Is That Legal?

You are right. In Mark Bradley's book, _This Astounding Close_, focusing on the Bennett Place surrender in our Tar Heel back yard, the author convincingly details how Johnston explicitly defied Jeff Davis' orders to fight on in favor of peace.

The confederate armies of states west of the Mississippi, and from some states east of it (mainly Mississippi itself) did not surrender. Most of them went ot Mexico and remained there until our State Dept put extreme pressure on the post Maximillian government to force them back to the US. Once back in the states, they "melted" into their old home areas and immediately began to cause violent trouble, especially in Mississippi and Missouri. the return of these soldiers, WHO NEVER SURRENDERED, also had a lot to do with the re-writing of state constitutions in places like Texas, Arkansas, Missouri and Mississippi, to severe, jim crow laws which disenfranchised blacks and others, and the rise of the Democratic party in the south. The fact that thousands of confederate soldiers refused to surrender and went to their graves stalwartly defending this position, gives the big lie to all the southern and rebel rhetoric about honor and decency and what have you. These men remained violent, murderous outlaws, and clearly took the law into their own hands by numerous means. The T.J.Stiles book on Jesse James has some good, if in passing, coverage of all this, which I guarantee you is NOT being taught in american history classes anywhere in this country. It is too bad, since we are still living with this stinking, underhanded legacy. I met several prominent Agrarians/Fugitives over the years and have made a point to discuss this with them. While all those conversations were tense, every one I met, several men and one woman, agreed that all this was quite shameful, and the the South in general needed to own up to this disgraceful legacy. It is also worth pointing out that these 'honorable', freedom loving men sucked up to a corrupt, foreign authoritarian the entire time they were in Mexico...

Umm, Paul, you sound mighty angry about something that happened a long time ago. As a son of the south I have never heard the kind of vitriol you just displayed towards us, but maybe I just wasn't paying attention... and BTW, the vast majority of Southern soldiers came home and tried to rebuild their lives. And believed that Andrew Johnson would continue Lincoln's policies. But you impeached him and created Reconstruction instead. Now you still blame us. Yankee asshole.