I went to a Civil War debate this weekend, and a beautiful thing happened.  One moment we were heatedly debating, in first person as our respective historic personas, the legality and constitutionality of secession, and the next moment the event had turned into a patriotic rally inspiring people to read the Constitution, become activists on their own behalf, and know/exercise their rights as free Americans to direct our governments to comply with the law of the land by use of the ballot box.

The event was "A Gathering of Eagles" in Winchester, VA, about which I have written in this space before.  Gathered in one spot were an unprecedented collection of very skilled and learned Civil War living historians, portraying Presidents Lincoln and Davis, and a bevy of Union and Confederate generals.  The discourse was at such a high level that any professional historian would have rightly been impressed - these were not just a group of overgrown boys dressing up and playing soldier, but serious living historians paying homage to the men and women who brought this country though its most trying time by living out their thoughts, feelings, and personas for the benefit of modern-day students of history.

The great lesson of the entire weekend was that the War Between the States was not a simplistic thing as most of our children are taught these days, but rather was a multi-issue economic, political, and social conflict which came to a tragic head in war between strong-willed factions of American society.  The lesson was also that many of the same issues, despite being clothed in different factual contexts, continue to this very day in the way American society and government conduct themselves.  We learned that as Americans we cannot afford to sit back and let less than 15% of our citizens continue to make the decisions for all of us, but that we need to get off our collective duffs and call our politicians (for there are few, if any, statesmen in this world) to task for their misfeasance and malfeasance in office.

It was indeed an honor and a pleasure to be involved in this event.  I have read and studied the War Between the States for most of my natural life, yet my experiences with "Lee's Lieutenants" and most particularly through preparation and presentation of "A Gathering of Eagles" have taken my level of understanding and study far beyond anything I have ever read or been taught in the past.  I understand more about the process through which America was forged in forming the Constitution, and steeled through the tragedy of the Civil War, than I had ever thought possible.  And yet, my learning continues unabated, which is a very exciting experience for me as I cross into my sixth decade.  To continue to learn is to be alive in the most important sense of the word.   I am humbly grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this group, and to participate in its mission to educate the public about so significant a period on our collective history.  God willing, I have no higher ambition than to continue to be a part of this endeavour so long as I am capable of doing so.

The most profoundly emotional moment in the musical "Les Miserables" is when Jean Valjean sings "Bring Him Home".  Some of the lyrics:

God on high
Hear my prayer
In my need
You have always been there

He is young
He's afraid
Let him rest
Heaven blessed.
Bring him home

....

Bring him peace
Bring him joy
He is young
He is only a boy

You can take
You can give
Let him be
Let him live
If I die, let me die
Let him live
Bring him home

The musical, of course, is set in the times of the student revolutions that preceded the French Revolution,  but that scene came to my mind when I read the story of the discovery of some of the remains of  a very young New York soldier near the Corn Field at Antietam National Battlefield Park.  The young man had to have been killed on September 17, 1862 in the bloody charges and countercharges in that section of the field.  A temporary burial party would likely have placed him in a shallow grave within the next day or so, but somehow he was missed by the later burial details that moved the dead to a permanent national cemetery. 

That is, until 146 years later when a visitor to the Battlefield spotted some bone fragments near a groundhog hole, resulting in the NPS doing a more thorough search of the site.  The search yielded more bone fragments, some pieces of leather and cloth, coat buttons, a belt buckle, and some other small items.  So far, archaelogist and anthropologists have determined that the soldier was likely between 18 and 21 years old, and that while young, he was by September 1862 very likely a veteran in the Army of the Potomac.

Linda Wheeler's blog, "A House Divided" has a beautiful, eloquent post about this young man and his discovery. 
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/house-divided/2008/12/a_union_soldier_found_buried_a.html#more .  Please give it a read - it is very moving, and makes us think, once again, about the ways in which we must honor our war dead, of any era, and do everything we can do to "Bring Them Home."

The political correctness of today often results in everything about the War Between the States being discounted as an ugly period in our history that is glossed over and largely ignored.  In addition to the ridiculous refusal to address and understand a critical time in our collective history, it is tragic that so few people will recognize the significance of this discovery.  Archaeologically, the value is obvious.  But the real importance of this story is that this young man, left for so long in an unmarked, lonesome grave with only generations of groundhogs to tend his resting place, will finally be returned to his place of honor among his comrades.

I think of a father and mother, and perhaps younger siblings, wondering and worrying as news reports slowly trickled north from Maryland of the battle; the anxiety, pain and grief upon reading on casualty lists that their son was either missing, or killed in action; and the aching empty space in their lives of never, during any of their lifetimes, recovering their loved one's body to truly have closure with his heroic death.

It is for these reasons that we must always honor those who have fought, as Americans, for the cause of this country, and honor their families for that payment of the ultimate price for freedom.