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Bif1961 -> RE: Intellectus Ex Nihilo (Wal-Mart on Ice) (6/13/2019 4:54:27 PM)
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It was not war—it was murder.” This comment, from the Confederate then-Major General Daniel Harvey Hill, was written more than 20 years after the battle of Malvern Hill. It is one of the more famous summaries of a battle to come out of the vast literature on the Civil War.
The American Battlefield Trust's last paragraph summary of the battle states; When the last explosive musket flashes died out after dark, some 8000 men lay dead and wounded across a few hundred gruesome acres. More than 5000 of that number wore gray, victims of one of the most ill-managed and uncoordinated major assaults of the entire Civil War. I think they disagrees with you on who won and was it an important battle on 1 July, 1862.
Antietam aka, Sharpsburg, were 23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing after twelve hours of savage combat on September 17, 1862. The Battle of Antietam ended the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia's first invasion into the North and led Abraham Lincoln to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Historians noted the Lincoln was eager to have a victory so he could go forward with the Emancipation Proclamation, which help change the reason for the Civil War from reuniting the Union to wiping out slavery. Several European nations Britain, France and Spain were on the verge of recognizing the Confederacy as an independent nation and if the invasion of the North, by Lee had been successful, that recognition would almost certainly been forthcoming. France and Britain would have offered to broker a peace and if the North had refused their overtures, they planned to intervene, with at least breaking the blockade so that cotton could flow freely to Europe and supplies into the Confederacy. By losing the close fought battle, and retreating back into VA this ended the threat and with Lincoln now secure enough to announce the the Emancipation Proclamation, which was signed into law in January, 1863, it force European nations to decide if we support the Confederacy now we are supporting slavery. Antietam had many far reaching consequences in the halls of the White House and Capitol Hill, Richmond and European Capitols. "The Cause of All Nations" Don H. Doyle copyright 2015.
Gettysburg 1-3 July, 1863 was the South's last best hope to win their independence by showing they could not only defend themselves but visit military operations and defeat Northern Armies in the heartland of the North. If he had won the doorway to the Federal Capitol was wide open and the upcoming elections, even if the North was able to hold DC, would have been dramatically affected. Lee was defeated and took the blame for the loss, as a good commander does, and the Army of VA retreated once again across the Potomac never to be a serious threat again, though Jubal early invaded in 1864 more to drawn troops away from Richmond-Petersburg and try to retain the Shenandoah Valley, the bread basket of the south.
I have visited each of these battlefields including the Shenandoah Valley battlefields at least once and Gettysburg 3 times. Reviewing history is much like my 24 year Army Intelligence career, if you have a room with 10 analysts then you have 11 opinions. My comments are not meant to be an affront to the laudable achievements of General Lee, who probably accomplish more with less than any other American general. It is simply to compare and contrast that during war, sides are not always equal and one side can handle more attrition then another and wear down their opponents over time. Captain Hara said for Japan to be successful they would have to sink 3 Allied vessels and their own ship would have to return safely.
However, I think we can disagree without being disagreeable.
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