Posted on 11/15/2017 6:05:25 AM PST by Bull Snipe
Major General William T. Sherman and four Corps of the Union Army departed the city of Atlanta and began what is known as the “March to the Sea”. General Sherman’s objective in few words was “to make Georgia howl.” To this end he was very successful. During the march across Georgia, Sherman’s army inflicted 100 million dollars’ worth of damage on the Confederate State. This included destruction of 300 miles of rail road, miles of telegraph wire, numerous bridges & trestles. His forces confiscated or destroyed 5,000 horses, 4,000 mules, 13,000 cattle, 9.5 million pounds of corn and 10.5 million pounds of fodder. One Union soldier, in his memoires of the march, said that it was the only time he ever gained weigh on a campaign. In a letter dated 24 Dec 1865 to Secretary of War Stanton; Sherman states “We are not only fighting armies, but a hostile people, and must make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war, as well as their organized armies. I know that this recent movement of mine through Georgia has had a wonderful effect in this respect. Thousands who had been deceived by their lying papers into the belief that we were being whipped all the time, realized the truth, and have no appetite for a repetition of the same experience.”
It is what we can see when we look at financial transactions of that era.
The South was employing 80% of the Northern fleet of ships in carrying their goods. New York was handling 200 million worth of export/import cargoes paid for by Southern money.
3/4ths of all the taxes being paid at that time, were being paid by the Southern states.
If you think the "Empire State" won't move to protect it's financial interests, then you don't know what is going on over in New York.
What they thought is that they would be allowed to live in peace without a necessity of fighting the 20 million. They didn't reckon with the greed of those power brokers who controlled those 20 million, and who would launch a war if that was the only way they could control the economy of the US and the Southern states.
As I recall, the relief ships for Fort Sumter were turned back because the South Carolina militia fired on THEM. That’s not exactly “attacking.”
I really don’t want to fight the Civil War all over again.
In the same way that Lee was a traitor...
Are you sure it wasn’t 96.4% of the Northern fleet of ships, six billion worth of export/imports, and 9/10ths of all taxes?
And then they went and started the war anyway. Like I said, really dumb of them.
There were Black confederate soldiers who fought, (and some for Nathan Bedford Forest) but most supporting roles of Blacks in the South were logistical support.
As you know, the South was mostly unwilling to use them as soldiers until the very end, I think.
Occupation of previously Federal installations had nothing to do with it. The Confederates were not occupying Ft. Sumter, Major Anderson was. Had Lincoln not sent those ships, Major Anderson had indicated he would have left the fort in another day or so.
Lincoln's act of sending those ships is what triggered the war. Even Anderson himself said so.
Thanks for the information. I did not know the land had been deeded to the federals for Fort Sumter.
A "relief" expedition does not constitute ranks of riflemen, and naval warships ordered to attack the Confederates. That they did not attack was immaterial. They had been ordered to do so, and so far as the Confederates believed, they would carry out those orders.
Just because a blow is thrown but does not land, doesn't mean it didn't happen. Lincoln threw the first blow. The Confederates landed the first blow.
I really don’t want to fight the Civil War all over again.
It never really finished. What we see today is the New York and Washington DC power blocks trying to retain control of their power in the Senate with their 11th hour attacks against Roy Moore. They are doing this because he represents a small threat to their hold on power, and so they are fighting back.
These people are effectively the "establishment" descendants of those who protected their power by launching the Civil War. New York and Washington DC have ruled the nation ever since, and people nowadays don't see that there is an "establishment" cartel intent on retaining power regardless of what the people want.
It is no accident that the national Media "news" outlets are controlled by people in New York.
Except they didn't. They asked politely for the Federal troops to leave the entrance to one of their major harbors, and the leadership refused to do so. When they became insistent that these people leave, Lincoln sent warships to attack them.
Lincoln set the nation on the path to war. The Confederates did what they were backed into doing.
Yeah they did.
They asked politely for the Federal troops to leave the entrance to one of their major harbors, and the leadership refused to do so.
Like I said, they started the war.
Lincoln set the nation on the path to war. The Confederates did what they were backed into doing.
So you keep saying. Too dumb to see through Lincoln's trap so they fell right into it. Does that sum up your position?
Some of the strongest Union men were Southerners fighting for Old Glory...something the regional bigots here dislike hearing about.
Fox’s orders were to resupply the fort with food only. If that was allowed to happen, then the ships and men were to return to New York. If the Confederate Officials resisted the effort to resupply Fort Sumter with food, then Fox was authorized to use the forces at his disposal to resupply the Fort. This is in line with the letter that he directed Seward sent to Governor Pickens of South Carolina on the 8th of April.
Believe the 5 or 6 black soldiers that fought with Forrest were his slaves. He had promised them their freedom if the stuck with him through the war.
No try to stay on the subject at hand not your three bluebelly grandfathers.
The subject at hand is the savage butcher/war criminal Sherman who waged a cowardly war against defenseless non combatants from the burning of Atlanta for 300 miles to the sea. There was nothing heroic about it. It took no bravery or particular strategy.
I’m sure the slaves on all those farms and plantations were chanting oh thank you massa Sherman for letting us all starve this winter.
The lies were about slavery. The War was about money. The Union could tolerate slavery indefinitely, but what they would never tolerate is the loss of all that slave money to the Northern Power brokers who wanted that war.
If the war was about slavery, they could have started fighting it in Maryland, because Maryland had slavery all throughout the war, yet the Union did nothing to stop it.
Like I said, the lies were about slavery. The War was about money.
Southern States did not pay one red cent in taxes to the Federal Government. The income to the Federal Government was through collection of tariffs on imported goods from overseas. No tax was collected on any items exported overseas.
I believe it was conditionally deeded, and the Federals did not comply with the conditions. Of course the South Carolina legislature did this twice, and I can't remember for sure if both legislative acts had the same requirements to maintain possession.
But this is immaterial. When the Colonies seceded, King George III still owned every square inch of the land. The Colonists argued that God's law gave them the right to become independent and keep the land that formerly belonged to the King.
If we accept the premise of our own nation's founding, we have to accept the same premise for the CSA.
Maryland did not fire on Federal Forts. Neither did Missouri, Kentucky, Delaware and the District of Columbia.
Your Marxist theory of the Civil War is interesting. You may want to read the Secession Ordnances from the first 7 states to leave the Union. Money matters and tariffs are seldom mentioned and Slavery is mentioned quite often.
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