All the same, I believe I shall remind my students of it today.

In point of fact, Pete, Pryor’s counsel was exactly right, if the problem to be solved was how to force the upper South to choose sides in the crisis. As of April 1861, there were seven Confederate states, all in the Deep South, while the upper south stood aloof.

Virginia was then the most populous of the Southern states and it must be remembered that Virginia’s border then ran all the way to the Ohio River. Perhaps more importantly, if Virginia joined the Confederacy, the new nation’s border on the Potomac River would immediately put Washington, D.C., in jeopardy.

While Virginia did not secede “within an hour by Shrewsbury clock” from the opening of the Sumter bombardment, she did vote to secede five days later, on April 17. Virginia’s accession to the Confederacy influenced Arkansas and Tennessee to secede (May 6 and May 7). It is remarkable that North Carolina resisted the secessionist tide until May 20.

The great loss to the Confederates, however, was the hesitancy of Kentucky. If the Bluegrass State seceded, that would put the Confederate frontier just across the river from Cincinnati. And it was Anderson’s shrewd leadership that played a crucial role in that affair. But entire books have been written about that subject, so I’ll leave it to you whether you wish to investigate the subject further.

As to the general unwisdom of the South firing the first shot of the war, however, you are in agreement with no less an authority than that arch-secessionist Robert Toombs of Georgia, who counseled Jefferson David thus: “The firing on that fort will inaugurate a civil war greater than any the world has yet seen, and I do not feel competent to advise you. … Mr. President, at this time it is suicide, murder, and you will lose us every friend we have in the North. You will wantonly strike a hornets’ nest which extends from mountains to ocean, Legions now quiet will stream out and sting us to death. It is unnecessary. It puts us in the wrong. It is fatal.”

So you agree with Toombs, and are therefore eligible to be denounced as a neo-Confederate in 3, 2, 1 …

No more so than those thinking we’ll restrain the government absent one.

Be careful what you wish for.

The War for Southern Independence was the first modern war in many respects, such as deeming private property and the civilian economy as part of the national war effort and therefore a legitimate target. This conflict is sometimes characterized as the first “Total War”. At the same time much stock was put in the notion of chivalry by the protagonists of both sides. This dichotomy worked very much to the South’s disadvantage. After embracing the role of the aggressor at Charleston the South then performed a policy about face by trying to be perceived as and acting solely on defense for well over a year. The refusal to follow the panicked retreat of the Union forces from 1St Manassas right into Washington was a missed opportunity to end the war successfully. Waiting till September 1862 to take the war to the North allowed the North’s long term advantages to prevail over the South.
Kudos to Stacy for using the correct names of the battles here and in your AS article.

Not wishing for it; just not finding any examples from history that avoid it.

One of the lessons to be leaned is that a cold blooded and unsentimental appraisal of the relative strengths and deficiencies cannot be sacrificed to other considerations such as attempting to preserve the Moral High ground. To relate this to here and now much has been made about not putting time limits on military operations. However the length of time Americans will tolerate a war no matter the justification isn’t infinite. One of the considerations in the decision to nuke Japan was a growing fear of war weariness. For the South time was perhaps it’s most formidable enemy and relying on being in the right couldn’t change that. Attempting to keep the American People from experiencing any sense of being at war as we had in WW2 only marginally extends the length of time we have to achieve our goals in a military conflict.
A coldblooded and unsentimental appraisal before deciding to intervene in Libya would have revealed that the extensive list of things we are not willing to do will surely prevent us from achieving the very vague goals we have set. No matter how strong our “humanitarian” impulses the self imposed limits we’ve imposed on the use of might, assures that being in the right won’t make might.

Aren’t we all?

Ooookaaayyyy. The score at half time is Union 1, Confederacy 0. But the war is by no means over. It’s the end game that decides it all, and might does not make right. Sometimes it is worth fighting for what is right even if you do not win, because later generations may remember your struggle, renew it, and eventually prevail.

For the record, yes, I am a secessionist, and I certainly don’t mind being called a neo-Confederate, but no, I am not a racist.

Shhh.

I’ve always liked the Bonnie Blue flag as a song. When the whole Tea Party started, I thought it would be a good anthem, except for the implied support of slavery and the endorsement of secession. When I saw this post and watched the you tube video, having a few minutes on my hands I re-wrote it as a Tea Party anthem. What do you think?

“We are a band of brothers
And native to the soil,
Fighting for the property
We gained by honest toil;
And when our rights were threatened,
The cry rose near and far–
“Hurrah for the Gadson Flag
Fly proudly from our spar!”

CHORUS: Hurrah! Hurrah!
Individual rights hurrah!
Hurrah for the Gadson Flag
Fly proudly from our spar.

While the D.C elite,
Were faithful to their trust,
Like friends and like brothers
Both kind were we and just;
But now, when Federal treachery
Attempts our rights to mar,
We hoist on high the Gadson Flag
Fly proudly from our spar.–CHORUS

First gallant Rick Santelli
cried out from the exchange,
The people followed quickly,
rejecting this new “change”.
Alsaka’s native daughter,
inspired many more
All raised on high the Gadson Flag
Fly proudly from our spar.–CHORUS

Ye men of valor, gather round
The banner of our fight;
From home to halls of Congress
The statist foe we smite.
We shall oppose the president,
his cronies and his tzars;
Now rally round the Gadson Flag
Fly proudly from our spar.–CHORUS

And then in old Virginia–
progressives met their fate–
Along with blue New Jersey
showed reforms can not wait;
Impelled by their example,
Now other states prepare
To hoist on high the Gadson Flag
Fly proudly from our spar.–CHORUS

Then cheer, boys, cheer;
Raise the joyous shout,
The two-ten midterms proved our case
There is no remaining doubt;
And let another rousing cheer
For freedom’s light be given,
“Don’t tread on me” from the Gadson Flag
Flys proudly from our spar.–CHORUS

Then here’s to our Republic,
Strong are we and brave;
Like patriots of old we’ll fight
Our rule of law to save.
And rather than submit to shame,
To die we would prefer;
So cheer for the Gadson Flag
Fly proudly from our spar.–CHORUS