I have always considered myself as a "hawk" when it comes to the protection of Americans. But in the case of the Civil War, I would be a "dove". Keep in mind, I am looking at this situation from today's perspective and from my beliefs , not of those who lived in the 1800s. There are Americans who had ancestors who fought in the Civil War for a principle that they believed would benefit all of America. These people should definitely be honored.
I will give a short synopsis of the Civil War and my thoughts about it. First, the thought of Americans killing Americans is repulsive and I would in no way approve of it. This war brought about more American casualties than any other war to date. Secondly, the thought of slavery is horrendous. Thirdly, I didn't have any direct ancestors who fought in the Civil War because they didn't believe it was their war. The geographic location of my ancestry helped to form their beliefs about this war.
Between 1830 and 1860, as abolitionism grew in the North, southerners largely stopped questioning the wisdom of slavery and argued strongly for extending it. The compromise of 1850, passed by Congress after the Mexican War, temporarily appeased both northerners and southerners who debated the expansion of slavery. But during the 1850s, the issue of slavery severed the political bonds that had held the United States together. The rise of abolitionism, renewed conflict over the expansion of slavery into the western territories, and the Dred Scott decision all pushed the nation closer to civil war.
The Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 and John Brown's raid on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, VA, set the stage for the election 1860, in which Abraham Lincoln was elected president with support only from the North. After Abraham Lincoln's election to the presidency in 1860, seven southern states seceded from the U. S. Four more followed after South Carolina troops fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC in April 1861 and Lincoln called for troops to put down the rebellion. But the rebellion could not be put down and the Civil War began.
North Carolina seceded from the U. S. but many of the people in the Western part of the state felt that the Confederacy only supported the interests of plantation owners and they did not want to die to support the interests of the wealthy. Many were labeled as Union sympathizers and were called "Unionists". This is where the Home Guard came in.
The Home Guard was a collection of small units of men organized on the local level. The Home Guard's duties included arresting deserters, enforcing the draft, policing residents who were suspected of having pro-Union sympathies, putting down domestic disturbances or unrest, and gathering and protecting supplies for the army. The Home Guard was also the last line of defense against invading Union troops. However, the Home Guard devastated the security of many people in the Western part of NC because there were many Union sympathizers and deserters that made their way to that part of the country to obtain sanctuary from the war. The guard dealt with the people they suspected of being pro-Unionists and deserters violently. Unfortunately, it came down to neighbors killing neighbors.
Thankfully, the war finally ended when General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865, at the McLean House in the village of Appomattox Court House.
There were approximately 650,000 casualties in the Civil War with about 225,000 of those deaths from disease. Both sides in the war lost about the same percentage of their troops - one soldier in four died.
Needless to say, this was a tragic war on American soil. Americans killing Americans. Neighbors killing neighbors. Let us pray that Americans will never take up arms against other Americans again. But the soldiers who fought were also Heroes and that status should never be taken away from them.
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