During the civil war the country was literally and politically divided. Both sides considered themselves proud Americans, thought the other side tyrants or traitors. The war itself is what we think of, but this was an awful, ongoing situation for decades before the shooting started.

Interesting to remember that the north and south remained ay great enmity for a hundred years. I well remember as a kid in the early 60s how the southern states voted as a block (the blue dog democrats) and were very hostile to "yankees" passing through. They taught their kids a mythology of honor v tyranny that lasted long after the last vet had died.