Posted on 08/04/2010 5:34:10 AM PDT by SJackson
Lincoln issued the first Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, 18 months after the war started. The US had just defeated Lee's attempted invasion at Antietam and the blockade was in full swing. In the west, New Orleans had fallen, Grant had already occupied Memphis, had troops in Mississippi and was about to begin the Vicksburg campaign. Now, in what sense were they losing?
Yes, there were drafts on both sides with the south commencing in 1862 and the north in 1863.
No idea. It is a bastardizations of Proverbs 1:7
The south instituted conscription first and a higher percentage of southern soldiers were draftees than US soldiers.
Wasn't it Sherman who (ironically despite his middle name) said "the only good Indian is a dead Indian?"
No, that was Sheridan.
I stand corrected and apologize for the error.
Yeah because being a slave is awesome. Gotcha.
I am sure you feel the same way about the south in 2010. Arrogant SOB you are.
Lincoln was running out of Irishmen to send to the slaughter so he emancipated a new batch of fresh meat.
Both sides had access to rapid fire weapons, neither side used them.
And, as usual, you would be wrong. Even the simple-minded (like you) can see that the south has strong industry now and that the north - especially the northeast - is in decline.
But it wasn’t that way 145 years ago. As much as I rue the possibility of the Union breaking up, I wonder what might have happened if the south had built up industry and self-sustainability and then properly sued for secession. In this way Vigilanteman’s premise of a partnered ally would be valid.
Would we could relive them. There are a couple of Mass senators in line for a drubbing even as we speak.
Like I said, powerfully ignorant. You were a virtual slave when you were a child. Other people told you what you had to do, and what you could not do. If you disobeyed you were punished. But somehow kids find a way to be happy, make their own friends, etc.
My guess is that a third of the world's population, given the opportunity, would trade their current existence for that of a slave at Monticello.
I guess you can live in your imaginary world if you wish, but you might have a look at Fremantle's Three Months in the Southern States. Don't know who Fremantle was? That's because you never went beyond the cr@p we were all taught in high school.
ML/NJ
Thanks for your post. And I would like to add that Big Cotton was making a fortune. There was no need for slave labor.
You know you may be right, a country that had no Army or Navy or National Govt at all, built an industrial infrastructure up from nothing held off the entire Union Army for four years. Either the North was TOTALLY incompetent or you are full of Sherman.
When I first read your post that Sherman and Johnston negotiated a truce, I couldn't believe it, thinking that it was Grant and Lee who did it at Appomattox Court House.
But I looked to try to check it out in an old book, The Story of the Confederacy originally written in 1926 by Robert Selph Henry, I was surprised to find that you were correct. Sherman and Johnson did meet and talk in North Carolina, near Durham's Station. That was a week after Appomattox, and after both had gotten word of Lee's surrender to Grant. By then, they had both known as well that Lincoln was assassinated.
Wonder why it took so long for Johnston to surrender and why Sherman took it upon himself to enter into a detailed agreement with Johnston without authority from Washington (DC, that is).
Incidentally, the mobile Confederate "government" - or what was left of it - approved of the terms of the Sherman-Johnston pact. No mention in the book, though, about its terms regarding slavery.
If the North was not trying to end slavery why would the south need to secede to preserve it?
The build-up of infrastructure didn’t occur until after the Civil War. During the war the south ate itself alive.
As for heroism and incompetence, there was plenty to spare an both sides.
By 1860, the Tredegar Iron Works was the largest of its kind in the South, a fact that played a significant role in the decision to relocate the capital of the Confederacy from Montgomery, Alabama to Richmond in May 1861.[10]Tredegar supplied high-quality munitions to the South during the war. The company also manufactured railroad steam locomotives in the same period.
* Tredegar Iron Works made the iron plating for the first Confederate ironclad warship, the CSS Virginia which fought in the historic Battle of Hampton Roads in March 1862.
* Tredegar is also credited with the production of approximately 1,100 artillery pieces during the war which was about half of the South's total domestic production of artillery between the war years of 1861-1865.
* Tredegar also produced a giant rail-mounted siege cannon during the conflict.
The production of iron for ships was very quickly understood to be one of the keys to naval victory in the Civil War, and Alabama was among the most important producers of iron in the South. Indeed, Alabama contributed more iron ore than any other Confederate state and by the end of the war was also producing more coal (which is essential in producing iron from ore) than any other state. Iron was used in naval ships in a variety of ways, including in the creation of fasteners such as nails, bolts, and nuts; in weapons such as heavy iron cannons, cannonballs, and shells; for rams used to sink enemy ships; and for engines, chains, and anchors.
The state was home to four of the 39 iron furnaces in the Confederacy in 1860, and an additional 13 furnaces were built before the end of the war in 1865. Among the best-known manufacturers were the Bibb Iron Company, which was owned by the Confederate government, and the privately owned Shelby Ironworks, Cane Creek Iron works, and Brierfield Furnace. All but one of Alabama's strategically significant iron furnaces were destroyed during the war; Hale & Murdock Ironworks in Lamar County escaped detection.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.