what is the feeling among southerners in the u.s about the union? ( Archived) (9)

Personally, I'd like to see all 50 states break from the Union.

Then start over...w/the only purpose of the federal government being a national defense.


All states would be better off...and we would be dictated to from central planning.

I have lived in the south since 1980. I have not put on my grey uniform and strapped on a sword and sacbard the entire time I have been here.

Now before you laugh.... I had two great grand father....one on side of the Union and one on the side Confederacy....that were both Generals.

So I dig around in the right trunk...I can find that uniform and blade.

One stood toe to toe with Pickett Charge at Gettysburg. The other forced Sherman wait to take Atlanta for three months. The family joke on him is....if Jeff Davis had not of relieved him of command, Sherman would still be at the walls of Atlanta today.......

After Jackson death...the year prior...Lee restructure his corp commanders. He made Hood a corp commander. Hood was Texans. and he had one Texas division and he had regiments from all over the south into the remain 3 divisions. But they fought well together because they respected Hood. Pickett got Jackson's Virgina division. Longstreet was always his right Lee's hand man and had a full corp.

These were all seasoned leaders. They had been together thru the Mexican American war.First two years of the Civil war. Jackson made hole in command team for sure. But what was really lost with Jackson death.....was his on the spot decision making. Jackson could smell a battlefield and shift tactics and strategy like no other, they said.

The other leaders that LEE moved around.....were all expereinced and dedicated to the cause. But they did not have Jackson ability to feel the battle. The great example of that is Jackson getting shot by confederate forces. It is night after a his division made flanking attack that nearly pushed the Union forces from the field. He was scouting that night to see where in the morning he was going to attack. That is when they ran into the Confederate position.

But LEE did not give Jackson a order to plan his morning attack. Jackson did it because it was the right military thing to do... it was his sector of the battlefield....in other words he anticipated Lee ordering him to attack in the morning. They are separated by 15 miles, and Jackson is thinking what he had to do in the morning to meet Lee attack order. Hence he is scouting and prepping for a attack.

That is how Lee and Jackson functioned together. But then you look at Longstreet and Lee. It is different deal. Longstreets want the Pickett Charge order written out. He has fought to keep the frontal attack from happening. He is not going to be blamed for the outcome. Longstreet wants to flank and manauveur at Gettysburg. Lee is sitting there thinking, I got to have one good day....and Davis will send the letter to Lincoln for a cease fire or truce.

Some say if Jackson had been at Gettysburg it would have been different.
Maybe on the second day at Little Round top. That kind of fluid fighting, he excelled at. But to lead Pickett Charge, no it would not have matters. The cards were all stack against the success of the charge. It was brave and heroic...like the Charge of the Light Brigade....but a futile and deadly military decision.