GDG- Re: Gang of Ten, et al

[Biggsk at aol.com]

Laurie Schiller writes:

4) An  actual analysis of election returns shows that Lincoln wasn't going to 
lose  the election, Atlanta falling or not, even though he thought he was 
going to.  There was an article to that effect some time ago - sorry I do not 
remember  the reference, but someone on the board will.



That is, of course based on what happened.  Atlanta fell on Sept. 2nd,  1864 
and then it was followed by victories at Mobile Bay, Cedar Creek and a few  
others, that all snowballed into a "wow - even though we are stuck at  
Richmond/Petersburg and have lost a truck load of men, this thing seems to be  
winnable," view for the Northern public.
 
Had Johnston defended Atlanta as skillfully as Lee did VA in the 1864  
campaign, inflicting as many casualties on Sherman as Lee did non Grant, then  the 
belief of Lincoln is probably more correct.  Grant lost 66,000 men in a  month 
in VA - Sherman and Johnston/Hood, combined, lost the same amount in a  nearly 
5 month campaign.  The real answer lies in the body count of the men  on its 
respective side. Sherman did not like to fight as tenaciously as Grant  and 
Lee did and had he taken lumps like Lee inflicted on Grant, the Atlanta  
Campaign was certainly not a forgone conclusion -  and I have not only  grown up in 
Atlanta but have studied the campaign for 25 years.
 
Greg Biggs