Was there an opportunity for the confederates to win during any day of Gettysburgh ? How could the South

Question

have won ??

Answer 1

If Lee had more troops, the South might have won.

http://www.sovereignty.org.uk/siteinfo/newsround/iflee.html

Answer 2

Joanne, kudos to you! A very good question. :) A good way of answering your question Joanne, would be to ask this question...which defeat did the South suffer that was worse and more far reaching than any other defeat? Now most people would say Gettysburg. It's true Lee was forced to withdraw and his army had many casualties. But he didn't lose his army!!! The South lost an entire army at Vicksburg. They also lost the last part of the Mississippi River that they controlled, they lost all the Texas cattle and gold which was now completely shut off from them. They lost any hope of future re-inforcements from Texs, Louisiana, and or Arkansas. For all these reasons, Vicksburg was a far worse defeat for the South than Gettysburg. But it didn't have to happen!!! The South could have won the Civil War simply by guaranteeing that Vicksburg would have held! How? By moving all civilian non-combatants to another Southern city...and moving in more food, water, and munitions to hold the fortress until November 1864 Presidential election. But the gallant but foolish Southern men were chilvalrous to a fault. They couldn't stand the tears of Southern women. So the women,old men and children stayed and helped eat the food supplies down to nothing and the starving Southern men were forced to surrender. Had Vicksburg held, it is a certainty that Grant would never had been transferred to Virginia since Lincoln only transferred successful Generals. It is also likely that Lincoln would have been defeated in the 1864 election. Why? Because there had been serious draft riots in New York City, the North was becoming very weary of large numbers of dead Northern soldiers being brougt North to be buried and with Vicksburg holding out the military news wouldn't have been as good as the North had hoped for. The Democratic Party in the North would have been embolden because of all these things and launched a strong attack on Lincoln's re-election attempt. A "Democrat Peace Candidate" would have seemed very attractive to many Northeners. All these things if the Southern Men could have told their women that they (the women) were going whether tey wanted to or not because Vicksburg needed to be held!

Answer 3

Oh Boy ! This is really confusing me now ! Was trying to read up on this..many many sites..will continue to do so, including your listed site...Thank you so much to you and Raymond on this one ! Don't know if I could really understand this to write up on it...dont want to write about the wrong info...I may pick another question to work on instead of this...I was readinging up on that one too and am getting nowhere...Ill send you it please help so I on the right track...maybe its not as complicated as this one :)

Answer 4

Joanne, Raymond has a lot of excellent information, but it doesn't answer your question.

Lee could have won the Gettysburg battle if he'd had more troops.