I see; for me it's all about the truth, not what I want it to be or some fairy tale aka "Ole honest Abe". We might as well listen to Uncle Remus, Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Gone With The Wind.
It was a different time altogether men still called eachother out over some perceived wrong. Horse racing was King and there was a feeling of true freedom. It was a polite society. Yet all the human frailties were still the same as today.
What was Lincoln really like? How about Davis? So much written about the one and so little about the other. Lincoln had to be a self made man, no formal schooling, a father who beat him, a stepmother who adored him, not many friends and most peculiar of all everyone called him Mr. Lincoln to his face even his closest friends and also his wife. He could tell a dirty joke with the best of them but kept his own council. Most here believe he was a believer but not so said his wife and closest friend Hernden; his law partner. To me, he was a driven man and, I think, a very sad and unhappy one at that.
As for Jeff Davis, he was certainly a man of the South, Upper class, schooled at West Point, Son in law to Z.Taylor fought in the Mexican war. Married twice, first to Taylor's Daughter (she died in their first months of marrage) and later to the love of his life, a girl almost half his age. A Slave owner who, by all accounts, broke several laws and made sure his slaves knew how to read and write. His Overseer was one of his slaves who, by his own account trusted him with everything he had including his family. He knew that slavery had run its course and wanted his people to be ready to take care of themselves.
As to debating the war I think its a silly thing to do because its over, the what ifs are just pipe dreams, and will never change the outcome. The things that interest me are the facts and why people continue to overlook them or even worse deny them or that they happened. The thing that saddens me the most are those who call their fellow Americans traitors because they disagreed with the way the country was headed.
Lincoln saved the Federal government, which is what he set out to do, but to those who say he saved the Union I say hogwash. What is it worth if you have to hold it together by the sword? We could have been so much more.
William I would not want you to think that I don't value your opinion, I do, if we all thought the same it would be a much duller world and at my age friendship is something to treasure, a true value. Peace.
