rewrite history 061620

Renaming military bases:  A little 1860 perspective, the civil war was not fought over slavery but over states rights and the issues were many.  The understanding of federalism at the time was states had the right to withdraw from the central federal government.  Most military officers at the time saw that they owed their loyalty to their respective states rather than the central government.  Many had served the central government with honor and distinction until their home states withdrew from the federation and they were forced to chose sides.  Lee was actually offered command of northern forces before siding with Virginia.  Few in the Confederation Armies ever owned slaves or aspired to owning slaves. They fought for their states, which were being subjugated  by northern industrialization.  Lee supported raising black regiments in the south but political leadership balked  at granting freedom to black soldiers.  Confederation Armies fought with honor and distinction as American southern fighting men until worn down the north's industrial might.   Lincoln's post war plans were to repatriate blacks to Africa, reintegrate the southern states and their soldiers into the newly defined federation that is the United States today.  Lincoln  was shot before he could heal the nation.  History has it that the shooter was a southern sympathizer.  Conspiracy theories exist that the shooter was actually a tool of administration officials, who resented Lincoln, wanting loot and revenge on the south.  It was after Lincoln's assignation  that GOP radicals declared the south and its armies traitors.  The south's great crime was to lose. The end of slavery may be the only positive outcome of the civil war, but for the south and blacks the reconstruction period may have been more catastrophic.  The south slowly recovered under the leadership of returning Confederate  generals and soldiers.  Over time states recognized their contributions with statues and naming streets, parks and bases in their honor.  Today the political trend is to tear down the statues, plow up parks  and rename military installations after local politicians who have contributed little to the growth of the nation.  This is an attempt to replace the depth and complexity of the American experience with a sound bite history, promulgated by false prophets seeking immortality.  Our greatest generation passed through the gates of these installations and generations have followed them. To rename these installations on a political whim is to destroy their history.  Put the stories in context, teach real history rather than approved history by mobs.   Confederate soldiers were American soldiers and contributed much to building this nation.