The cover story of Time Magazine speaks volumes. It's a 19th century picture of Abraham Lincoln with a 21st century computer generated image of a tear streaming down his face. The headline: "Why We're Still Fighting The Civil War." It's a headline that really disturbs me after learning that my great-great-great grandfather, Sandy Wills, fled his oppressive slave master, Edmund Wills, in 1863 to fight for his freedom with the 4th Heavy Field Artillery. It was a heroic story that was lost to my family for more than a century until I logged onto Ancestry.com and realized -- once and for all -- just how critical this epic battle was in American history.
What rattles my brain is why so many Americans are still confused about what the North and South were fighting about. Sandy Wills was NOT confused about the true mission of the war when he and five other enslaved teens who were imprisoned on the Wills plantation plotted their great escape and crossed the Tennessee state line into Columbus, Kentucky to enlist in what they were certain was a battle for their emancipation. These Africans were forced into a world of illiteracy -- but they were acutely aware of the high stakes involved.
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