You know I have nothin aginst you pards, and it just goes to show how different folks are. But to this day, and I can't help it I feel anger building up in me when the Quantrill. Anderson, Tood, and james/Younger gang get dissed. I can't explain it, I have a different take on the bleeding of Kansas, article 11 and the boarder wars. In my garadge I fly the first confederate flag, the stars and bars, the msm flag and the black flag of Quantrill. My ansastor was George Barnett a minor figure with Quantrill. But he did ride with quantrill into Lawarnce and centrila. And took part in the James younger hold up of the Bank in Hunnington WVA in 1868 before marring up with great grandma. I guess somethings never change.
We're all different for certain, but that's what makes a good town.
I used to idolize those James/Youngers guys too, but we all had ancestors who lived back then. One of mine was a farmer who used to drive his cart into Abilene while Hickock was a lawman, and my ancestor, despite town ordnance, carried a concealed handgun for self defense (mostly for the trip out of town after he collected his cash). The folks of back then worked hard to survive, so it is difficult for me to sympathize with men who robbed them and called themselves heroes.
The James Younger gang rode for loot, not for the South, or they would have done all of their robberies outside of the South. Heck, probably the same can be said for Quantrill and his group. When you get down to it, a lot of these groups' motivations was likely some blend between greed and vengeance. It's just like today's gangs who say they repsesent a statement against the greed of or being forgotten by society or something, but in reality these gangs are just about making a fast buck and enjoying cheap thrills.
Now some decent men to idolize from the Old West might be men like Ben Thompson, Hickock, Luke Short, the Mastersons, etc. But not the frickin James gang.
Now fly that Confederate flag all you want, but remember the South was wrong. I live in the South, love the South, but the South was wrong. We cannot talk about rights of secession while supporting slavery at the same time. Now, without the slavery issue, maybe the South would have been right. I am still amazed to this day how lenient the North was after their victory.