Hey 98dba,
You MIGHT have a point. Frankly, I don&#039;t care how they do it up north, but would the last yankee to leave Miami please turn out the lights. The great separation has been over for 138 years, I always thought we had won, because NOBODY wants to go up to that god forsaken place, and the yankees come down here by droves, in car convoys, and buses. You know, the dumb ones that give us dumb hillbillies $5 to take our picture. Actually I study civil war history, about as much as I collect Oliver lines. The only way the north won was by attrition, not by the skills of their army. Lee had far superior soldiers, just not as many. Prior to Grant being given command, the north had nearly lost, both at the wilderness campaign, and Bull Run, which unknowingly put Lee within 30 miles of Washington, without 1 union troop there to stop him. Lee was a gentleman, he adhered to a conduct that would allow for retreat from battle of the opposing forces. This is evident from the Fredricksburg campaign, when the union forces were allowed to retreat across the Rappahanock. He could have turned the river into a killing field, taking into consideration the layout of the battlefield, and troop position. The Confederate soldiers at the sunken road had a clear shot at anything that moved, clearly and completely across the river, and were within effective range of their weaponry. Grant was not, he was well known for drunken rages, was not well liked by his soldiers. He would throw his troops into battle as cannon fodder, using superior numbers for victory, without regard to losses. This is evident from casualty counts, both prior to and after his command. Burnside was afraid to attack, which gave Lee great momentum early in the war. The most accurate source for civil war history is &#039;Mary Chestnut&#039;s diary&#039;, Mary Chestnut was the wife of a politician on one side, and daughter of a politician on the other. She was at all major battles, on both sides of the lines, was well likes by soldiers of both armies. Her accounts are considered to not be slanted in either direction. I watched a part of a movie last night at my sisters house, it was about the hillbilly stereotype, Hollywood sure can make money off that. All the roads were dirt, it is difficult to find a dirt road in WV, I can remember when there was some, but now the only dirt roads I have seen are private roads. I wonder if they still have dirt roads in Oklahoma? I was in Atlanta earlier this week, the radio disc jockey was talking about WV, telling there was places without electricity, or running water, I don&#039;t know of any, I guess he had to look long and hard to find one, as everybody who wants electricity can just call the power company, they will come out and hook it up. Most rural areas don&#039;t have city water though. Most of these rely on wells or cisterns when the water table is too deep. I don&#039;t know of anybody who has a well or cistern that doesn&#039;t have a pump for running water, there might be some, but I have my doubts. I live out in the county, and have city water, and three wells that I haven&#039;t used in years.