Our Man in Charleston: Britain’s Secret Agent in the Civil War South,

[Octafish]

5. ''It is literally no more to kill a slave than to shoot a dog."

In 1863, after the Emancipation Proclamation transformed the war unequivocally into a crusade against slavery, and the Confederate defeats at Gettysburg and Vicksburg made it clear that secession was no fait accompli, all chances of British support for the Confederacy withered and died—but the fighting went on for almost two more horrible years. In the end, as Bunch had predicted, the prestige and power of the slaveholders was gone, and their world was laid waste.

Thank you for this lost, heartbreaking and compelling history, Ichingcarpenter! Helps explain how the Aristocracy survived on this side of the pond. The way old slaves were treated helps explain the attitude toward older workers, the homeless, the unemployed, the sick, the poor, social security...