I must admit it took me reading this thread to learn that LeeJackson referred to two people. As a southerner from New Mexico, I must admit that NM never knew it was at war in the east...
However, I was well aware that slavery only became an 'issue' of the war when it was determined that England and France would potentially be signing a treaty and aiding the southern states. France was already against slavery and could not align with the south for that reason.
Southern life, especially as it relates to Black/White relationships is a very complex subject.
Even now, if you go to a small Virginia town, you'll find that white men open the doors for Black ladies and talk crops with Black men. Blacks are just as much Southerners as Whites and there has always been respect between the two races.
There were wrongs comitted against blacks. Segregation was as much a social line as anything but somehow got out of hand. The KKK should have been throttled long before they were but again...that was a very small segment of Southern people.
I grew up in the Mountains and foothills of Virginia and didn't know there was a race issue until I was an adult, even then I didn't see it until I moved East of the Blue Ridge.
To make Virginia history even more complicated, the Native Americans in Va and NC tried to embrace modern life. They became Plantation and Farm owners and many were very prosperous. Some also owned slaves.
The Government didn't care for that and took the farms from them and shipped them off to reservations.
That was another dark chapter of the South and again, it was a small segment of the people responsible and in ths case, involved the Federal Government as well.
So much for the so called "Savage" in the South.
Now that I've said that, I'm leaving to go to "The Peoples House" where the Capital Police and I will eye each other with a "Let's Fight" look, and I'll spend the day talking to legislators, most of whom I consider morons and most consider me an arrogant pest.
If they go the way I ask, it's only because if they don't, I'll make their life as miserable as possible much like the Chinese Water Torture.
Ain't Politics Grand!