And Jim Lovell didn't walk on the moon. No, and as "Apollo 13" is an excellent example of the movie story paradigm, he later says, "let's just try and get home." His goal changed.
I didn't see the end of G&G, but did Jackson ever say anything like, "I don't so much care about the outcome of the war, as I have done my duty," or "I've done God's will," or something like that? Did he say such in real life?
If he only said the goal was to drive out the Yankees, it's hard to make much positive out of that, because the Yankees were not driven out. Unless you love the USA, of course.
Things are a bit different when you have historical figures, but the rules of story telling are immutable. Remember in "Patton", Patton says, "All my life I've wanted to lead a lot of men in a desperate battle. Now I am going to do it."
And he did. And he continued to do that for the rest of the movie, and it was effective and "Patton" is a great movie. G&G is a poor movie.
You'd argue with a sign post.
Walt
He said something to the effect that, if the war was to result in the south's conquest, he did not desire to live to see it. This was said toward the end of the film. There were also several death bed utterances where he spoke of what needed to be done next - "take the war to their soil," or something to that effect.
You'd argue with a sign post.
And you behave as if you were one.