An early end to the war

[timewalker]

Originally Posted by elektratig

Timewalker,

I think a variant of your question is the key one: would there a have been any reconstruction at all?

If the South had been defeated and sought readmission in 1862, my guess is no. No reconstruction, no emancipation, no Thirteenth (slavery) or Fourteenth (national citizenship, privileges or immunities) Amendments, etc., etc.

From this standpoint, one starts thinking that it was a good thing that Little Mac got his butt kicked on the Peninsula.

Indeed. There is a part of me that thnks history happens for a reason and that it was necessary for the war to continue. That only by tearing the country apart was the country solidly knitted together. A shorter war may not have accomplished this.

[ole]

Exactly! A shorter war would have changed nothing. Amazing posts, gentlemen.

ole

[whitworth]

Half the Confederate artillery produced came from Virginia. Without Virginia, the South would have lacked the resources to last even two years.

By the time Lee did surrender, the Confederacy was down to parts of two states. If Virginia had surrendered early in the war, I doubt Atlanta and Alabama would have lasted, as they did, until late 1864 and early 1865.