That is what the British Foreign Secretary, Earl Russell, did to the Confederate representative in February, 1862.
He asked " as to the internal condition of Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee, and he referred also to the alienation of northwestern Virginia."
The Confederate representative reported his reply to Jefferson Davis, " I told him that as far as the three States named were concerned they were now members of the Confederate States; that we knew a very large majority of their people were with the South, and none who knew the actual condition of things doubted that they would remain so, and that as to northwestern Virginia the pretense of a separate government there was an empty pageant, credited only by the Government at Washington, and by it alone, for purposes of delusion."
James M. Mason, the Confederate commissioner concluded in February, 1862, that "On the whole it was manifest enough that his[Earl Russell] personal sympathies were not with us, and his policy inaction."
By early 1864 it was very clear that the Confederacy would never have the logistics or the army to hold Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee and northwestern Virginia(now West Virginia).
By late 1864, Hood's army was destroyed in Tennessee, and the Confederacy held Alabama,South and North Carolina and an army under siege in eastern Virginia.
Northerners were tired of the war; but they never ended the war until the Confederacy was defeated.
By late 1864, the Confederacy was defiant in South Carolina, Selma, Alabama, most of North Carolina and around Richmond.
It's army was no longer defiant in Nashville, Memphis,New Orleans,Lexington,Vicksburg,Norfolk or Savannah. Atlanta was abandoned by Sherman; no longer of military value in the remaining days of the war.
If Lincoln was doubtful in the summer of 1864, he certainly wasn't doubtful about the territory lost by the Confederacy. Even Lincoln would have realized by the summer of 1864, the Confederacy would never be the 13 states, represented by the stars of their Confederate Battle flag. If the U.S. hadn't won its final war aims by the summer of 1864; certainly the Confederacy had lost many of their war aims.
So I say overemphasis on what Lincoln thought in the summer of 1864. Underestimate on what the Confederacy had already lost.
Little did Lincoln know that the Confederacy would not exist the following summer.
He asked " as to the internal condition of Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee, and he referred also to the alienation of northwestern Virginia."
The Confederate representative reported his reply to Jefferson Davis, " I told him that as far as the three States named were concerned they were now members of the Confederate States; that we knew a very large majority of their people were with the South, and none who knew the actual condition of things doubted that they would remain so, and that as to northwestern Virginia the pretense of a separate government there was an empty pageant, credited only by the Government at Washington, and by it alone, for purposes of delusion."
James M. Mason, the Confederate commissioner concluded in February, 1862, that "On the whole it was manifest enough that his[Earl Russell] personal sympathies were not with us, and his policy inaction."
By early 1864 it was very clear that the Confederacy would never have the logistics or the army to hold Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee and northwestern Virginia(now West Virginia).
By late 1864, Hood's army was destroyed in Tennessee, and the Confederacy held Alabama,South and North Carolina and an army under siege in eastern Virginia.
Northerners were tired of the war; but they never ended the war until the Confederacy was defeated.
By late 1864, the Confederacy was defiant in South Carolina, Selma, Alabama, most of North Carolina and around Richmond.
It's army was no longer defiant in Nashville, Memphis,New Orleans,Lexington,Vicksburg,Norfolk or Savannah. Atlanta was abandoned by Sherman; no longer of military value in the remaining days of the war.
If Lincoln was doubtful in the summer of 1864, he certainly wasn't doubtful about the territory lost by the Confederacy. Even Lincoln would have realized by the summer of 1864, the Confederacy would never be the 13 states, represented by the stars of their Confederate Battle flag. If the U.S. hadn't won its final war aims by the summer of 1864; certainly the Confederacy had lost many of their war aims.
So I say overemphasis on what Lincoln thought in the summer of 1864. Underestimate on what the Confederacy had already lost.
Little did Lincoln know that the Confederacy would not exist the following summer.
Bringing the