GDG- Lost Cause and Inevitibility

[ATMackeyJr at aol.com]

The many advantages the confederacy had.  Their huge amount of  territory 
had to be conquered and held, which means siphoning off troop strength  for 
garrisoning areas, thus negating the manpower advantage the Federals  had.  
They had a tremendous advantage in leadership at the beginning  of the war.  
They had interior lines, which meant they could reinforce  areas faster than 
the Federals could move troops to reinforce points, a further  negation of 
the manpower advantage the Federals had.  What could they have  done if Lee 
hadn't lost so much manpower in fruitless attacks such as Malvern  Hill?  
And the Federals retaining the will to fight is not a given.
 
Best Regards,
Al Mackey
 
 
In a message dated 1/22/2012 5:15:24 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
georgeconnell at mac.com writes:

Esteemed  GDG Member Contributes:
I have long been bothered by the belief that anyone  who maintains that the 
South's defeat was inevitable as long as the Union  retained the will to 
fight is a  "Lost Causer!"

I think this is an  utterly realistic assessment of the 'correlation of 
forces' and a great  example of why the South was nuts to risk war.

What am I not  getting?

George
26ª11'56"N   81ª48'19W"
Which is about  as far south as one can  get
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