Posted on 11/15/2017 6:05:25 AM PST by Bull Snipe
I believe you are referring to this quote:
"You people of the South don't know what you are doing. This country will be drenched in blood, and God only knows how it will end. It is all folly, madness, a crime against civilization! You people speak so lightly of war; you don't know what you're talking about. War is a terrible thing! You mistake, too, the people of the North. They are a peaceable people but an earnest people, and they will fight, too. They are not going to let this country be destroyed without a mighty effort to save it … Besides, where are your men and appliances of war to contend against them? The North can make a steam engine, locomotive, or railway car; hardly a yard of cloth or pair of shoes can you make. You are rushing into war with one of the most powerful, ingeniously mechanical, and determined people on Earth — right at your doors. You are bound to fail. Only in your spirit and determination are you prepared for war. In all else you are totally unprepared, with a bad cause to start with. At first you will make headway, but as your limited resources begin to fail, shut out from the markets of Europe as you will be, your cause will begin to wane. If your people will but stop and think, they must see in the end that you will surely fail."
It was to David F. Boyd, one of his professors at the Louisiana State Seminary. Boyd served in the Confederate Army but not as a general. He was, in fact, captured and paroled on the intervention of Sherman himself.
The states created the federal government. Fort Sumter was South Carolina’s and the federals refused to leave.
Thus showing that it was really stupid of the 5 million to think they could beat the 20 million to begin with.
And that reality led to howls for protection and succor from the dispossessed to all levels of the Confederate government. It also led to loss of morale in the Confederate forces as news of the march reached the soldiers on the front line, leading to increased desertion and AWOLs.
Some of the staunchest supporters of the Confederacy and for continuing the war came from the wives and daughters of the Confederacy, who believed what they were falsely being told about the ability of the Confederate government to successfully prosecute their aims for independence. They didn't realize how much their lives and welfare balanced on the knife's edge until they actually saw Union forces in their local area.
Many of Sherman’s most merciless soldiers on the march to the sea were Southerners from the Upper South. They did not want secession and war, but the Lower South and unscrupulous pro-slavery politicians had forced it upon them. I guess for many, the march was their way to get even. But Georgia was nothing like the payback they administered to South Carolina.
Sherman was a war criminal.
Fort Sumter was built on land deeded to the federal government free and clear by act of the South Carolina legislature. It did not belong to South Carolina in 1860.
The rest of the USA would be so lucky to lose that political anchor. There would be no war, instead jubilation.
What court decided that. Even Shelby Foote does not buy that crap.
The 4 million slaves were a force multiplier for the South. But still no match.
The only CSA forces were Wheeler’s cavalry and Ga state militia.
“Hardly”????
The truth can be hard to rebutt. Its not hard to pillage your way through 300 miles of women and children. You don’t need a supply line when you are eating the winter food supply of non combatants as you go. Oh and the slaves on those plantations were left free to starve along with everybody else. Yeh Sherman was a real hero. What a guy. LOL!
But were so misused, in both a tactical and strategic sense, by the Confederate government and armed forces that they played little or no role in most engagements.
If inducements of freedom had been offered (as General Cleburne and others had advocated), it's possible .. if not probable .. that sufficient rear-echelon and support forces could have been raised to help buttress the Confederate armies. To the extent that they were used primarily only as labor or construction masses was not even sufficient to justify any argument about them being a force multiplier.
November 1864 it was all but over. But usually the worst fighting comes at the very end (see Iwo Jima and Okinawa) and April 1865 was still a ways off.
More like a force multiplier for the North. The South spent the whole rebellion terrified at the possibility of slave revolts that didn't happen and devoted countless men to prevent them. Instead former slave made up the majority of the tens of thousands of black soldiers enlisted in the Union army and provided many tens of thousands more as laborers assisting in the Union war effort.
When dealing with Confederate supporters the truth can be hard to find, mixed in with the hyperbole and myth.
Its not hard to pillage your way through 300 miles of women and children.
Plus the old men and dogs. Don't forget them.
You don’t need a supply line when you are eating the winter food supply of non combatants as you go.
True. Sherman's army did eat well.
Oh and the slaves on those plantations were left free to starve along with everybody else.
How many people starved to death? Round numbers are fine as long as you provide a source.
Yeh Sherman was a real hero. What a guy. LOL!
He won. That seems to be your primary complaint about him.
There was zero slave rebellions and the blacks went with the troops every they wet. The built roads and fortifications. Almost all the smiths and furriers were black. They tended the farms and worked in factories. The excellent medical corp of the South was based on blacks doing most of the transportation work. You have it dead wrong. Again.
There were four infantry regiments from Missouri in Sherman’s Army. Two regiments of infantry came from New Jersey. The balance of the infantry in Sherman’s four Corps came from the Western States of the Union. Sherman’s headquarters regiment was the 1 Alabama Cavalry. All these men were Southerners and enlisted in the Union Army.
There were four infantry regiments from Missouri in Sherman’s Army. Two regiments of infantry came from New Jersey. The balance of the infantry in Sherman’s four Corps came from the Western States of the Union. Sherman’s headquarters regiment was the 1 Alabama Cavalry. All these men were Southerners and enlisted in the Union Army.
So we agree that Sherman was basically a cowardly opportunist who lacked any shred of moral integrity. :-)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.