Lincoln regarded this nation as one country , never recognizing Southern independence . The North's greatest field commander and its greatest fighting admiral , George H. Thomas and David Glasgow Farragut , were from Virginia and Tennessee , respectively . This monument does not glorify war , it does not promote slavery , it does not glorify any Southern leader ; all it does is hionor the dead . Remember , always , "Rich man's fight , poor man's war " was the common Souther soldier's lament , not Northern ( you'll run into it in "Company Aytch " and other memoirs ) . I hiked nearby in 2003 with my eight year old son , along the section of the Appalachian Trail that straddles the field where Rutherford B. Hayes was badly wounded leading the 23 Ohio in a bayonette charge against those same North Carolinians ( only president ever seriously wounded in combat ) , near where General Jesse Reno was killed ( Reno Nevada was named after him ) . THIS IS SACRED GROUND , WHATEVER YOUR POLITICAL AFFILIATION , RELIGION ( or lack of one ) ,...whatever ! We need to wake up , my friends . Two can play at this game as well , in fact . Let's put the brakes on this travesty now ! This makes this Long Islander so angry , unspeakaably angry . This not a Southern issue ! This is a question of honoring the dead , of our nation's ability to "bind up the wounds ...." and honor Lincon's pledge in his Second Innaugural : " with malice towards none......." I welcome any reasoned , respectful response to this .
