Confederate flag debate stirred up at Gettysburg Battlefield (Scumbag Professor)

GETTYSBURG, PA (WHTM/CNN) - Tensions ran high during a Confederate flag rally in Pennsylvania this weekend.

A Southern heritage group held what it calls Confederate Flag Day in Gettysburg, PA, but there were plenty of vocal opponents to the event.

The refrain is familiar. Supporters such Mark Landree, executive director of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, says it's about history. Opponents like Christina Hansen only see hate.

A study of Lincoln's actions confirm that. Lincoln had put Davis in a box. If Davis let the expedition proceed to the fort, Lincoln would reinforce the fort (just as General Scott said) despite telling the South he would not reinforce the fort if the South didn't oppose the expedition. And then the South would be stuck with a well manned and supplied fort that could and would shut down the port of Charleston.

Davis put himself in a box. Davis, not Lincoln was driving. He could have halted the train wreck long before it became a train wreck.

And it is obvious that it wouldn't have made any difference if Lincoln had staged another trooper, a dozen troops, or a 100 troops at Sumter (which wasn't his intent) - the fort wasn't sustainable to the purpose you suggest. The only reason for the resupply missions was......to resupply and buy time for the southern hotheads to catch a clue.

Unfortunately it took about four years for that to happen.

Abraham Lincoln accomplished his goal, because Jefferson Davis acted on impulse, not logic. He could have set it out for two days and Sumter would have had to surrender.

Perhaps you are forgetting that Lincoln's armed expedition started arriving off the Charleston bar before or about the time that the ultimatum was delivered to Anderson to surrender the fort. If Anderson could hold out for a couple of more days like he asked for, the whole expedition might have arrived and saved him from surrendering and/or aided in his fight with the Confederates like the New York Times article I linked to above had forecast. I think that is why Anderson asked for the extra two days.

The South knew the expedition was coming, first from leaks from Northern friends, Northern newspaper articles saying something was up and that ships were heading south, and finally a messenger from Lincoln gave a note to the Governor shortly before when the expedition was supposed to arrive. Should the South have waited for two more days for Anderson's allies to arrive so that Anderson could better resist the demand to surrender?

Unfortunately for Lincoln's Sumter expedition, a storm at sea had delayed the expedition and separated its ships. The tugs that were supposed to take supplies in to the fort never made it through the storm. Once all the expedition's ships other than the tugs had arrived (not counting the Powhatan that Lincoln had diverted to Fort Pickens without telling the expedition), the attack on the fort was already underway. And critically, the seas were too rough for them to make it over the Charleston bar to join in the fight. The weather gods had voted in favor of the South.

I'm gone for the rest of the day.

I would suggest that you book early, as they can fill up as they only go on certain days and there are a finite number of tours who are permitted to do these tours.

We saw people on horseback during a trip there a year ago and tried the horseback tour last summer. I am not sure if I could do it by car after that. You will not be disappointed....you feel like you are there, especially with the narration by the Park Ranger. BTW, make sure you get a trip with a park Ranger as I believe they also do cheaper trips without them.

Not forgetting it. Davis chose war, he fired on a Federal fort, and issued letter of marque to raid federal shipping. Both recognized acts of war in international law.

Speaking of acts of war, let's look up the definition of acts of war. From USLegal.com, my emphasis below:

An act of war is an action by one country against another with an intention to provoke a war or an action that occurs during a declared war or armed conflict between military forces of any origin. The loss or damage caused due to such conflicts are excluded from insurance coverage except for life assurances.

As I posted above, Lincoln's two wartime secretaries admitted that Lincoln intended to provoke war by sending his armed expedition to Fort Sumter without the blame for starting the war falling on him. You seem to have fallen for Lincol's ruse. Lincoln's actions meet the definition above of an act of war.

I've posted above Major Anderson's statement that Lincoln's Sumter expedition meant war. He knew what it meant, even if you, 155 years later, do not.

Here is an old post of mine that summarizes some of Lincoln's actions at that point in time and the reactions of other key players to his orders. Those key players weren't dummies. They knew and said that Lincoln's orders meant war. See Post 54

Have you ever been to the New Market battlefield?

No. I've been up and down I-81 a few times but never stopped at New Market. In the Virginia-Maryland area, I've been to Antietam/Sharpsburg battlefield, seen the Lee exhibit at Washington and Lee University, visited Fredericksburg battlefield and Appomattox Court House, saw where my wife's Confederate ancestor died (Point Lookout prison in Maryland), saw the house where Robert E Lee was raised, and visited the Confederate Museum and the Confederate White House in Richmond. I've also been to Monticello, Jamestown, Berkeley Plantation, and Torktown.

Great history in that area.

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