I am not on anybody’s side. I was speaking to the issue of whether Lee was really a “traitor.”

The Fort Sumter incident was as you describe. But, as far as law, as an independent country, SC had the right to demand the removal of foreign troops garrisoned on its soil and to act to remove them.

The North, however, quickly invaded the south in force without a declaration of war, illegal under international law. It also blockaded its ports. Equally illegal.

Jim Crow was the white south’s reaction to Reconstruction, which was a nothern action. No myth in that.

Some truth’s aren’t convenient.

As someone else pointed out, brinksmanship had been going on for some time. I don’t think the war was instigated (although there were many on both sides who wanted it) as much as it just happened. And it just happened to start in SC.

I don’t think the Lost Cause is believed in by a large number of people anywhere in the country today. I don’t think more than a few would ever want to reinstate Jim Crow.

There will always be fanatics. On the left and right. At the moment, the ones on the left are louder.

You are wildly overstating your case, as are so many on Medium and elsewhere. Dialing down the rhetoric would be a good thing. Reasonable people can reach reasonable accommodations. Sides simply delight in attacking each other.