The hopelessness of some causes is what makes them attractive and romanticized. The American Civil War or The War Between the States, as we call it down here, was the most cataclysmic event to occur on American soil. It deeply affected the American mindset, spirit and psyche for more than a hundred years after its conclusion. A harsh and difficult reconstruction in the post war south gave rise to a more idealistic view of the Confederate experiment. As the victors impose their will and write the histories, it's the defeated that decide how the event will be memorialized and observed. If our heroes have grown in stature over the years, it was the result of a bitter reconstruction and reconciliation. Our ancestors referred to it all as "the war" as if there had been no wars on the planet before or since. My favorite appellation is the one used by genteel elderly ladies as they served tea and cakes during the postwar: : "the late unpleasantness" a polite understatement if ever there was one.
