Page 366 "Still a sacrifice. Still a misunderstood man."



From page 366 of the book:  "You know, Walt," Owen expelled, resting his head against the back of the seat, turning to me at selected intervals between looking at the roof or out into the winter gloom. "After the Civil War was over, James Longstreet realized that there was no way to make the postwar South work unless somebody gave of themselves, to work within the system, to reconstruct the South, you know. When he became a Republican, and don't forget now the Republican Party was the party of the North, he'd offered himself as that sacrifice to the Cause. He sacrificed himself, going against his Southern brethren because he believed that getting placed into key Republican positions would actually help to rebuild the burned out and bombed out homes and cities of Dixie. He felt he could help the South by working to reunite it with the North in spirit. They hated him for it. They crucified him for it! They fucking rewrote history for it. Still a sacrifice. Still a misunderstood man."

  

James Longstreet