GDG- Re:turning pojnt?

[Biggsk at aol.com]

Margaret:

>>>>I've always believed that Lee's real motivation for the  1863 
Pennsylvania campaign was "use it or lose it". Support was building,  including 
Longstreet's (a Georgian), for sending ANV troops to the   relief of the Confederacy's 
deteriorating situation in the West, especially  Vicksburg.  If Lee did not 
mount a major offensive, he would have lost a  significant portion of his army, 
which is what happened after  Gettysburg.>>>>



Indeed, that is my understanding as well.  But we have seen how well  he did 
with detached forces at Chancellorsville and the Mine Run Campaign  overall.  
So he goes on the strategic defensive in Virginia to save what  they could 
save out west, which is where they will lose the war.
 
The big difference as I see it, overall, is that the Confederates were  often 
proactive in the East, until after Gettysburg, and more often reactive in  
the west, being only proactive for the KY Campaign.  Being reactive does  not 
make for winning a war because you are allowing your enemy to maintain  
initiative and fight where he wants to fight.  This is one of my arguments  why the 
biggest strategic blunder the CSA made was putting its capitol in  Richmond 
instead of Atlanta - the latter being able to give the politicos a much  better 
position of their ENTIRE nation rather than a single theater.
 
The big "what if" here is about detaching forces for the  Mississippi 
Campaign.  Bragg had to do so just before Stones River and  again just before 
Tullahoma - some 20,000 troops overall in both.    Longstreet is detached for 
Chickamauga and they win big but fail to followup -  which is what was needed to make 
Longstreet coming West happen as they had  hoped.
 
Ultimately, it was not how many troops that came west but who came to  
command them - and Lee was not willing to go West to take charge personally -  which 
is exactly what was needed.
 
Greg Biggs
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