"I think it was just talk. That infuriates some people; they want me to tell them these were horrible traitors that deserved to be killed. But traitors to what? They were actually loyal to the country they had been raised in all their lives. But it is not the first time and it's not the last time. We see it today. Under pressure people can do very unreasonable things. When you bring something like this to light, smelling to high heaven, it undermines the idea of a united South. To me, it makes it a more human story because we always divide. It's what we do; it's what we are. It's the nature of a democracy. Sometimes we handle it well, and sometimes we don't handle it well at all. That upsets people; they don't want to hear that Great-Great-Grandpa made a mistake."
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Original Language: English
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Richard McCaslin, as quoted in "After 150 years, a dark chapter of Gainesville's past still stirs passions" (7 October 2012), Star-Telegram.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/American_Civil_War
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American Civil War
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