Civil War History - Secession and PoliticsWas it Slavery, or was it States Rights? Perhaps it was the election of Lincoln? What were the real reasons for Southern Secession and what were the political issues in this time of war? Find your answers here in the Secession and Politics Disussion.
I studied the "traditional" Civil War decades ago. In the last three years I started studying logistics and came to the conclusion that Margaret Mitchell wrote the most brilliant book covering the Civil War period, Gone With the Wind.
The Confederacy never had the capacity to fight and win a war that lasted more than a few months. Putting the words in the mouth of one fictional character ,Rhett Butler, who had the guts to say, per the author. You have your slaves, your cotton and your arrogance.
Things were so bad in the Confederate states, that they had to run past the Union sea blockage- supplies of horse shoes.
If you run short of horse shoes, certainly the decision to venture war was complete folly for the southern states.
The Confederacy never had the capacity to fight and win a war that lasted more than a few months. Putting the words in the mouth of one fictional character ,Rhett Butler, who had the guts to say, per the author. You have your slaves, your cotton and your arrogance.
Things were so bad in the Confederate states, that they had to run past the Union sea blockage- supplies of horse shoes.
If you run short of horse shoes, certainly the decision to venture war was complete folly for the southern states.
I studied the "traditional" Civil War decades ago. In the last three years I started studying logistics and came to the conclusion that Margaret Mitchell wrote the most brilliant book covering the Civil War period, Gone With the Wind
Geeze, I hope that book was better than the movie!
__________________ -
"It was a very peculiar time." - Franklin D. Cossitt
Ancestors in USA Army: 6th IA Inf, 11th IL Cav, 1st AL Cav; 122nd NY Inf; 6th MI Cav; 35th MA Inf; 100th IL Inf; 1st CO Inf/Cav; 22nd IN Inf
Gone With the Wind
Geeze, I hope that book was better than the movie!
Depends on what you didn't like about the movie, Samgrant... just for grins and giggles give the book a try, for the depiction of the Southern Homefront and the Reconstruction era.
I wish they would make a mini-series of GWTW and keep all the characters and incidents in!!
The Confederacy never had the capacity to fight and win a war that lasted more than a few months.
If you run short of horse shoes, certainly the decision to venture war was complete folly for the southern states.
For the Confederacy "never had the capacity to fight and win a war that lasted more then a few months" they sure did fight on for 4 years and easily proved that they had the capacity to fight. Many times routing, Brigades, Divisions, Corps and Armies. The Confederacy was supplied alot by the Union armies. Food, medical, guns, artillery etc. It has been estimated by the time of Gettysburg Lee's long arm was 1/3 captured Union artillery.
Towards the end of the war, Confederates said it was rare to find anyone without something Union on.
Horse shoes does not make you lose a war or "folly" as you claim.
Horse shoes does not make you lose a war or "folly" as you claim.
Oh. But they do. Without shoes you run out of horses. Without horses, supply wagons and artillery do not move -- not to mention officers who would have to walk. And there's the bigger picture: no horseshoes means no railroad iron or repairs, no rims for wagon wheels. The Confederacy supplied itself with Union-made goods because it could not make its own.
It is likely true that the Confederate soldier was by and large well-equipped, fed, and armed. When, however, they got beyond walking distance of a supply depot, the comfort-level dropped off dramatically -- insufficient horses and wagons.
That the Confederates stretched a 6-month war out to 4 years is a testament to the pluck of the Conferate soldier, not to the wisdom or efficiency of his government.
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
Horse shoes does not make you lose a war or "folly" as you claim.
Shawn
How does that wise old saying go?
For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for the want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for the want of a horse the rider was lost, being overtaken and slain by the enemy, all for the want of care about a horseshoe nail. Benjamin Franklin
One could go on... for want of that rider the battle was lost, and for want of that battle, the war was lost.
Philosophical thinking, folks. Taxing for a Zouave but I manage sometimes.
