Right off the bat, I know that Gettysburg what-ifs are, well...
but just humor me for a moment.
Recently, I was reading Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage by Noah Andre Trudeau. In the book, he mentions something I did not know about beforehand, nor have seen mentioned on this board before.
The author talks about how General Lee, during the planning stages of his invasion of the North, wanted Confederate forces in the Carolinas and Georgia, under the command of General P.G.T. Beauregard, to consolidate and move north into Virginia.
General Lee's hope was that, in conjuction with his invasion of the North, General Beauregard's troops would keep the pressure on Washington. It was figured that General Beauregard's forces would not be able to take Washington, but present enough of a threat to split the Army of the Potomac.
However, no matter how hard General Lee pushed the issue with President Jefferson Davis, the Confederate government did not agree with General Lee's request. But suppose they had, and....
With a victorious Army of Northern Virginia in Pennsylvania, General Beauregard's troops south of Washington, the proposed draft, and despite a Federal victory at Vicksburg, the prospect of more years of war, could this have pushed the northern civillian population over the edge to demand peace?
but just humor me for a moment.
Recently, I was reading Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage by Noah Andre Trudeau. In the book, he mentions something I did not know about beforehand, nor have seen mentioned on this board before.
The author talks about how General Lee, during the planning stages of his invasion of the North, wanted Confederate forces in the Carolinas and Georgia, under the command of General P.G.T. Beauregard, to consolidate and move north into Virginia.
General Lee's hope was that, in conjuction with his invasion of the North, General Beauregard's troops would keep the pressure on Washington. It was figured that General Beauregard's forces would not be able to take Washington, but present enough of a threat to split the Army of the Potomac.
However, no matter how hard General Lee pushed the issue with President Jefferson Davis, the Confederate government did not agree with General Lee's request. But suppose they had, and....
With a victorious Army of Northern Virginia in Pennsylvania, General Beauregard's troops south of Washington, the proposed draft, and despite a Federal victory at Vicksburg, the prospect of more years of war, could this have pushed the northern civillian population over the edge to demand peace?