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Did the South ever have much of a chance at winning the war
Did the South really ever have a chance of winning the war. If the Rebels successes of 1862 and 1863 had continued past the Gettysburg War do you think the North would have given in.
Or do you think if Lee hadn't made that crazy charge on the third day at Gettysburg and they had won that battle and continued on into Northern Territory it only would have postponed the inevitible a little longer.
Did the South really ever have a chance of winning the war. If the Rebels successes of 1862 and 1863 had continued past the Gettysburg War do you think the North would have given in.
Or do you think if Lee hadn't made that crazy charge on the third day at Gettysburg and they had won that battle and continued on into Northern Territory it only would have postponed the inevitible a little longer.
Yes, they had a decent chance of winning. The Federals had to conquer a very large amount of territory, and the confederates had good leadership and good men fighting for them.
]Did the South really ever have a chance of winning the war
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IMO the South only chance was early in the war. If Lee could have destroyed the AoP during the Peninsula Campaign from that point on the clock was racing against them. Every month the Union and its Army got stronger and better leadership while the Confederacy along with it Army got weaker.
Time expired in April 1865, game over for the Confederacy.
5fish
__________________
"States Rights are about States Wrongs" - Jesse Jackson
I always believed the war was lost for the South as soon as they fired on Ft. Sumter. I don't believe, with their inferior manpower and industry, that they ever had a decent chance of winning the war.
__________________ "In mortal combat, a man may and will become so infuriated by the din and dangers of a bloody fight that his heart will turn to stone and his every de sire [be] for blood."
John Hadley, 7th Indiana after the battle at Port Republic
I always remember a talk I attended by Shelby Foote. He contended that there was no way for the South ever to win. He states that "the Union fought the war with one hand tied behind its back" and said that if the South had really started to do better, the North would simply have started focusing more on the war effort and less on things like the transcontinental railroad.
I'm not sure I agree with him. But if it was up to Lincoln, the war could never have ended with a Southern victory, no matter how well the South did. Even if McClellan had one the presidency, I do not think he would have made peace with the Confederacy. Too much blood and treasure expended at that point to give up.
I do agree with him that if the North had ever instituted real universal conscription and had made an all-out effort, the South was doomed.
__________________ "There must be more historians of the Civil War than there were generals figthing in it... Of the two groups, the historians are the more belligerent." David Donald, Lincoln Reconsidered (1961)
I always remember a talk I attended by Shelby Foote. He contended that there was no way for the South ever to win. He states that "the Union fought the war with one hand tied behind its back" and said that if the South had really started to do better, the North would simply have started focusing more on the war effort and less on things like the transcontinental railroad.
Strait our of lost cause myth?? How so? Lost cause would say the SOUTH fought with one hand tied behind her back or some such nonsense. How is saying the Union would win no matter what siding with the lost cause? For once I am baffled by Cash's reply.
__________________ "In mortal combat, a man may and will become so infuriated by the din and dangers of a bloody fight that his heart will turn to stone and his every de sire [be] for blood."
John Hadley, 7th Indiana after the battle at Port Republic
Nah, Dred, the lost cause only says that suthern honor required that it challenge the insulting bully to the north. And that it lost only because the bully was bigger, faster, and stronger. (The race does not always go to the swift, nor the battle to the stong; but that's the way to bet it.)
It's a good question, lastcat. The answers will cover a wide range of opinion. I kinda go along with the idea that there might well have been one, brief, shining moment when it was possible. The chances, however, were slim and none, and I think Slim left about a half-hour ago.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Nah, Dred, the lost cause only says that suthern honor required that it challenge the insulting bully to the north. And that it lost only because the bully was bigger, faster, and stronger. (The race does not always go to the swift, nor the battle to the stong; but that's the way to bet it.)
But this is pretty much what happened isn't it? Aside from Grant towards the end, It took amazingly daring tactics on the part of Lee and Jackson ( I think Jackson was more inspired personally, Lee was lucky, and nobody else in the Southern generalship shined all that much) to even hold off as long as the south did. They were always out numberd, which is why they had to be so daring.
North was bigger, certainly not faster, but had much more manpower to throw out there IF it came to that. The arrival of Grant in the East kept it from coming to that, but barely. Another year the way Grant fought and that is exactly what we would have seen. Troops taken out of the west and the railroad effort and expansion west stalled to nail down the south's coffin.
__________________ "In mortal combat, a man may and will become so infuriated by the din and dangers of a bloody fight that his heart will turn to stone and his every de sire [be] for blood."
John Hadley, 7th Indiana after the battle at Port Republic
North was bigger, certainly not faster, but had much more manpower to throw out there IF it came to that. The arrival of Grant in the East kept it from coming to that, but barely. Another year the way Grant fought and that is exactly what we would have seen. Troops taken out of the west and the railroad effort and expansion west stalled to nail down the south's coffin.
The North was certainly faster. Although the Confederacy had the much-vaunted inside lines, it hadn't the rails, roads nor rivers to take advantage of them.
It makes an interesting subject. I'm not sure that I'll ever understand how the secesh ever figured they could get away with it -- unless they truly believed that the effete, the mudsills, the clerks and the mechanics would never fight. Chutzpah.
It would seem that southern aristocratic-honor made the challenge and lost the duel. So sad.
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But this is pretty much what happened isn't it? Aside from Grant towards the end, It took amazingly daring tactics on the part of Lee and Jackson ( I think Jackson was more inspired personally, Lee was lucky, and nobody else in the Southern generalship shined all that much) to even hold off as long as the south did. They were always out numberd, which is why they had to be so daring.
I do not question the grit of Johnny Reb. He was what we like to think we are. Never-say-die; fight on 'til death. But Billy Yank did very much the same thing. That there were more Billys on most fields is almost beside the point. The idea that Billy and Johnny were squaring off with minies instead of rasslin in the common or on the barroom floor is the one that gives me pause.
The entire thing was a dumb idea: The "irresitable force meeting an unmovable object." What fools these mortals be. Fighting over an already dying object.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
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Did the South ever have much of a chance at winning the war 
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