There Is A Rowdy Strain In American

What Began As A Bitter Dispute Over Union And States' Rights, Ended As A Struggle Over The Meaning Of Freedom In America. At Gettysburg In 1863, Abraham Lincoln Said Perhaps More Than He Knew. The War Was About A New Birth Of Freedom.

There Is A Rowdy Strain In American Life, Living Close To The Surface But Running Very Deep. Like An Ape Behind A Mask, It Can Display Itself Suddenly With Terrifying Effect.

The Enduring Realization That When A Great Challenge Comes, The Most Ordinary People Can Show That They Value Something More Than They Value Their Own Lives. When The Last Of The Veterans Had Gone, And The Sorrows And Bitterness Which The War Created Had At Last Worn Away, This Memory Remained.

And There Is The Headlight, Shining Far Down The Track, Glinting Off The Steel Rails That, Like All Parallel Lines, Will Meet In Infinity, Which Is After All Where This Train Is Going.

Like Most Rebel Soldiers, Sam Watkins Owned No Slaves.