I watch the nightly news as self-righteous lawless leftists tear down statues of Confederate soldiers. They know not what they do. They themselves are cowards without any sense of duty, honor and understanding of history. The American Civil War began with Abraham Lincoln sending troops into the South trying to preserve the Union. The war was half over before Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves. I certainly won’t deny that Confederacy was on the wrong side of history, as nothing could be as evil as slavery.

Yet I ask of you, what would you have done during such a time? The North was the aggressor and the South was fighting a defensive war. Most of the solders of the South were poor farm boys who didn’t even own slaves. If the state of Maine was under attack from an outside force would we really expect our young citizens to pick the right side of history and turn its guns back upon the people of the state of Maine?

The soldiers of the Confederacy did what any good soldier would do. They were forced to pick sides. They chose to protect their homes, communities and way of life during impossible troubled times. Is it wrong for us to honor these Americans of the past while understanding the cause in which they fought and died was wrong? Are we really so shallow that we can’t understand the times in which they lived? Nothing good will come from hiding our history from future generations.

John Hopkins

Manchester

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