I'd give this singular post a dozen 'Likes' if I could. (Can I?)
One of my favorite books is 'Our Man in Charleston', recounting the bizarre assignment of a British diplomat to South Carolina. A total diplomat and dedicated abolitionist, he was London's Deep Throat in the heart of the Confederacy. KML is happily Our Man in Boston!
Throughout my life, I've overly focused on the singular battle of Gettysburg - I was born and raised two counties away. (My first trip was as a Cub Scout, wearing a blue and gold uni.) Recently studying Lee's invasion of MD/PA, I learned Davis approved the effort on the hope that capturing the PA capital, Harrisburg, would push the British, French, and other Europeans to intervene, and force a peace conference aiming to grant their diplomatic recognition.
It was easily possible, even if Ewell was (image: Lloyd Bentsen debating Dan Quayle as VP candidates), no Stonewall Jackson.
I realized that two ANV divisions (n.b.: they were Jackson's "foot cavalry") plus a cavalry brigade were plenty enough to not just do this. Ewell or Jackson had easy roads to capture Harrisburg, then Philly and Wilmington (DE). Severing, or nearly so, everything southwest of the PA-NJ state line would cut Lincoln off from his nation, just long enough to get European support. (Probably NYC bankers, too.)
These accomplishments could trigger Northern governors, Copperheads, draft-opponents, and Nervous Nellies to set up a provisional government under, say, Buchanan (that enslavement-enabler had retired to his estate in suburban Harrisburg!) or even George McClellan who'd let his ego and his contempt for 'The Original Gorilla' step in as a peacemaker or worse.
Bowdler, an apparent Nervous Nelly, may have inflated and conflated, but he seems typical of the panic people in the North felt across a wide spectrum. I had not thought to associate the activities he cited with the targeted invasion to decapitate the government.
Now, this Nervous Nelly has to return to worrying that a felonious muskrat is stealing the family civil service retirement and our Social Security, undermining our Medicare....
This has nothing to do with this particular post. I'm just wondering how, if at all, one can see recordings of live video after it is done. I am seldom available to watch when it's live. But when I try to click through, it isn't enabled and goes nowhere. Am I missing something?
Unfortunately, they are not accessible unless I post them to the newsletter and I don't want to clutter it with live posts that are largely unrehearsed and casual. Sorry about that.
After the defeat at Gettysburg and the fall of Vicksburg, I cannot understand why Jefferson Davis and his failed administration, sue for peace and end this terrible war.
I think the failure of US General Meade to stop Lee’s army from escaping across the Potomac may have give Davis et.al. hope that they could still win. I’m not a scholar of Gettysburg, but I do believe the war could have ended so much sooner if Meade had followed through.
I suggest reading Kent Masterson Brown’s book, Meade at Gettysburg: A Study in Command. Let’s just say that a number of factors played into Meade’s failure to destroy Lee’s army.
Personal opinion: Jeff proved himself a terrible judge of character, strategy, bureaucracy, etc., despite a strong prewar political record (US Senator, SecWar). In 1861 he only wanted to lead an army in the field but got saddled with the top job. (He'd have been bad as a field general, too.)
Most of all, he was a bad diplomat, bad judge of diplomatic character, and of diplomatic strategy. Top example: he hoped for British diplomatic recognition. (French, too, but he may have realized Napoleon III tended to follow the Brits, exception, using Mexican debts to invade, and displace Juarez with his puppet.) Brits were never going to recognize a slave state. Decades of Southern "filibusters" were failing to spread their version of slavery into the Mexican Cession, Caribbean, and Central America.
The persistence of the CSA wasn't all Jeff's fault. He had plenty of help from the CSA Congress, hotheads at the state level, etc. They had all put their luxurious lifestyle and pseudo-philosophy of racial entitlement at risk. Like buying lottery tickets with the rent money.
They weren't the worst of it: their followers re-infected their descendants (and so on and so on) with the same delusions.
I think the first thing we need to acknowledge was that Confederate defeat was not inevitable following the defeat of Lee at Gettysburg and Grant's victory at Gettysburg. Though bloodied, Lee's army remained intact and still posed a significant threat though he certainly found it difficult to engage in the same type of offensive operations.
Enthusiasm for war in the United States was questionable, even as people celebrated these victories.
In short, the outcome of the war was still very much in question.
I'd give this singular post a dozen 'Likes' if I could. (Can I?)
