Michael Ruffin, whose ancestor is said to have fired the first shot at Fort Sumpter 150 years ago today, has a very important reflection today on lost causes, then and now.

My Civil War-era ancestors were not as illustrious. I know of four Pursifuls/Pursifulls (distant cousins, not direct ancestors) who appear in Civil War records, two for the Union and two for the Confederacy. My maternal great grandfather Jasper Jeffers Sr fought for the Union. Jasper hailed from Scott County, Tennessee. When Tennessee became the last state to secede from the Union, the people of Scott County decided to secede from the state. Thus was born the Free and Independent State of Scott.

I think it will be interesting to see how my daughter is taught about the Civil War in Georgia, as opposed to the history my wife learned in Kentucky and I learned in Michigan.