http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2624738/Meet-disabled-84-year-old-woman-lived-institution-13-American-receiving-benefits-Civil-War.html

Confederate soldiers, who served honorably, are United States Veterans. This only makes sense. Soldiers who fought for the Confederacy have just as much right to be U.S. Veterans as those who fought for the Union. Laws passed since the war support this right. All soldiers on both sides were fighting for their States as the laws then demanded. States are the people, those people, no matter which side of the argument are equal under the Constitution. In a civil war there is no treasonable acts, there are no vanquished peoples and lands to exploit. For a nation to survive such a war, all has to be forgotten and move on as if nothing happened, no winner, no loser. The argument being settled at the conclusion of the conflict, the people must put it aside and move on. This is what happened in the country around 1898 when the U.S. Congress declared parts of the 14th amendment null and void and complete amnesty given to every Confederate (i.e. Robert E. Lee, Jeff Davis, etc.) This allowed Confederates and Union soldiers to celebrate their participation in the war together and Confederate Veteran parades in Washington D.C.

Apparently this history has been lost and we are now more capable of making very bad mistakes. Lets hope sanity returns.

David Upton