badbobby Loc: texas

Robert E.Lee--commanded the Army of Northern Virginia.
Lee was considered the most successful Confederate General
Born--Jan.19,1807
Died--Oct.,2,1870
Famous quote"It is well that this war is so terrible,otherwise We would grow too fond of it"



Ulysses S.Grant--18th President of the United States
As Commanding General,Grant led the Union forces to victory over the Confederacy
Born--April,27,1822
Died--July,23,1885
Famous quote
"As a soldier,I have no fondness for war,and I have never advocated it,except as a means of peace"



William Tecumseh Sherman--General of the Union.
Led his troops at the Battle of Bull Run
Born--Feb,8.1820
Died--Feb,14, 1881
Famous quote--War is cruelty,there is no use trying to reform it.The crueler it is,the sooner it will be over"


Tomas Jonathan(Stonewall)Jackson--General of The Confederacy
Born Jan.21,1824
Died--May,10,1862
General in the Civil War and the U.S.Mexico War
Famous quote--"The patriot volunteer,fighting for his country and his rights,makes the most reliable soldier on earth"




Pierre Gustave Beauregard
General of the Confederacy
Born--May,28,1818
Died--Feb.20,1893
Beauregard was promoted up the ranks of the Confederacy,by using his family connections,which displeased his peers



George Henry Thomas--General of the Union
Born July,21,1816
Died--March,28,1870
Greatest Cavalryman of the Civil War
Allegedly permitted the massacre at Ft Pillow,and was associated with the Klu Klux Klan after the war
Controversy surrounded his degree of responsibility at the Battle of Ft,Pillow,where nearly 300 blacks were slaughtered



George Armstrong Custer---Union Maj.General
Born Dec.5,1837
Died June,25,1876
Custer was better known for his exploits after the war than during.His success was due in large part to his bravery and audacity.
Described as aggressive,reckless,gallant,and fool hardy,he became one of the most celebrated and controversial figures of the Union Army,
Custer and his command,including both his brothers, perished at the Battle of Big Horn
A total loss of 266 officers and men

saltwind 78 Loc: Murrells Inlet, South Carolina

I would add General Longstreet and many others.

Loki Loc: Georgia

Absolutely.Longstreet was formidable, and to the best of my knowledge, won every fight in which he had command.
Let us not forget Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, commanding the 20th Maine whose defense of Little Round Top was so crucial to the Union victory at Gettysburg. While the attacking Confederates suffered about 50% casualties attacking his position, the 20th ended up taking almost 70% casualties in the successful defense.
We should also remember General Ewell, the Confederate commander whose refusal to occupy Little Round Top when it was almost completely undefended was, in the final analysis, the reason the Confederates lost Gettysburg. Had Ewell not frozen, the Confederates would have controlled the battlefield and the Union would have had to either make a suicidal assault or withdraw.

badbobby Loc: texas

you are of course correct
I did not include every general
just ran into this bit about the Civil War
and thought it might interest a few OPPers
thank you both for the additions

Loki Loc: Georgia

Don't forget Jefferson Davis: With his insistence on trying to micromanage military operations hundreds of miles away in a time of uncertain communication, he became one of the Union's most effective generals.

pftspd

My thanks, seriously, to badbobby and Loki for this!! One of the MOST accurate depictions of REAL HISTORY I've seen for a long time. Also, please.. I hear the war CONSTANTLY called "The Civil War", and long time ago I was taught that it was NOT a Civil War, for a Civil War is when one faction of a government attempt to, or succeeds in overthrowing another faction of that govt. In this way it was that the South succeeded from the Union, and so THIS was not a "Civil War" BUT.. a war between the States. Please, badboby, Loki.. advise. Not kidding. I am in no way, no fashion whatever, as versed as the two you AND this question looms in my mind. I thank you in advance for your input, your help to me!! Also, I at that time remember that a reason for this war being called a "Civil War" was because the U.S. most generally searches for and claims some "humanitarian" cause or "justification" for many wars in which our country has engaged. Please, badbobby and Loki.. I really AM sincere in asking; your knowledge dwarfs mine for this era and the events and such as you have made manifest here. Again, I sincerely thank you both.

