U.S. Civil War Took Bigger Toll Than Previously Estimated

Science Daily ^ | 11/21/2012 | Science Daily

[abishai]

There were over 23,000 casualties at the Battle of Shiloh, which will have been fought 150 years ago this Friday.

[boop]

I know hated Bill O'Reilly is, but "Killing Lincoln" is a terrific read. I had no idea of the behind the scenes problems that led directly to the South's loss.

In the end, it actually seems to have come down to starvation. Lee was "smarter" as a General than Grant, but Grant was able to cut off supplies so that Lee literally couldn't feed his men.

Game over after that.

[Jeff Chandler]

Grant was able to cut off supplies so that Lee literally couldn't feed his men.

The ancient Romans were well supplied with food which they brought in by ship and road. The armies they fought often scavenged the land. The Romans would gather up all the local crop output into their fortified positions and their opponents would begin to starve, which brought on illness, which brought on defeat.

Nothing new here.

[volunbeer]

Battles are won by soldiers.

Wars are won by logistics.

[U-238]

Good Point

[boop]

What really struck me by the book was how Lee KNEW what Grant was doing before Grant actually did it. Lee just couldn't fix the problem.

History is so fascinating. Grant was a sloppy lieutenant under Lee at one point well before the war. Lee "corrected" Grant. Grant never forgot his humiliation. Lee didn't remember the incident.

Revenge must have been sweet for Ulysses.

[BigCinBigD]

The second one will really be a bitch.

[U-238]

I still think that Lee was one of the best generals in Western history but lacked the resources the North had. He inspired his men to fight, they stuck with him, even when they were starving and barefoot,and even where there no hope of victory.

[Ken H]

From Wiki:

Based on 1860 census figures, about 8% of all white males aged 13 to 43 died in the war, including about 6% in the North and approximately 18% in the South,[43]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States#Civil_War

[U-238]

Thanks for the statistic. Just imagine losing 20 percent of the population in the South.Its staggering.

[Ken H]

The percentages in my previous post were based on the 620,000 figure.

[U-238]

The numbers are still staggering. That is a huge number. The loss took decades for the South to recover.

[boop]

Agree. Lee was a genius, who anticpated what the North would do. He just didn't have the resources. Gave me a whole new appreciation for what he COULD have done.

If he had the abilty, the Confederacy could have conceivably won.

But that's another argument for another day.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Liberals won’t be hard to defeat though. Their fighting tactics are limited to defecating on cop cars and breaking the window of a Starbucks.

[U-238]

If Judah Benjamin was able to convince the British and French to send troops to join the Confederacy, things would have been totally different. Lee might have taken the North

[abishai]

Reminds me of when John Bell Hood was trying to get in a short breakfast after counter-attacking Joe Hooker in the Antietam cornfield, and suffering horrible casualties doing so.

Shanks Evans asks him where all his men were.

Hood points toward the front, "Dead in the field."

[U-238]

Antietam was the bloodiest single day battle in American history .Over 23,000 casualities on both sides.More Americans died on September 17, 1862, than on any other day in the nation’s military.

[U-238]

McClellan deserved to be relived of his duties after the battle.

[fortheDeclaration]

Grant was a humble man who didn’t have a vengeful nature.