One of my favorite books is 'Our Man in Charleston', recounting the bizarre assignment of a British diplomat to South Carolina. A total diplomat and dedicated abolitionist, he was London's Deep Throat in the heart of the Confederacy. KML is happily Our Man in Boston!
Throughout my life, I've overly focused on the singular battle of Gettysburg - I was born and raised two counties away. (My first trip was as a Cub Scout, wearing a blue and gold uni.) Recently studying Lee's invasion of MD/PA, I learned Davis approved the effort on the hope that capturing the PA capital, Harrisburg, would push the British, French, and other Europeans to intervene, and force a peace conference aiming to grant their diplomatic recognition.
It was easily possible, even if Ewell was (image: Lloyd Bentsen debating Dan Quayle as VP candidates), no Stonewall Jackson.
I realized that two ANV divisions (n.b.: they were Jackson's "foot cavalry") plus a cavalry brigade were plenty enough to not just do this. Ewell or Jackson had easy roads to capture Harrisburg, then Philly and Wilmington (DE). Severing, or nearly so, everything southwest of the PA-NJ state line would cut Lincoln off from his nation, just long enough to get European support. (Probably NYC bankers, too.)
These accomplishments could trigger Northern governors, Copperheads, draft-opponents, and Nervous Nellies to set up a provisional government under, say, Buchanan (that enslavement-enabler had retired to his estate in suburban Harrisburg!) or even George McClellan who'd let his ego and his contempt for 'The Original Gorilla' step in as a peacemaker or worse.
Bowdler, an apparent Nervous Nelly, may have inflated and conflated, but he seems typical of the panic people in the North felt across a wide spectrum. I had not thought to associate the activities he cited with the targeted invasion to decapitate the government.
Now, this Nervous Nelly has to return to worrying that a felonious muskrat is stealing the family civil service retirement and our Social Security, undermining our Medicare....
I just love this comment, Norm, and I especially appreciate how you brought it all around to the present at the end. Well done. :-)
This has nothing to do with this particular post. I'm just wondering how, if at all, one can see recordings of live video after it is done. I am seldom available to watch when it's live. But when I try to click through, it isn't enabled and goes nowhere. Am I missing something?
Unfortunately, they are not accessible unless I post them to the newsletter and I don't want to clutter it with live posts that are largely unrehearsed and casual. Sorry about that.
After the defeat at Gettysburg and the fall of Vicksburg, I cannot understand why Jefferson Davis and his failed administration, sue for peace and end this terrible war.
I think the failure of US General Meade to stop Lee’s army from escaping across the Potomac may have give Davis et.al. hope that they could still win. I’m not a scholar of Gettysburg, but I do believe the war could have ended so much sooner if Meade had followed through.
I suggest reading Kent Masterson Brown’s book, Meade at Gettysburg: A Study in Command. Let’s just say that a number of factors played into Meade’s failure to destroy Lee’s army.
Personal opinion: Jeff proved himself a terrible judge of character, strategy, bureaucracy, etc., despite a strong prewar political record (US Senator, SecWar). In 1861 he only wanted to lead an army in the field but got saddled with the top job. (He'd have been bad as a field general, too.)
Most of all, he was a bad diplomat, bad judge of diplomatic character, and of diplomatic strategy. Top example: he hoped for British diplomatic recognition. (French, too, but he may have realized Napoleon III tended to follow the Brits, exception, using Mexican debts to invade, and displace Juarez with his puppet.) Brits were never going to recognize a slave state. Decades of Southern "filibusters" were failing to spread their version of slavery into the Mexican Cession, Caribbean, and Central America.
The persistence of the CSA wasn't all Jeff's fault. He had plenty of help from the CSA Congress, hotheads at the state level, etc. They had all put their luxurious lifestyle and pseudo-philosophy of racial entitlement at risk. Like buying lottery tickets with the rent money.
They weren't the worst of it: their followers re-infected their descendants (and so on and so on) with the same delusions.
He didn't sue for peace after Appomattox.
Good point. Thanks, Ken.
I think the first thing we need to acknowledge was that Confederate defeat was not inevitable following the defeat of Lee at Gettysburg and Grant's victory at Gettysburg. Though bloodied, Lee's army remained intact and still posed a significant threat though he certainly found it difficult to engage in the same type of offensive operations.
Enthusiasm for war in the United States was questionable, even as people celebrated these victories.
In short, the outcome of the war was still very much in question.