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Entry: Confederates and Catholics, Unite! Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/down_in_dixie#2545 Post contents: @ Monte Poitevint: Good point you made. It's arguable whether it was good for America - or for Western Civlisation - for the North to have won the American Civil War. Winston Churchill wrote a provocative essay suggesting that if the South had won the Civil War, then the world would have been better off, because then the Northern states probably would have made a closer alliance with Britain, thus enabling the "Pax Brittania" of the 1800s to last for many more centuries, and thus averting the two world wars which were caused by the delicate balance of power between Britain and Germany. If the South had won the Civil War, then the Pax Britannia might still rule the world today! ;-) :-) Meanwhile, a loving remembrance of Lincoln: Even though in retrospect I think Lincoln was mistaken to launch his war, I still have a lot of respect for him. Mistaken he might have been, but he was a real patriot. And these days, when callow, shallow publicity hounds with putatively pretty faces like Barak Obama (who does NOT look pretty to me, but then I'm a heterosexual who is NOT fascinated by dark skin as so many Americans are today in their lurid suicidal ways)... ...today, when callow untested youths like Barak Obama the publicity hound, are bucking for the White House, I find it very refreshing to remember Abraham Lincoln, who was considered to be "ugly" in his time (and he spoke in a high-pitched squeaky voice) - for all his mistakes and faults, it refreshes my American soul to remember Lincoln, whose beautiful spirit showed in his so-called "ugly" face, and even more in his words. I am John D Ball III, a great-great-grandson of Sergeant George Yost (born in Darmstadt, in the state of Hessen, in what is now Germany, in 1837); my great-great-grandfather George Yost (a tailor in the old country) left Germany and sailed to Philadelphia in the spring of 1861, because he (as my Grandmother, who knew him, told me), he wanted to fight for the one and only "real republic" in the world at that time... ...many, MANY Germans immigrated to America during the Civil War, for similar idealistic reasons. It wasn't all about economics; my ancestor George Yost was doing just fine and dandy as a tailor in Germany, but he emigrated to America because he WANTED TO FIGHT for what he believed was the one and only real republic/democracy in the world. For any of you Civil War buffs out there (I know we have some sons of the Old South as commenters here on Taki's hangout), please, I would like to ask you, were any of your ancestors Georgians or Alabamans who fought at Gettysburg? If so, please reply to me. Because, I can tell you, my great-great-grandfather, Sergeant George Yost of the 98th Pennsylvania Infantry (Sixth Corps) fought and was wounded (in his thigh) at approximately 6 PM on July 2 1863, near Plum Run Creek at Gettysburg, and the man who shot him was either from Georgia or Alabama. I have a dream, of finding a descendant of the Georgian or Alabaman soldier who shot my great-great-grandfather in the leg at Gettysburg during the early evening of July 2 1863 - when my ancestor and his regiment made an almost unknown final stand, repelling the last Confederate assault on the high ground (Little Round Top) on that day, which set the scene for Pickett's charge the next day... ...if any of you (our friends here in Taki's internet "Gentleman's club") are descendants of Georgians or Alabamans who fought at Gettysburg - one of whom shot my great-great-grandfather in the leg, in honourable combat - then please let me know. Because I owe you a long awaited reconciliation, as our ancestors would want us to do. Sent at: 2008 10 12