Mongoose at 71:

Thank you for your detailed and eloquent response, with which I agree. I truly pulled the trigger before clearing leather.

I just finished reading Shelby Foote’s three volume set on the Civil War. It was a far more gripping experience than I had expected. Apropos your comment that the combatants on both sides considered themselves American, I came away with renewed respect for the troops on both sides of the line (if not the politicians). What a stain if having fought that terrible war we allow our country to be co-opted by its enemies.