badbobby Loc: texas

thanks pft
my knowledge is no more than yours
Just a bit I came across and thought it might interest a few
I'. glad it interested you

Loki Loc: Georgia

I prefer to call it by the more accurate name....."The War of Northern Aggression." The sobriquet of "Civil War" is so ignorant Liberals won't get confused.
The fact is that in 1861, there was NO LAW that prohibited secession; and three of the original thirteen states, those being New York, Rhode Island and Virginia, reserved the right of secession as a condition of their ratification of the Constitution. Remember the Tenth Amendment? Reserved Powers.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
The South had every right to secede. Constitutionally and legally, the North did not have a leg to stand on, except greed for the tariffs levied on the South that provided around 3/4 of the Federal Government's operating money.
In all fairness, there was a real fear in the North that the South would once again become, if not a part of England, then a staunch ally. At the time of the War, England was still mistrusted, due to the fact that it had not been that long since the War of 1812, and England was a huge trading partner with the South, which often found it cheaper to buy English goods than to pay the outrageous tariffs on goods manufactured in the US.

Blade_Runner Loc: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

In 1850, President Zachary Taylor donated four 6 pounder smooth bore cannons to the Virginia Military Institute. Known officially as the "Cadet Battery", Episcopal rector Col. William Nelson Pendleton and the seminary students christened the cannons "The Four Apostles, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John". Before the war, Major Thomas Jackson was an artillery instructor at Virginia Military Institute, and for 10 years he instructed cadets in artillery tactics with these guns. At the start of the war, The Four Apostles were turned over to the 1st Rockbridge Artillery under the command of Col. Pendleton.

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John saw their first action on July 2, 1861, in a small skirmish at Falling Waters. They were in action in the First Battle of Bull Run. (1st Manassas), and were heavily engaged in Jackson's famous spring 1862 Shenandoah Valley campaign. On May 14, 1863, the guns fired every half hour as a memorial tribute to their old commander, Thomas Jackson. Later the Four Apostles were replaced with heavier artillery pieces.

After the war the Four Apostles were returned to VMI, and the cadets continued to train on them until they were retired in 1913. The Four Apostles were placed at the foot of the Jackson monument on the parade ground at VMI where they can still be seen today.

Loki Loc: Georgia

I was not aware of the skirmish at Falling Waters. I thought the first action they were in was Manassas.

Homestead

Lincoln addressed secession in his speeches. He never denied that the states had the right to secede.

But, he pointed out that what the South was doing was not secession.

There were issues that the South never addressed. The whole country paid for the Florida territory that greatly expanded the South. So the South intended to take the property for itself? Then tell the rest of the country to screw. Whatever monies they contributed to it paying paid for it was forfeited?

There were a number of federal forts along the eastern coast line, set up for the defence of the entire country.
These defences were paid for by everybody, did the South just intend to keep them for themselves and stick the rest of the country with the bill, for a facility they're taking over for themselves?

While they were a part of the union, they had the right to vote on foreign treatise and spend taxpayer money on any number of public pieces of infrastructure, some in the South, some in the North.

Was it their intention to force the country to spend monies on projects they favoured and then screw, leaving the rest of the country to pay for items they supported?

As Lincoln pointed out, in any contract there is only two ways to break it.

One is by mutual agreement and negotiation. There had to be an accounting of monies spent!

The other is by breach of contract.

Lincoln maintained that there was no breach of contract by the federal government.

The South was in breach of the contract (Constitution) when it opened fire on the fort.

That became an open rebellion, as they tried to break the contract by force.

The South maintained that it had states rights and those rights included the enslaving of another human being and expanding that institution where it was not now present.

Lincoln's response was that, "You cannot claim a moral right, to do a moral wrong!"

