Four long bloody years and 350,000 lives of their own to conquer a people you dismiss as weak and disorganized.
The record speaks for itself, Walt, and if what you purport is true, that's pretty darn embarrassing for the yankees.
It wasn't me who said that secession was a flight from reality. It was Bruce Catton.
Walt
The standard of military leadership was none to high on either side. Grant, Sherman and Sheridan made an unbeateable combination, but they came on the scene late. Lee gets a good press although he was content to fight a war of attritiion --- the one thing he couln't afford to do.
Lincoln's handling of the political side was much better although he made some mistakes too. J. Davis was pretty much a flop.
You discount the fact, and it's been posted a number of times, that observers in Europe thought there was no chance of subduing the south at all. They held this opinion, many of them, right into 1865.
Walt