Why the Civil War: on the conflict's 150th anniversary, the nation remains divided over its meaning and legacy.

• Author: Seelye, Katharine Q.
• Position: NATIONAL

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Commemorating the bloodiest episode in American history--a war that killed 620,000 people and left many issues unresolved--is bound to be tricky.

But as the country marks the 150tb anniversary of the Civil War over the next four years, there will be commemorations of everything from the Battle of Antietam to Lincoln's assassination--and you can expect controversy with each event.

The hoopla began last December with a ball in Charleston to mark the anniversary of South Carolina's secession. (South Carolina was the first of 11 Southern states to leave the Union in 1860 and 1861.) About 100 people-some of them prominent local politicians and many dressed in elaborate period costumes--attended.

The Charleston "secession ball" prompted outrage among civil rights groups. Lonnie Randolph, president of the South Carolina N.A.A.C.P., says he's dumbfounded by "all of this glamorization and sanitization of what really happened."

Similar reactions followed the February reenactment in Montgomery, Alabama, of Jefferson Davis's inauguration as president of the Confederacy.

Jeff Antley, a member of several Confederate heritage groups, was involved in organizing the Charleston secession ball and a 10-day re-enactment of the Confederate encampment at Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the war were fired on April 12, 1861. He said these events were not about today's politics but were meant to honor those South Carolinians who signed the state's ordinance of secession.

"We're celebrating that those 170 people risked their lives and fortunes to stand for what they believed in, which is self-government," Antley says, adding that he is not defending slavery. "Many people in the South still believe [states' rights] is a just and honorable cause. Do I believe they were right in what they did? Absolutely."

Stars and Bars

It doesn't take an anniversary for Civil War issues to make headlines. Take the Confederate flag. Mississippi is the only state whose state flag currently incorporates the "stars and bars."

But many Southern states continue to fly the Confederate banner, particularly at Civil War memorials, and it's available on specialty license plates in nine Southern states. For some Southerners, the flag honors their regional heritage. But for others, it's a symbol of racism.

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