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After Kelly's comments, it occurs to me that the reason the Civil War is regarded differently is bc white people gained little from it.
If you're black, the Civil War is the WAR THAT ENDED SLAVERY. Big deal for you. There's clear before and after of slave/not slave.
This just isn't shared by white people. If you're Southern, you view it as a war you LOST (rare for the U.S.). Also, no more slaves.
Lost cause narratives focuses on the crushing loss & impact on the South while ignoring the net positives for black people.
If you're from the North (like Kelly), the Civil War feels like Vietnam: A big waste with no clear victory.
What do I mean by no "clear" victory for the North, you ask? Well, if you're white, all the Civil War did was maintain status quo.
Union is preserved. That does't warrant the fireworks of the 4th, where defeating the British means white Americans are themselves "free."
It's why men like Kelly & Ron Paul & so on lament that the Civil War took place at all while never doing the same for the Revolution.
Has *anyone* suggested that if a compromise had been made w. the British, war could've been avoided? Just wait till King George died?
But again, white Americans, more so Northern whites, feel no real *stake* in outcome of Civil War.
Think of the furor over CONFEDERACY. A "What If" America lost Revolution or Nazis won WWII are presented as negatives for *white* people.
*They* are the ones enslaved. They are the ones with a loss of freedom.
CONFEDERACY is not presented as exploring a possible future w any real overt negative outcome for white people.
And when white conservatives actually accept that Civil War was about slavery, it usually results in comments like this one. 
Aside from needing to read history books covering 1865 - 1965, this person thinks of Civil War as white ppl dying for (ungrateful) black ppl
Our freedom, our dignity... that's what white blood was shed for. Surely there was some other way!
It also reinforces how black people were treated *after* the war compared to former Confederates.
As I often say, time travelers visiting Jim Crow South would think *black people* had waged war against the U.S..
Our "crime" against the U.S. is no longer being slaves, no longer being "useful," and for costing white ppl their lives.
And it's why we kneel.
