[wintertime]

But basically the South’s only chance was a kind of delaying action that might make the war weary Northern population give up.
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Yes, I have wondered about that. What if the South had never used the traditional warfare practices of the day, but, had waged a low simmering guerrilla war instead. They might have won and those in the North grew weary,

[DoodleDawg]

What if the South had never used the traditional warfare practices of the day, but, had waged a low simmering guerrilla war instead. They might have won and those in the North grew weary,

I live in Missouri which bore the brunt of 4-plus years of guerrilla warfare that devastated the border area and resulted in terrible suffering for the civilian population. There is no reason to believe that the same wouldn't have happened to the other Confederate states.

[driftless2]

Lee was asked to do that and responded by saying he didn’t want to be a bushwhacker the rest of his life. Certainly, the South could have used guerilla warfare. But to what end? I think both sides were pretty sick of the war after four years. And Southerners were affected a lot more adversely than Northerners. I think most other Southern officers, like Lee and Longstreet, knew that a prolonged guerilla war would only make things a lot worse and accepted the end.