Zou
Last edited by blue_zouave; 09-23-2006 at 04:22 PM.
And one of the reasons for the lack of manpower was that a goodly part of the CSA saw that it was over and headed for the hills, whether in uniform or due for conscription. They saw it was over when they ran out of horshoes.
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
In my case, it was a visit to Gettysburg when I was eight. I had a copy of the American Heritage history of the CW and about wore that out.
I was asked why I study the CW and my answer was that this is the point in American History where we lost out innocence as a nation.
My CW "revival" was while I was stationed in England and I discovered Civil War Times Illlustrated and America's Civil War at the Stars and Stripes Bookstore in base. What capped that was when Gettysburg was shown at the theatre on RAF Mildenhall. The hooks were in for life, and my wife was not dismayed. She actually enjoys watching Civil War Journal with me.
I hope to take it to the next level by reenacting and writing a book.
The other benefit is that my studying the CW connects me with my three ancestors who fought in thw war.
__________________ F. S. Powers
Union Ancersor: Pvt Arnuah Norton, 60th Ohio. (G-G-G Grandfather) Died at Salisbury NC, November 3, 1864
Confederate Ancestors: Captain Thomas A. Morrow, 29th Texas Cavalry (G-G-G- Uncle) and 2LT George W. Morrow, 31st Texas Cavalry (G-G-G Grandfather). Both survived the war
Was browsing through the forums in my self-guided newbie orientation and thought I'd give the question of why I study the Civil War a (pot)shot.
I'm a first-generation Chinese immigrant and have absolutely no relation to any of the parties involved in the ACW, so I perhaps have a different perspective on the conflict than that of many board members. If my memory hasn't failed me, I became interested in the Civil War when studying it for my first U.S. history class, circa 8th grade. I don't recall even knowing the U.S. had gone through a civil war before then, and I cannot adequately describe how startling the revelation was. I, personally, and my family for many generations have never known America to be anything other than a wholly self-contained and united entity with great, far-reaching power and influence; the thought that the nation had once been split asunder, north and south, is mind-boggling! Utterly inconceivable! Yet clearly true and real.
So, it was probably the novelty of Americans going to war against Americans that first fascinated me. This initial hook was soon replaced by an appreciation of the ACW as a landmark turning point in America's development. Someone earlier in the thread said the war brought the country into its adolescence, and I find that a fitting analogy. How the Civil War grew out of America's formation and affected the nation's future, then and now, is perhaps the most profound attraction of this period for me.
I must admit I feel no particular passion for one cause over the other. However, that thousands, millions of people did and do is a phenomenon that I respect and wonder at. The depth and complexity of feeling on both sides--all sides--leaves me in awe.
Now, in some ways, this is no different from other wars; strife of any kind will always peel back the layers of human nature, bring to the fore all things beautiful and grotesque. Still, I do get the impression that the ACW was unique. I don't subscribe to any religion--though I'm by no means atheist--but I can easily believe the hand of fate or God, if you prefer, was at work. I mean, this war could not have been more dramatic or the players more colorful and sharply defined in their parts if penned by some great author. The Civil War has been called the American Iliad--this, too, I find fitting.
In addition to all that, the Civil War is well documented, from top to bottom. Folks from all walks of life have left testament as to their experiences and, the times being what they were, many, if not all, of these are eloquent, almost poetic, to a most extraordinary degree by today's standards. Makes for good reading.
The Civil War is also widely considered one of the first modern wars. I'd add that it was probably one of the last wars fought in the grand old style. This transitional nature makes the military, political, and socioeconomic study of the Civil War difficult--a historian must be mindful of making anachronistic assumptions--but fruitful and surprisingly relevant to the present. That cannot be said of all wars and, I think, rarely to the degree of the ACW. The outgrowth of this is a vast library of Civil War literature, including a lively historiography branch. IMO, it's an intellectual treat to have such active discussion and debate.
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