July 3 - Gettysburg. 144 years ago today.

The thing to consider about Gettysburg is that in military history terms, it was a accidental occurence. It was a chance encounter. The battle itself was originally held by the South as Lee and his subordinates came upon this town and wanted engagement but the actual goal was to destro the Union Army of the Potamac and march into Washington, a goal that almost happened BTW. te thing that stopped them was the thing that really hurt the Southern cause the most: Lack of men and firepower, the Union had both and the only thing that kept the Civil War going longer was Mclennan's inane battle tactics and strategy and somewhat incomeptence. He was a good motivator but damn it he didnt use that advantage. He sat on the army and to the point of getting Lincoln irritated and finally dumped him afterwards. The man who really cost the South the war was US Grant, that man was brutally efficent. He attacked and attacked Vicksburg like a demented animal until that thing fell on the day Gettysburg ended ironically. IMHO and Reb you can debate it with me, that battle's ending screwed the south's chances o even winning the war or even a stalemate. Because it cut the South in half, literally. The Mississippi belonged to the Union and with it cut off supply lines, food shipments, and after that the south was slowly being brought down to it knees. Gettysburg was a hard thing for the South, but I think Vicksburg is what did them in. And give credit to Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan, these were men or IRON, they had no ideals about conventional warfare, or the drewy chivalrous dreams composed of it, they wanted to bring it down violentlaly and with brutality never really seen in warfare before. I dont think even Napolean would have done the thign s these three men did in the South like burning Atlanta and the March to the SEa. If they did that in Iraq, the news media would scream bloody freakin murder about it all. These men believed war was dirty and should be handled accordingly.