[Emailed September 15, 1997]

THE WAR RETURNS TO YOUR INBOX

Guess who's back!!

That's right, friends. The drought is over. After being away from my computer for various reasons every Sunday night for nearly a month, I have returned. How you must have missed your weekly updates.

But never fear; I'm back for the foreseeable future, and I'm armed to the teeth with stories and quotes about the War Between the States (DON'T call it a Civil War). Here's a quote from my favorite Southerner, Stonewall Jackson.

Many of you don't realize the depredation the Yankees inflicted on the Southern people. From Lincoln on down, it was Federal policy regarding the Confederate states not to defeat, but to utterly destroy, and I'm not exaggerating. Sherman's march to the sea was only the tip of the iceberg; almost wherever they went, the Union armies absolutely ravaged the land and homes of Southern people, in an overt attempt to reduce them to total poverty and destitution. When the bluecoats began this practice in earnest, the Southern commanders were incensed, and rightfully so.

A perfect example of this is Lee. Lee was always gracious and rarely lost his composure, and he almost never spoke disparagingly of the enemy. But during the battle of Fredericksburg, after he saw what Union cannon had done to that town after needlessly and mercilessly shelling it, he lost his temper. "Those people delight to destroy the weak and those who can make no defense," he said hotly. "It just suits them!" Likewise after the battle, when he saw the sacking of the civilian homes of that town; that evening he wrote his wife, "They went as they came -- in the night. They suffered heavily as far as the battle went, but it did not go far enough to satisfy me."

Strong words from a man who was normally marked by his reserve and grace toward the enemy soldiers. But it was Jackson, in his usual blunt way, who put it best. "What can we do?" a staff officer asked him helplessly when he saw how thoroughly the Federals had taken the town apart.

"Do?" Stonewall replied promptly. "Why, shoot them!"