> I don't think that sentence necessarily implies that he joined the Confederacy because he was racist, although that isn't a very far-fetched claim [...] It is

> I don't think that sentence necessarily implies that he joined the Confederacy because he was racist, although that isn't a very far-fetched claim [...] It is true that he fought for the Confederacy. I think it does imply it [1], and it's also an unfounded claim. Twain himself seems confused about why he joined, and deserted after two weeks without firing a single shot (his farcical account of it claims his unit killed a single man, but this has been proven false). Hardly the actions of a convinced racist. > That "bar one" was probably referring to Native Americans, whom he seemed to really really hate Yeah, I concede this. Twain framed his "Noble Red Man" as ridicule of the "noble savage" stereotype so common in literature, but even then, it's hard to find a positive example of an Indian in his writing. So I concede this point. Though... why didn't TFA mention this instead of going on a tangent about the Confederacy? ---- [1] Because TFA qualifies this as "earlier in his life", which wouldn't make sense if this was about Twain's opinions on Native Americans. It clearly links his racism "earlier in life" to his joining the army of the Confederacy.