The Civil War
My mother's family has been in the South and specifically North Carolina for three or four hundred years, and it is only natural that so many of my ancestors would have fought for the Confederacy.
I am very proud of my ancestors' willingness to fight to defend their country and their beliefs; however, I do not in any way, shape, or form defend the institution of slavery. The South was wrong to try to hold on to that evil institution at the cost of so many lives and so much enmity.
I am however very interested in the way in which the war impacted on families and communities. For instance, my great-great grandmother married one soldier. When he was killed, she married one of his brother's brother-in-laws, another soldier. In another instance, my great grandma's uncle and my great-grandpa's father served in the same regiment. I imagine that's how Thomas and Cora met.
For those interested, I have a page of soldiers (on both sides of the battle) and the regiments they fought in. Most of the information there came from the American Civil War Research and Genealogy Database, an excellent resource for both genealogists and historians.