Response to Stephen Franks "Confederates"
From: Number4Gunner@aol.com
Mr. Franks has put himself in the position of being the final authority on the question of the character of all men who fought for the South. He has decreed all Southern leaders were slaveholders and only fought to protect the institution of slavery. It is blatantly apparent Mr. Franks has received his degree in Southern History from the electronic media. I realize the doors at most libraries are manually operated and a burden on most to push them open, so in light of this, I will allow that possibly Mr. Franks cannot access the information contained therein. This may be the reason why he has no knowledge of how many Northern leaders held slaves, including Lincoln’s wife and Gen. Grant. 
It may also explain why he thinks the war was only over the issue of slavery. I fail to understand why Mr. Franks is willing to honor these men on Memorial Day, while at the same time he describes their efforts as foolish and misguided. As for desertions, should Mr. Franks ever gain access to his local library, hopefully he will access the Official War Records and discover for himself the Union desertions outnumbered Southern ones by a wide margin. For Mr. Franks to declare the deserters only left due to being tired of killing their fellow man, it is a blanket statement that has no substance since the reasons for desertions are as varied as the reasons why men stayed and fought.
He also suggests many Southerns paid others to fight for them. I wonder how he discovered this data without uncovering the data that shows more Yankees paid substitutes than did Southerners, and this is simply determined by enlistment records. I suggest next Memorial Day Mr. Franks stay home and watches Oprah or some other media crap that aligns with his views and leave the honoring of our ancestors to those of us who still respect what they did and why. It is said ignorance is acting on a lack of information while stupidity is acting with the information. I feel Mr. Franks falls in the latter category. I regret he is Southern born and at the same time being a Northern sympathizer.
It would probably be in Mr. Franks better interests to keep his twisted comments to this type of media. Should he decide to make them known it to someone face to face would probably require him to be sure his dental insurance has been paid. My ancestors were respectable and honorable and I will defend their duty until I draw my final breath. One final note directly to Mr. Franks…the northbound lanes of every interstate are still open.
I remain.. a Compatriot in the Cause
Eddie Grey
