Thanks for the comment. You said:

These people simply can’t conceive that those of us opposed to the Lost Cause narrative are not trying to replace their narrative with an equally bogus narrative of Unionist virtue. Rather, we are actually genuinely interested in what actually happened.

I want to be very careful here. Yes, I have an interest in understanding what happened and why, but I am not a disinterested observer. I’ve said before that I am glad the Confederacy lost and the United States was able to maintain a unified republic. I also believe the right side won the war, which is not to be interpreted as US – good and Confederacy – bad.

The difference between the past and the “past” is the difference between what actually happened and what people tell themselves about what happened. These are separate things, though not entirely. Everybody agrees that there was an actual historical event called The Battle of the Crater, but the “southern heritage community” approaches all past events from the Civil War Era with the emotional imperative of fitting them into a preconceived narrative about Confederate righteousness. These people simply can’t conceive that those of us opposed to the Lost Cause narrative are not trying to replace their narrative with an equally bogus narrative of Unionist virtue. Rather, we are actually genuinely interested in what actually happened.

Thus, when you labor to figure out what actually happened at The Crater, they simply don’t understand what you are doing. That is precisely the sense in which it is not about you.

‘Abe Lincoln in Illinois’ is available on DVD thorough warnerarchive.com. If you are a good boy, we’ll allow you to watch it when you come to Shepherdstown next week.

And on a more serious note, man, that stuff is UGLY. Scary, even. You really stick your head up out of the trenches every time you publish, don’t you? Brave man.