Here's an exercise for all of us... and an opportunity for you to comment on this post if you still need to comment on the posts of others (I think we have to do three?)
Studying history books, you find page after page identifying moments that "could have changed the trajectory of history completely." ... So-called turning points. As I've flipped back through the pages of these books and identified and remembered things that I have found interesting and/or noteworthy, many of them are these "turning points" or "pivotal moments." The one I will identify now was during the crisis caused by the federal blockade and subsequent strained relations with Britain and France. What if Seward had acted as he usually did and brought the British into the war on behalf of the Confederacy? Not only would the U.S. have had one additional enemy to fight, we would also have lost our main source of saltpeter/gunpowder. Not a winning combination. Probably a recipe for defeat?
What turning points/pivotal moments have you identified in your study of the Civil War Era?
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I am just reviewing the first day at Gettysburg. What if Lee had followed the advice of Longstreet and backed off to find a better battlefield that they could have trenched and found cover? Perhaps if Lee had not felt sensitive about the comments about being a trench builder. One has to wonder how long the war would have continued without this horrific defeat of the South. Thanks for the chance to respond- very timely.
ReplyDeleteOK...I don't know what button I didn't push or maybe I just can't view my own response or something. Here we go again. Hope it doesn't show twice.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what would have happened if Lee had not been sensitive about the trenching he had done earlier in the war. What if he had followed Longstreet's advice and fell back to find a better battlefield? It was all kind of a question of pride and honor, I think. I wonder how much longer the war would have continued without this huge defeat of the South at Gettysburg. Again - thanks for the open invitation to respond.