Under our Constitutional Republic, the government is not all powerful, it has limits.

badbobby Loc: texas

very nice info Blade
thanks

badbobby Loc: texas

thanks for your input Homestead

Loki Loc: Georgia

******

There were issues that the South never addressed. The whole country paid for the Florida territory that greatly expanded the South. So the South intended to take the property for itself and tell the rest of the country to screw. Whatever monies they paid for it was lost?

There were a number of federal forts along the eastern coast line, set up for the defence of the entire country.
These defences were paid for by everybody, did the South just intend to keep them for themselves and stick the rest of the country with the bill for a facility they're taking over for themselves?

You are missing a couple of points. Those forts were paid for with tax monies, from tariffs. 75% or more of those tariffs came from Southern states. The free population of the US at the time was about 27.5 million. Only 5.5 million lived in the seceding states, yet they provided most of the money for these forts.
The South didn't stick anyone with a bill. They had already paid far more than their share, given their percentage of the population.

****
While they were a part of the union, they had the right to vote on foreign treatise and spend taxpayer money on any number of public pieces of infrastructure, some in the South, some in the North.
The South was outvoted consistently by the Northeastern industrial states, especially in the House. The taxpayer money on infrastructure was spent almost entirely in the North. The South, although they provided most of the money, got damn little in return.

******
Was it their intention to force the country to spend monies on projects they favoured and then screw, leaving the rest of the country to pay for items they supported?
No, it was not their intention, it was to stop spending money on projects that benefited the Northeastern industrial states almost exclusively.

******


As Lincoln pointed out, in any contract there is only two ways to break it.
One is by mutual agreement and negotiation. There had to be an accounting of monies spent!
The other is by breach of contract.

An accounting of monies spent? That was the problem. I'd say when the majority of the population gets most of it's money from the minority and spends that money on projects that have little or no benefit for the minority, that would constitute a breach of contract.
The North breached the contract repeatedly by voting against Southern interests and appropriating monies provided mostly by the cotton states for their own infrastructure projects.
The South was less interested in expanding slavery than in preventing an even more lopsided voting bloc.
Lincoln stated more than once that his main concern was the preservation of the Union. The status quo, in which the South paid for the North.
Concerning slavery, there were about 400,000 slaves in the border states that sided with the North. Nothing was said about freeing them until after the war had been concluded. Lincoln supported a plan to repatriate vast numbers of slaves back to Africa. How he planned to do this is a mystery.

Lincoln's clever legalese arguments ignored the fact that it was mostly the Northeastern states that were in violation of the contract, by virtue of the way that monies were appropriated.

Blade_Runner Loc: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

My pleasure. bobby.

Military history is one of my favorite subjects. From all I've read on the Civil War, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was General Lee's most treasured commander. Military historians consider Jackson as the most gifted tactician of the entire war. He had a very unique command style that Lee trusted implicitly. Stonewall was quite secretive with his plans for action, never apprising his subordinates of his intentions until the last minute. Lee would merely tell Jackson what he wanted done and left the execution entirely in his hands.

His most famous action was his aggressive flanking maneuver to the right of the Union lines at Chancellorsville. Under Lee's orders Jackson took his entire Corps around the Union right flank and this flanking movement would be one of the most successful and dramatic of the war. This attack caught the Union troops completely by surprise and by late afternoon Hooker's army was routed. Unfortunately, after dark, as Jackson and his mounted officers were returning to camp, he was shot three times and mortally wounded by a volley from the 18th North Carolina Infantry. The pickets disregarded his officer's frantic attempts to identify themselves and fired a second volley. Several of Jackson's staff officers were killed. He lost his left arm and died of Pneumonia 8 days later.

General Lee was devastated. He always felt that had Jackson been with him at Gettysburg, the battle may have turned out quite differently.

Side note: Jackson was quite concerned about his health and so was fond of raw fruits and vegetables. During the war, he ate whatever was available including on occasion a raw lemon, rind and all. His favorite was peaches.