GDG- Lost Cause and Inevitability

[CWMHTours at aol.com]

Oh-
 
Was about to say "Agreed".
 
But then I saw your complement...
 
THNX....
 
I am home today.
 
When I can I buy you a bowl of chili in DC?  John Grim  will come by.
 
I am considering changing my sign-off to "A neo-anti  unionist".  I love 
that phrase.
 
We have such geniuses in the GDG...
 
"Just  the facts, ma'am." 

Your Most Obediant Servant
Peter  

 
In a message dated 1/23/2012 4:34:08 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
general.jackson at yahoo.com writes:

Esteemed  GDG Member Contributes:
From: "CWMHTours at aol.com"  <CWMHTours at aol.com>
To: gettysburg at arthes.com 
Sent: Monday,  January 23, 2012 4:07 PM
Subject: Re: GDG- Lost Cause and  Inevitability

Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:
"Failure of will of  will in the South".

The concept is good, Jack, but in light of the  situation in  winter '65 
wouldn't you say that it was obvious to  everyone in the South, except  for 
Jeff 
Davis who had flies in  his eyes, that the war was lost?

At some point, regardless of the  strength of your will to  fight, after 
taking some bruising you  eventually have to admit that you just  can't win 
in 
the face of  the odds.

"Will to fight" had nothing to do with it in the South at  the  end of the 
war.  
By that time staying in the  fight for Southernors was almost a  matter  of 
suicide.

Hence the high level of desertion in  Richmond/Petersburg, some  200 a day?

Circa/post Appomattox, the  South DID have options.  There  was serious 
consideration  to just taking Johnston's and Lee's armies into the   
Appalachians 
and beginning a REALLY BIG guerilla war.  Which  easily could  have been 
done 
and was quite a concern to the  Union high command.

Jay Winik in his EXCELLENT book (Look! I am  praising a  book for a change) 
 
"April 1865" Jay goes into  the issues rather  well.  Loved his book and he 
is a  speaker not to be missed.  A nice  man.  Professor at U. Md in  
College 
Park.

To risk a HOOK(!) in jumping to the modern times  George W.  Bush read his 
book, passed it onto his staff, and  invited Jay to dinner at the  White 
House 
where he proceeded to  pump his brain for  perspective on  
insurgent/guerilla 
warfare. 

Will to fight...  You  could enter a boxing ring to box  with Michael Tyson 
(THNX  George) with the hughest-ever will-to-fight and once he  beats  the 
crap out of you and you are lying on the canvas barely alive you  can  
still 
have the will to fight.  Won't do you much  good,  tho. 

"Just  the facts, ma'am." 

Your  Most Obediant  Servant
Peter   

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Peter,

The North just out willed the South is all..........:)  They didn't need  
an army they had Lincoln. :)
As it's been said many times " As long as  Lincoln was president the South 
could not win" 

By the way Peter  very good response.

Respectfully,

William Richardson
Mount Gilead, North  Carolina

" The direct cause of the outbreak of the War Between The  States was 
slavery; the direct object of the prosecution of the war was the  preservation of 
the Union.  "
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