Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.life From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Vicksburg split Confederacy, promoted Grant Date: Sat, 31 Oct 92 14:00:15 EST Message-ID: \SE B;LIFE;THE CIVIL WAR;LETTERS \HD Vicksburg split Confederacy, promoted Grant As an "unreconstructed Yankee," I disagree with James Callan (Sept. 19, "Antietam Pivotal to Union Win") that Antietam was a more important battle than Gettysburg. I am a Pennsylvanian but, perhaps to Mr. Callan's surprise, I do not suggest that Gettysburg was more important than Antietam to the course of the war. The most important battle of the Civil War was neither Antietam nor Gettysburg - it was Vicksburg. Not only did the victory there split the Confedracy and create an access for Midwestern wheat and other products to reach the sea, but it was more significant for a second reason: It brought to the forefront Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. Had Grant lost Vicksburg, the Confederates would have won the war - a third reason for its import. Moreover, Grant, having been placed in command of all Union armies west of the Alleghenies, then moved immediately to Chattanooga and achieved a magnificent victory there. He then was given command of all the Union armies. I also differ with Mr. Callan when he asserts, "Lee knew the longer the war lasted the more likely it was the Confederacy would lose." Perhaps Lee knew that, but, if so, it was another grave failure of the Southern general's thinking. Ulysses S. Grant feared Joseph E. Johnston as the most capable Confederate commander. And of course, Grant had no fear of Lee. The reason he feared Johnston was that Johnston knew that the proper stragety for the Confederacy was to "faint [sic] and fall back" and continue the action - as he did before Atlanta, preventing Sherman's army from soundly defeating his force. Johnston felt, and I would agree, that had the war lasted long enough, the North and its people would have sued for peace because they would have tired of the war - just as Americans did during the Vietnam experience. John E. Sheehan Washington This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM