Jefferson Davis had this as his virtue - he concentrated on the cockpit of the war, the one state the Confederacy absolutely could not lose (Virginia) and - given what he had - played out his hand as slowly as he could, both there and elsewhere.
Virginia was the most important Confederate state, but Longstreet's transfer west shows that Davis had put too many troops in Virginia. Lee was still capable of defending against the Army of the Potomac, while Longstreet and his troops were key to the Confederate victory at Chickamauga. Davis did not play his hand out slowly, he started the war by attacking Ft Sumter instead of delaying to buy time. Davis also approved of multiple invasions of Union territory instead of staying on the defense. While there were successful Confederate cavalry raids, their armies invasions of Union territory always failed, costing the Confederacy the greater casualties of the offense, boosting Union morale, and harming Confederate morale.
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