I admit I knew the lion's share of the specific details about this from a John oliver piece done in 2017. Even if I didn't, would it matter?

The Civil War may be the only war in the history of the world where the losing side gets more credit than the winning.. Part of it was because, at the time, many of the generals and politicians in the north, didn't as much work on getting the message across. part of it was: We need to rebuild the Union, so why bother? Part of us: We won, what difference does it make? And I imagine a large of part of it was: Why should we give a damn what 'colored' people think anyway? A lot of the politicians hadn't wanted to free the slaves in the first place, and a lot of the Northerners actually didn't want emancipation even in peacetime. I read somewhere that the lion's share of the people fighting for the Union weren't fighting because they fought slavery was wrong. I believe sincerely that's true.

And the repercussions are felt to this day. The original sin was never erased and it just went underground. the statues of Confederate leaders were just the most overt expression of them. And it says a lot about our country - none of it good - that we even consider the Confederacy 'a Lost Cause' The monuments and flags may be going down. We all knows its too little and probably far too late.