This is the place to post your opnions on the American Civil War.

What were the main causes? What do you think this means for America's history? Would you have supported the North or the South? Why? Could the Civil War have been prevented?

Talk, discuss, have fun. Try not to post any dumb redneck Southerner or superiority-complex-ridden Northerner comments, all right?

The north's generals were all pretty unskilled. Sherman was probably the best man they had, loads betetr than Grant, and the south had some of the most skilled generals in history.

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Recommended-
the movie "Glory"

What? Glory is one of the least accurate movies on the Civil War. Also, it just sucks. A better suggestion would be one of the movies based of the Saharra's books.

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Really I forgot about that. It probably was because the stress he was under from Lee.

No he was just a raging alcoholic

and if you want an intresting book to check out and you don't mind getting some insults on occasion (such as "rebel" and so forth) check out the book "The South Was Right" exposes a good deal of the yankee BS propagated about the Southern War for Independance

Really I forgot about that. It probably was because the stress he was under from Lee.

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I did not mean wasted in saying "hammered" I was just emphasizing a word amp said!

by which I meant wasted. Grant was on the bottle constantly

I did not mean wasted in saying "hammered" I was just emphasizing a word amp said!

If I were a general I would have to be wasted to.

Who helped Grant when he was being "hammered". What general was better with his men though?

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General Lee was a better general than General Grant!

Only because Grant was completely hammered most of the time and yet he still won!

I have to side with the north. I have sympathy's for both sides though. It was brother against brother, father against son. Sometimes you had no choice on what side you were on. I have been to Gettysburg and several of the battlefields, and they are interesting and have a eerie feeling to them. General Lee was a better general than General Grant!

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Originally posted by Kate127:
Everything can be.

Indeed.

Everything can be.

Thus Lee's actions can be argued either way.

I think it would be more accurate to characterize Lee's motivations as that of loyalty to one's state, the principle to always do what is best for one's home and relations, and abide with strict to devotion to protect the citizenry from perceived aggressors.

Let us examine Lee's own words on the issue.

(Taken from "May I Quote You, General Lee? -- Observations & Utterances from the South's Great Generals -- edited by Randall Bedwell)

"Secessions is nothing but revolution. Still, a union that can only be maintained by swords and bayonets, and in which strife and civil war are to take the place of brotherly love and kindness, has no charm for me. If the union is dissolved, the government disrupted, I shall return to my native state and share the miseries of my people. Save in her defense, I will draw my sword no more."

--Lee, in a letter to his son, 1861

"I cannot raise my hand against my birthplace, my home, my children."

"I think it better to do right, even if we suffer in so doing, than to recur the reproach of our consciences and posterity."

"Our country demands all our strength, all our energies. To resist the powerful combination now forming against us will require every man at his place. If victorious, we have everything to hope for in the future. If defeated, nothing will be left for us to live for. My whole trust is in God, and I am ready for whatever He may ordain."

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So we have references to God, State, Posterity, Conscience, Familial relation, and a natural and honorable defense against perceived aggressors.

You can't paint Lee with a miniscule brush, his motivations were wide ranging.

WTF does that mean? i just said that niether of us were right nor were we wrong we just had a difference of opinion that can be argued endlessly.

your grasping for straws... your whole argument is based around land, not principle.

sticks & stones niether of us is wrong and if i may make a quote "Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view." from my point of view Lee was an honorable man despite the fact he fought against his beliefs to you he was a "sheep" who worked with people he knew were wrong. With that it is clear that niether of us are wrong we just have a difference of opinion.

I dont just drop it because you get tired of being WRONG... better?

because he wanted to protect his home can we just drop it? I want to spam some other topics. and "worng" is definitely not a word.