Thomas F. Harney

[Rick Smith]

(08-04-2015 10:38 PM)Rosieo Wrote:  

(08-04-2015 08:50 PM)Rick Smith Wrote:  

(08-04-2015 07:30 PM)John Fazio Wrote:  

(08-04-2015 06:39 PM)Rick Smith Wrote:  

(08-04-2015 04:29 PM)John Fazio Wrote:  Rick:

Then there is no difference in our basic positions. We both agree that there was a general conspiracy to decapitate the government of the United States, or to at least get as many as they could. It was all that was left to them to avert what they considered to be the catastrophe that was then all but upon them.

John

John,

Agreed.

No question that Booth and his team had as their objective the decapitation of the federal government. A reflection of the Harney plan. If not all at one place, simultaneous assassination at different places would have to do.

Probably the difference in our positions is that I would have been with them.

But then, I am unreconstructed.

Rick

Rick:

No probablies about it. What will it take to reconstruct you? Two questions: Do you agree that acknowledgement of error is a mark of courage? Do you believe that slavery was desirable and therefore worth preserving even at the cost of war? Upon receipt of your answers, I will refer you to a document which I believe you will find interesting. I'll give you a hint: it is not Alexander Stephens's famous pre-war speech, nor his equally famous post-war speech.

John

John,

We may be delving into murky waters here. Although a Southerner and having many ancestors who were in General Lee's army, I do believe that if slavery was what the War was over, it was the worst reason for a fight. No slave was worth even one of the 700,000 casualties.

But there is more to it than this, and I cannot put it into words that anyone not of Southern heritage would understand. I do believe that the South was manipulated into firing the first shot; all part of Mr. Lincoln's and the radical Republicans' plan to bring on the war.

Bill Richter has written on this subject and can speak eloquently upon it; I cannot.

Rick

Now I want to ask if you're a flagger. Not sure how much I do not understand, so I refrain.

John,

What is a flagger? This is not a term I am familiar with.

Rick

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John,

I do not display or own a Confederate flag, although I have no objection to others who do.

An interesting point was made by Bill Richter, who said the Stars and Stripes flew over slavery for 88 years, while the Confederate flag flew for only four.

I think that General Lee was right when he said that slavery was a great moral evil, but think that changing the name of Jeff Davis Highway, which runs through Virginia, is ridiculous.

Rick