Re: Big Nate, 5/16
- From: Antonio E. Gonzalez <AntEGM111@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 16:58:07 -0700
On Fri, 16 May 2008 22:17:59 GMT, aemeijers <aemeijers@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Mike Marshall wrote:
http://www.comics.com/comics/bignate/archive/bignate-20080516.htmlDisowned by his family, and considered a traitor to his <state>,
He would have been disowned by his family and considered a traitor
to his country, just like what happened to George H. Thomas.
-Mike
perhaps. IIRC, Lee didn't really want the job with CSA, and only turned
down the offer to lead the Union Army out of loyalty to his home state.
Different world back then- people considered themselves citizens of a
particular state, mostly, and only incidentally as citizens of the
<United> States. Some of the histories I have read (or watched) regard
that as one of the more significant effects of the civil war- it changed
a bunch of loosely allied states into a country, and started the power
shift from local to national level that didn't fully get realized until
80 years later with WWII.
Note that Lee <was> considered a traitor to his country of record, the
US, and to his long time employer, the US Army. The posthumous
presidential pardon and restoration of citizenship didn't occur until
the 1970s, IIRC.
Standard disclaimer- I'm no civil war buff or professional historian,
and may well have conflated data from schooling way back when and
repeated exposure to History channel. So please keep that in mind when
you start correcting me.
Well, the US Civil War was part of the course study that landed me
my History BA, yet THC has proven to be a pretty good supplement. A
recent two-hour program on Sherman's March gave me new respect for the
man, not only in the planning, but in the risk taken in the
operation.
William Tecumseh Sherman had already effectively delivered Lincoln
re-election with the huge victory that was the capture of Atlanta, but
now he wanted to do something that was more than symbolic, something
that would really strike a blow to the CSA.
"The March" was a risk in that it involved cutting his forces off
from the nealy limitless Union supply lines; it also meant they had
more freedom to go where they wanted, and would be harder to predict.
The actual route was along counties ranked as the most productive
agriculturally (at least according to govt. records), not only to
ensure his troops would be supplied, but as another way to inflict
maximum damage. After that, the tactic was simple: take what you need
(the soldiers had already packed very lightly), destroy the rest;
buildings and crops burned to the ground, animals shot, slaves freed.
Also critical was the destruction of railroads; food and materiel mean
nothing if they can't be delivered to the frontlines, or even to
people in cities. Skyrocketing food prices accross the south in the
final months were a testament to that.
Needless to say, the soldiers came to be feared, and outright
despised. The locals soon came to use tactics that would otherwise
have been unthinkable. For all the hardships they endured, the
horrors they saw and prepetrated, and as happy as they were to finally
reach Savannah, it must have been a surprise to be asked to do this
again. Of course, any reluctance faded away where they were shown a
map of their new scorched earth destination: South Carolina, heart of
the rebellion. The boys would have followed Uncle Billy anywhere, but
to turn the reason for all their woes into Hell on Earth they would
have followed the Devil himself! The March to Columbia may not have
gotten as much attention as its predecessor, but may have had a bigger
impact in the CSA's final decision to cry "Uncle" (Billy) than any
specific battle . . .
Point being, maybe the war would have ended earlier had Bobby Lee
sided with the Union, but he didn't, and Generals like Ulysses S.
Grant and Sherman became necessary . . .
--
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<http://reflex76.blogspot.com/>
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- References:
- Big Nate, 5/16
- From: Mike Marshall
- Re: Big Nate, 5/16
- From: aemeijers
- Big Nate, 5/16
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