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Showing posts with the label Robert E. Lee

September 17, 1862, The "Clear Darkness" of Antietam, The Bloodiest Day In American History

  The bloodiest day in American History was the Battle of Antietam, near a small town in Maryland, Sharpsburg. It was a horrific, stinking battle, highlighted by lunacy and incompetence on the Union side. It was like one of those World War I battles, in which all the fine young men , the best and the brightest, were force fed into the meat grinder of war, coming out on the other side, carnage. It was a battle in which the Gods intervened, allowing the Union a chance to not only win the battle  but the war. A chance muffed by the hesitation of the Union Commander, George B. McClellan. It was a battle in which Lee, greatly disadvantaged by this intervention of the Gods, showed his brilliance, and merit. It was the Battle which triggered the Emancipation Proclamation. At the beginning of the Battle, the Union Army, one of the finest armies in history, the Army of The Potomac, under McClellan had 80,000 troops; the Confederate Army, one of the finest armies in history, the Army of Northern

July 3rd,1863, Gettysburg, Pickett's Charge Takes the Confederacy to the High Water Mark, then Doom

In this Blogger’s opinion, the Confederacy was doomed once General Stonewall Jackson was killed, by force majeure, by his own victorious troops, by mistake, after the Battle of Chancellorsville. This Blogger believes that if Jackson had been in tactical command of Lee’s strategic vision at Gettysburg, as he would have been, the South would have won. Jackson’s death is analogous to the Gods interfering in the Trojan War; a Divine Act which altered History. Pickett’s Charge was 12,500 Southerners, the crème de la crème of  Southern manhood, Virginian cavaliers, and North Carolinian Tar heels(including Rev. Billy Graham’s grandfather) charging across an open field, almost a mile wide, into the vengeful waiting guns and cannons of the Army of the Potomac, sheltered by a wall. Slaveholders and sharecroppers joined together in a bid for Destiny’s favor.  Southern Slavery did not produce poets. It is remarkable to this Blogger how few great writers the South produced under slavery. The best a

July 2, 1863, Josh Chamberlain's SWINGING GATE Saved the Union, atop Little Round Top

    In the Civil War there were moments in time, when the South could  have won? Should have won? But didn't win  because of a combination of events beyond human planning, or  fluke, or karma or luck, or even good vibes. American history is weird; there are enough examples in it for you to come to the conclusion that  God's hand was at work. From the Divine Fog in the Revolutionary War, to the rainstorm which saved the White House in the War of 1812, to Josh Chamberlain being in command of the Union forces on Little Round Top, all point to the hand of the Almighty at work. Josh Chamberlain is arguably the greatest American war hero of all time;  Josh Chamberlain saved the Union, on the ground, in the trenches, in the blood and gore; Josh Chamberlain saved the Union. "In all, Chamberlain served in 20 battles and numerous skirmishes, was cited for bravery four times, had six horses shot from under him, and was wounded six times." He was wounded six times, and carried a