Editor, Gazette-Journal:

The War Between the States was over for several years before communities (county and state) recovered enough to think about honoring their lost family members. Besides not having actual bodies to bury, the cost of that many gravestones would be beyond reach. Historically, monuments serve that purpose, and each probably had an official document prepared to state the purpose of putting it in a public place.

The ones I have seen, sometimes inscribed on the base, typically laud the sacrifices of the soldiers, the suffering of their families and communities, and their desire to long remember them. I do not remember ever seeing one speak of anguish over stopping the horrific slave trade, sparing slaves from inhuman treatment, or loss of income from prohibition of slavery.

Only a small percentage of Civil War soldiers, of both sides, actually owned slaves. They did believe that their states had authority to secede from the Union, and state leaders certainly ...