150 Years of Misunderstanding the Civil War

[Al Carroll]

20. The biggest misconceptions...

1. That the war was North vs South. It was actually Confederate elites and their supporters vs everyone else, meaning loyal Americans both north AND south.

2. That South=Confederate. Most southerners were loyal Americans ie Unionists.
300,000 southerners fought for the Union.
Most other white southerners dodged the draft.
Most Confederate soldiers deserted.
Large parts of the south stayed loyal, often fighting off the CSA govt.

3. That the CSA was in any way noble. It was an elite run oligarchy, not democracy. There were 4000 political prisoners, mass executions of dissidents, a ban on political parties, rubber stamp elections, internal passports, and state terrorism that included biological warfare and the worst terrorist attack on the US until 9-11, the bombing of the USS Sultana that killed 1900.

And that's not even counting slavery.

4. Lincoln's accomplishments are also underrated. Defeating the CSA prevented their plans to bring back the slave trade, invade three other nations, and continuing slavery for 20-60 more years. Slaves had an infant mortality double that of free people, so ending it saved the lives of many Black children.

Lincoln also emancipated American Indian slaves in California, which most don't even realize existed.