Members of the Third Missouri State Militia (Union) slaughtering women, children in Ripley County, Missouri on Christmas Day 1863 as portrayed in this sketch by artist Rocky Medley. Christmas , 2020 marked the 157th anniversary of the Wilson Massacre which occurred in Ripley County, Missouri on Christmas Day, 1863, part of a bitter rivalry between members of the 15th Missouri Cavalry, CSA (commanded by Col. Timothy Reeves) and the 3rd Missouri State Militia Cavalry, USA (commanded by Major James Wilson).. The massacre was "payback" for an event that happened just days before on December 21, 1863 when men from Reeves' command captured 102 Union soldiers in Centerville, Missouri. They were taken back to Confederate Colonel Timothy Reeves' encampment where (as some say) they were going to be used to exchange for Confederate prisoners. It wasn't an ordinary Confederate encampment. On Christmas Day it was the site of a Christmas gathering which included not only Conf...

 For as long as I can remember both the Republican and Democratic parties have had their fair share of Lincoln defenders. The Republican Party was founded with the election of Abraham Lincoln thus Lincoln has been the party's trademark so to speak. The problem with this is that the Republican Party, presents itself as the party of smaller government, states rights and defenders of the Constitution and freedom. It is a problem because Lincoln was a proponent of big government, and committed acts that violated the Constitution. Ah, but defenders of Lincoln proclaim that President Lincoln had  to violate the Constitution to "save the Union." This defense of Lincoln by the Republican party has been effective from the end of the War Between the States until November , 2020 At the time of America's "Civil War" one could describe the Republicans as the Liberals and the Democrats as the Conservatives. This began to change with the election of President Franklin D. R...