GDG- Re: Confederate supply

Tue Jun 19 21:02:33 CDT 2007

Jack,

Technological inferiority does not automatically equate with defeat, but, it generally takes an overwhelming degree of endurance and the ability to take massive abuse and outlast the will of the technologically superior foe to engage in the war.

Regards,

Margaret

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: "jack" <jlawrence at kc.rr.com> 

> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes: 
> 
> 
> Of course, the whole point was the arrogance of the South to think they 
> could beat a tecnologically superior foe. 
> 
> They Couldn't. 
> 
> They didn't. 
> 
> They lost. 
> 
> What you stand in awe of as technological advances arev really despeate 
> measures to catch up. They had no choice. It's kind of like Airbus v Boeing. 
> They never made it. 
> 
> As I said in my original post, they lacked the technoloy. 
> 
> 
> BTW: How many powder works did the North have? 
> 
> 
> Regards, 
> 
> Jack 
> Jack 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: 
> To: 
> Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 12:57 AM 
> Subject: GDG- Re: Confederate supply 
> 
> 
> > Esteemed GDG Member Contributes: 
> > 
> > 
> > Margaret writes: 
> > 
> >>>>And, of course, while the Confederates managed to come to produce 
> >>>>quality 
> > powder at Augusta, they never did solve their problem with producing 
> > reliable and accurate fuses. 
> > There is a new book on the massive (two miles long) Augusta Powder Works 
> > and 
> > its genius George Washington Rains. Their powder quality was second to 
> > none 
> > and the mills worked a five day, all daylight production schedule once it 
> > was fully up and running. The complex covered two miles along the canal 
> > and 
> > Savannah River, with a group of separate buildings. This was done for 
> > explosion protection purposes; instead of one big building that would blow 
> > up with an 
> > accident, only a small building would do so (and did) and not take out 
> > the 
> > whole facility. All that remains today is the main chimney. 
> > 
> > Fuses were indeed a problem. I think it was History Channel that did a 
> > program last year about the fuses made in Charleston, SC's arsenal and 
> > sent to VA 
> > for Lee's army prior to Gettysburg that proved defective in the campaign. 
> > 
> > 
> > The Confederates did a formidable job in overcoming their deficits in 
> > manufacturing during the Civil War, but wartime is not the best time to 
> > try to 
> > acquire this capacity. 
> > It is always better to have this capacity before a war, but throughout 
> > history, almost no nation has gone to war that ended the war with the same 
> > level 
> > of industrial capacity and investment. Win or lose, this was always much 
> > larger at the war's conclusion. The South had solid industry to base a 
> > war 
> > machine upon, but it was not until that war and massive Confederate 
> > government 
> > contracts that the industrial capacity was greatly expanded. If an 
> > industrial 
> > census could have been taken in 1864 it would have shown a huge growth in 
> > the 
> > South's capacity and this was entirely due to the war. If this growth 
> > had 
> > not happened it would have been a very short war! 
> > 
> > The same thing for the US before World War 2. Our industries began 
> > making 
> > more war materiel in 1940 for the Lend-Lease thanks to FDR's vision 
> > (after 
> > taxing the crud out of them prior to this time forcing industrial 
> > stagnation) 
> > that war was imminent. When war began for the US, the industrial might 
> > of 
> > America grew to heights which it had never seen before with the 
> > commitment to 
> > total war manufacturing. Like the South after the Civil War, it was this 
> > huge 
> > industrial growth that would lead to the greatest prosperity the nation 
> > had 
> > ever seen 
> > 
> >>>> There were problems in both general manpower and in skilled craftsmen 
> > (I think of the Union victory, in part, as that of the "greasy mechanics" 
> > so 
> > maligned by antebellum pro-slavery leaders).>>> 
> > 
> > Yes there were and this was somewhat addressed by a skilled worker's 
> > draft 
> > exemption, but men were often hauled into the army anyway with needed 
> > skills. 
> > A nation at total war always has to try and find the balance between men 
> > at 
> > labor making things for the war and men to fight it. Both sides in the 
> > Civil 
> > War, but the South in particular, employed huge numbers of women for the 
> > first time in American history (sorry Rosie the Riveter!). These women 
> > rolled 
> > cartridges; sewed uniforms, tents, shoes and flags; made medical supplies 
> > and 
> > much more, some of it in a home-based cottage industry. In November, 
> > 1862, 
> > the Richmond QM Depot had over 2000 women in its employ. Atlanta's QM 
> > depot 
> > had over 3000. etc. With this came massive migration to the cities for 
> > work - 
> > and this would then create a labor shortage of sorts in the agricultural 
> > sector in terms of smaller farms that had very few, or no slaves. 
> > 
> > Britain in World War 2 had reached the bottom of its manpower barrel by 
> > the 
> > end of 1942 (thanks largely to massive losses on World War 1 where they 
> > lost 
> > the equivalent of an entire generation of men) - and by late 1944, they 
> > were 
> > actually disbanding divisions and sending the men home to save whatever 
> > was 
> > left. Within this they also had to keep their industrial base going. 
> > 
> > Your belief in the Union "greasy mechanics" is well-founded, as would be 
> > all 
> > of our beliefs in the Rosies that helped build over 50,000 Sherman tanks, 
> > thousands of fighters and bombers and hundreds of warships and supply 
> > ships with 
> > which we basically buried Japan and Germany! (Somewhat mysteriously, 
> > Germany 
> > never did reach full industrial capacity in the war, which actually did 
> > increase in spite of Allied strategic bombing.) 
> > 
> > This coincides with the statement that "amateurs look at war in terms of 
> > tactics and strategy while professionals look at war in terms of 
> > logistics." 
> > The side with the best logistics usually does win. 
> > 
> > Greg Biggs 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > ************************************** See what's free at 
> > http://www.aol.com. 
> > 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------- 
> > You may unsubscribe by going to 
> > http://mailman.arthes.com/mailman/listinfo/gettysburg 
> > 
> > You can add yourself to the GDG map at: 
> > http://www.frappr.com/gettysburgdiscussiongroup 
> > 
> > View archived posts from May 2004 - present at 
> > http://mailman.arthes.com/pipermail/gettysburg/ 
> > 
> 
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------- 
> You may unsubscribe by going to 
> http://mailman.arthes.com/mailman/listinfo/gettysburg 
> 
> You can add yourself to the GDG map at: 
> http://www.frappr.com/gettysburgdiscussiongroup 
> 
> View archived posts from May 2004 - present at 
> http://mailman.arthes.com/pipermail/gettysburg/ 