There’s a good article here on the extent and effects of the Civil War in Missouri. If they think of it at all when most Americans think of the Civil War they think of Atlanta or Gettysburg, Pennsylvania or the many battles fought in Virginia. They don’t think of Missouri but the southern half of the state experienced a lot of war. As the author of the article points out what went on in Missouri sounds a lot like what’s happening in Iraq today.
There were multiple Civil War battlefields within walking distance of my home when I was a kid and for a while when she was a kid my mom lived right across the street from one. Several of my great-great-grandfathers fought for the Union in the war. It wasn’t just the defeated Confederacy that suffered during the aftermath of the war. Even the victors suffered adverse economic effects. The real victors were the cowards and war profiteers among whose number are counted some of the greatest fortunes in the U. S. today.
