re: #26 HappyWarrior

That’s why I always defend West Virginia when people act like WV is just a bunch of inbred hicks. They had enough honor and decency to believe secession wrong. And you’re absolutely right. No one ever talks about the Southern Unionists. People here venerate Robert E. Lee for staying loyal to his state but I’ll take fellow Virginian George Thomas who remained loyal to his country.

I had a friend of mine in high school who fancied himself a Texan and we debated vigorously on Civil War history. When he learned that I was born a mountaineer, he glared at me and called me a traitor. I’d never really been proud of my state of origin before then.