Aug 17, 2017 2 min read

In Thursday’s Observer-Reporter, there is a letter from W. L. Cimino that demonstrates some misunderstandings about the Civil War.

For one thing, it was about slavery. That was the core reason for it. All the business about state sovereignty was just window dressing, because the basic issue was slavery.

The next thing is Article III, Section 3, of the Constitution which is very clear: “Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.”

What happened from 1861 to 1865 on the part of the South was treason, make no mistake about it.

But perhaps the very best comment was made by Robert E. Lee. He said, “I believe it to be the duty of everyone to unite in the restoration of the country. I think it wisest not to keep open the sores of war, but to follow the example of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife.”

I know of no other country which has statues honoring those who had risen in rebellion against their government. In England, there is Guy Fawkes Day, which is a total mockery of a failed attempt to blow up Parliament with gunpowder.

The South brought the Civil War on itself. It lost. Trying to memorialize it, to try to polish it into a gemstone of something other than what it was, is simply un-American. People carrying Confederate battle flags and, worse, Nazi flags and symbols, are un-American. If that’s what some want to be, remember this: The Confederates lost. The Nazis lost.

In the case of Germany, a lot of their good reputation in the world today is because of their thorough repudiation of Nazism. We should do the same, and let go of a lost cause.

Carole McIntyre

Waynesburg