In our Civil War histories, Lee and Jackson were great soldiers and men of nobility. Sherman’s March to the Sea was a black page in history. Reconstruction was cruel. Southerners were, after all, fellow Americans who had fought bravely and should have been treated with honor. “Dixie” was more popular than “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” But Lincoln was the great hero, with a holiday in his honor. He had saved the Union and freed the slaves, only to be assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in one of the great tragedies of American history, for Honest Abe would never have allowed Reconstruction.
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