[sine_nomine]

The South won while Stonewall Jackson was around. Once he was shot (mistakenly by his own men) the South began losing.

Certain things may have changed the outcome of the war, but the industrial North certainly had the edge over the South. It was a sad time for our country and bitterly divided people. The loss of life and limb was horrible.

What bothers me is the undying hatred some people have for Lincoln. I do not think he was a saint, but the diatribes against him do not strike me as fair or balanced. There seems to be a hate-Lincoln orthodoxy out there. Someone phoned me - a stranger - and began blaming all our current woes on Lincoln. Was I supposed to start cheering for John W. Booth?

[WhiskeyPapa]

The South won while Stonewall Jackson was around. Once he was shot (mistakenly by his own men) the South began losing.

The insurgents were losing while Jackson was alive.

Dr. Freehling, in "The South vs. The South" makes the point that the rebellion was doomed once MD, KY and MO were secured to the Union cause. Bruce Catton says the same thing. The slave states didn't have the industrial power oppose the north. And the slave states that had the most to offer the rebellion were early on secured to the Union, including most of Tennessee. Virginia was actually a side show to the main action in the west, and in the political realm.

Walt

[Radtechtravel]

A Calvinist minister succinctly put Jackson's impact on the Civil War in a dedication ceremony for the unveiling of a New Orleans memorial to the inimitable General in the late 1860s with this prayer: "O Lord, when thou, in Thy Infinite Wisdom and Sovereign Power, didst decree that the South must loose its war for independence, thou first hadst to take to Thyself Stonewall Jackson."

[SamAdams76]

Someone phoned me - a stranger - and began blaming all our current woes on Lincoln.

That is bizarre. I never had a phone call like that. I'd get my phone number unlisted or change it if I were you.

I think Lincoln was a good man but people put him on too high a pedestal. He did have flaws. But he meant to keep the Union together at all costs. I can't think of many other presidents who would have made the sacrifices necessary to keep it so. He turned out to be the right president at the right time.

[Non-Sequitur]

The South won while Stonewall Jackson was around. Once he was shot (mistakenly by his own men) the South began losing.

You need to qualify that slightly. The south won more frequently in the east while Jackson was around. The war in the west was marked by defeat after defeat for the confederate forces. But you are correct that once Jackson was killed, Lee never won again.

[JoeSchem]

Someone phoned me - a stranger - and began blaming all our current woes on Lincoln.

Certain libertarians are like that. See lewrockwell.com. The truth is that after the Civil War, the federal government shrank back to 1% of GNP. It was the coming of FDR -- elected with the support of the one-party segregationist South -- that led to the enormous and seemingly permanent escalation of government in this country.

[southern cross forever]

Lincoln started the war and is responceble for the death of over 600,000 Americans . That is why he is so hated , if he would have just let the first 7 states go in the begining none of that carnage would have happended and they might have come back into the union at a later date ,and we might not have the racial problems that we have now .