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Umm, that is an assertion made 158 years after the fact by someone who isn't old enough to know. And does so with scant evidence.
I've seen very little substantive literature that cites this 'forgiveness'. A photo taken at the 50th year anniversary of Gettysburg was a photo op. Not a sign from God that forgiveness has been bestowed. Or earned.
Those Confederate soldiers in the 50yr pic were not punished for insurrection, treason, rebellion, sedition, or murder......because of the magnanimity of Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses Grant. Those two men chose...and Johnson honored their wishes......to not prolong the American tragedy by hanging any but Henry Wirz, the commandant of Andersonville, and the guerella, Ferguson. Lincoln and Grant wanted healing to take hold. And, in time, it did, allowing a fabulous continental-wide nation to emerge and prosper.
They made the right decisions by not hanging Davis, Lee, and other leaders.
Even Nathan Bedford Forrest who commanded his troops to executed hundreds of surrenedered and disarmed Union troops at Ft.Pillow was not pursued by Union justice.
That is not necessarily forgiveness. That is pragmatism. Pragmatism that worked in the nation's interest. Who can deny that now?
IMHO