We rode home on trains. Y’all walked with what we let you carry.
I don’t think we “barely” DC. New York, DC, Philadelphia, Chicago...were all unscathed. Not hardly a scratch. Richmond, Atlanta, Chattanooga, Vicksburg, Petersburg,...all ruins.
I hate to think what it would have looked like if you had gotten your asses kicked.
Who is this "Y'all"? My family was in Europe when all this happened. We didn't have a dog in that fight.
I don’t think we “barely” DC. New York, DC, Philadelphia, Chicago...were all unscathed. Not hardly a scratch. Richmond, Atlanta, Chattanooga, Vicksburg, Petersburg,...all ruins.
Since the vast majority of the battles were fought in the territory of the defenders, and not in the territory of the invaders, it seems natural that the destruction would occur in the areas where the battles were fought.
Yes, later on in the war, after it was no longer possible to hold them back, the Union forces did quite a lot of wanton destruction to the civilian populations and their property. Again, 4-1 odds gives one side a lot of advantage in that regard, but with just a few things turning out different, the overall outcome might have changed drastically.
The loss of Special Order 191 was a disaster for the South. The death of Stonewall Jackson was another. There are quite a few pivotal points in which their luck just went the wrong way.
Bad luck is one thing when you have four times the population and can afford setbacks. It's another thing when you have only 1/4th the population to sustain you. The facts seem clear that in a roughly equal fight, the South would have beaten the Union quite handily.