Posted on 07/13/2012 2:14:55 PM PDT by BigReb555
It should be also noted that after the War Between the States, Bedford Forrest returned home with the 'free' black men who fought with him.
(Excerpt) Read more at canadafreepress.com ...
Of course it would have been absurd, but no more absurd than the idea of an unknown artillery officer gaining control of France, and then most of Europe. History is full of such absurdities. As a Yankee, I’m glad that Forrest’s qualities were not recognized until late in the war, and I shudder to think of what may have happened had it been otherwise.
I’m not one who believes that the two nations would have lived peacefully thereafter on the continent had the Confederacy succeeded in maintaining its independence. There is no evidence of it. I think much of Harry Turtledove’s alternate history has a lot of merit.
Don’t forget, Lee ordered infantgry charges against fortified positions on the high ground. He made all the same mistakes at Gettysburg that Burnside made at Fredericksburg, and, for once, Lee was not fighting a fool. Meade was a capable commander, maybe the first one that Lee ever encountered.
Now Professor, don't knock the Frogs so close to Bastille Day ... besides they did yeoman work in our Revolution at great expense to themselves. De Grasse was a fighting admiral, too. Unfortunately he had his cul handed to him later in the West Indies. My favorite revolutionary Divine Intervention was the mysterious ground fog that allowed the Americans to escape from Washington Heights!
In re Gettysburg ... you'll make it! Unfortunately, the town is a tourist trap and now there's an occult something or other going on with ghost tours, ghostbusters, apparitions reported,, etc. etc. So, maybe you're onto something!
While nowhere as pristine as Antietam, amazingly much of the battlefield remains as it was. I believe Lee's original plan was to fight a defensive battle ... Ewell wanted to base it at Cashtown ... he certainly wasn't 100% physically at the time. A.P. Hill spent an inordinate amount of time on sick leave and he was mighty touchy about the prerogatives of his command. Tactically brilliant, but perhaps not quite as much a collaborative commander as he might have been. BTW, I cannot tell you how valuable I find Jubal Early's memoirs. Not only a capable commander, he seems to be a dead reliable report writer who admits his own mistakes ... no self-aggrandizement and lots of detail.
If you are into the Revolution
Professor, it has always secretly worried me that had I been around, I might have been a Tory!
Have you ever read Destruction and Reconstruction by Richard Taylor? A great read!
Recently I saw a show in which they demonstrated that only about half the available command was in the actual assault. Based on reports of the day, it seems that many of Pickett's command slipped back when they were held up at the fence, which of course should have been sapped the night before. They based this on the number of casualties reported ... which should have been far greater if they had all attacked. A sad calculation indeed.
So it's all the more amazing that those who actually made the charge, made it to the Union lines. No matter what side one happens to favor, this was a tragedy.
Special interest.
I’ve been there. Looked down from Cemetery Ridge, and looked up from the field that the Rebs had to cross to get there.
Marse Robert faced his first competent general in Meade at Gettysburg, and didn’t fare well.
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