil War, go to the Lone Jack Museum and read how the Union Army murdered, plundered and burned out anyone who would not take a loyalty oath.
Go to the city of Richmond, Va., and see how they conducted themselves in that conflict.
Go anywhere in the South where the Union Army left its bloody footprint and tell me who hated most.
Michael Benson
Lone Jack
Michael, when you tell only half the story about atrocities in the Civil War ... that tells more about you than the war.
Posted by: viet-vet1970 | December 05, 2005 at 01:09 PM
Mr. Benson:
I don't doubt for a minute that some members of the Union Army were as sadistic as anyone from the South. Does this for a second make it okay that the South was fighting to protect their "right" to enslave human beings? No, and it's shameful that you seem to think so. I'm sorry that you were raised to believe such things. War brings out the worst -and- best in those involved, but in this case it's impossible to defend the ideals that the South were fighting to protect.
Your argument is just another example of changing the subject in order to justify your position.
Posted by: brianford | October 17, 2005 at 10:39 AM