Most Confederate soldiers were drafted to fight a rich man's war. Same then as today. The slave owners were the elite 1% and could buy their way out of service. 

Doesn't mean that monuments to the Confederacy aren't stomach churning for the Americans you don't even pause a moment to consider, the descendants of the slaves (and the persecuted racial minority long after the Emancipation Proclamation). These monuments are slaps in the face.

Save me your crocodile tears for the white supremacists and their statues. Many of these monuments and the embrace of the Confederate flag took place in the 20th century as a response to civil rights progress, not as some tribute to Cletus McCannonfodder who fought a war for slave owners even though ol' Cletus didn't even have a pot to p-- in. 

White supremacy an divide & conquer are what has kept poor whites hating poor blacks for the benefit of rich whites for too long. Enough. Stop venerating white supremacy. Erect statues of Nat Turner instead.