I'm late to this fight but wanted to throw in my $.02 worth. Numerous relatives of mine fought (and 3 died) for their country - the Confederate States of America. I am a proud member of SCV Camp 308 and I am extremely proud not only of my heritage, but for my ancestors who stood up and fought for something they believed in -
states rights.
That being said, I would like to add this to the discussion:
In broad outline, the Confederate Constitution is an amended U.S. Constitution. Even on slavery, there is little difference. Whereas the U.S. Constitution ended the importation of slaves after 1808, the Confederate Constitution simply forbade it. Both constitutions allowed slave ownership, of course.
In fact, slavery only became a constitutional issue after the war had begun. In his 1861 inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln said, "Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican administration their property [is] to be endangered.... I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists.... I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so."
http://mises.org/freemarket_detail.aspx?control=353
This myth that the War Between the States came about largely because of the slavery issue reeks of ignorance. The fact is that most southern whites did not own slaves - only about 400,000 out of 9 million in 1860 (
http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/history/hs_es_overview.htm).
At the onset of the war, Lincoln's foremost goals had been to preserve the Union, to bring the war to an end with a minimum of bloodshed, and to avoid lingering animosity between Northern and Southern whites. If that could best be achieved by preserving slavery, he said, he would do so. Lincoln despised slavery, but he, like Thomas Jefferson and many others before him, doubted that blacks and whites could ever live in America in a condition of equality. For this reason, he wanted to deport those who had been brought to the states as slaves. The problem here is that he couldn't find a place to send the black population.
Lincoln's problem during this conflict was twofold; he was confronted at home by abolitionists who insisted that the war should be one for emancipation. Abroad, he was faced with growing skepticism about Northern war aims. If the Union goal was simply to reunite the country and preserve slavery, then the North was undertaking a war of aggression. The South's claim that it was fighting for its independence, just as the United States had done during the Revolution, was therefore valid, and foreign powers had the right to intervene as the French had done in 1778. All these pressures forced Lincoln to conclude that emancipation would have to become a Union war goal. This didn't happen until the war was well underway (after the Battle of Antietam) and only affected slaves held in states or territories still in rebellion against the United States. Didn't help those still indentured in northern households. Their freedom came with the ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865 - the year the war ended.
Those men that fought and died for their country deserve as much respect as any other fallen soldier. What this councilman in Auburn did, desecration of their graves, is abominable and can best be described as a hate crime. He should be made to apologize, then personally replace every flag he removed.
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