To the Sports Editor:
Re “Glory to Georgia, in a Northern Accent,” Jan. 8: You reported that the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” originally implored, “Let us die to make men free.” But it’s important to note that Americans no longer buy that counterproductive martial fatalism. As Gen. George S. Patton famously put it: “No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. You won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.” That’s why singers of the “Battle Hymn” now frequently rise up to healthy revisionism: “Let us live to make men free.