GDG- Re: History Day

[Biggsk at aol.com]

Robert Lawrence writes:

>>>>So was it the "Turning Point" or was it only the  turning point given 
Grants taking of Vicksburg? Or was there a turning point?  >>>>
Gettysburg was indeed the turning point for the North in the East.   Even if 
Vicksburg had not fallen in the same time frame, or Rosecrans moved  Bragg out 
of Tennessee, Gettysburg was a big win for the AOP.  Even though  the AOP 
would lose more battles, once Grant got there, they kept going south  rather than 
run back to Washington.  
 
The Union never had one in the West because they were winning from the  very 
beginning.
 

>>>>Did the South ever realistically have a chance of  winning the war?>>>>  
Yes - perhaps three.
 
1)  In 1861, pursue McDowell's army like Napoleon pursued the  Prussians 
after Jena/Auerstadt.  They could then threaten Washington by the  sword.
 
2) Win in the real Confederate High Water Mark - the all-fronts, 1862  
Summer/Fall offensive.  Maryland, KY and Arkansas.  This was the only  time during 
the war that the Confederates ever mounted such an offensive.
 
3) Make 1864 everywhere else in the CSA as bloody for the Union as Lee was  
making it for Grant in Virginia.  Imagine if Joe Johnston was slaughtering  
Sherman down in Georgia.
 

>>>> After all as one famous southerner said "there is not  cannon factory in 
all of the South">>>>




Well he would be very wrong in saying that.  The JR Anderson Foundry,  better 
known to us as Tredegar, cast cannons before the war under US government  
contract and made loads of them during.  The nearby Bellona Foundry also  cast 
guns.  Many civilian foundries started making guns when the war began,  
including, TR Brennan (Nashville), Leeds & Co. (New Orleans), Quinby &  Robinson 
(Memphis), Noble Brothers (Etowah, GA), Whitfield, Bradley  & Co. (Clarksville, TN) 
and about 15 others.
 
The government opened its own cannon foundries too - Augusta, GA;  
Charleston, SC; Columbus, GA; Macon, GA; and Selma, AL - the latter making more  larger 
caliber guns (and of better quality) than Tredegar did.  For  example, the 6.5 
inch rifled Columbiads made by Tredegar tended to burst, as the  Lady Polk 
did at Columbus, KY.  Others did too - but the one at Ft.  Donelson did not.  
Historian Larry Daniel has a fine book called  "Confederate Cannon Foundries" 
(now out of print) that details this.
 
Greg Biggs



************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.