The Right Voice

I don’t really know what to write. Not much has changed since I last posted. I hope to have something new for everyone next time.

In my studies of the American Revolution and the Civil War I have come to one simple conclusion about both: We should have lost. We were outmanned in both affairs. By outmanned, I mean the other side had better generals and know more about the art of war. In fact, it amazes me that we won. We had no business even coming close to defeated our enemies. Let’s go further into each conflict.

The Revolutionary War:

George Washington took control of the Continental Army sometime after the war started. Before the war started Washington was not the all powerful, unbeatable general who became the father of our country as we think of him today. Quite the contrarty in fact. He single handidly started the French and Indian War that lasted for several years. He was serving in the British Army and accidentally fired upon a French Fort and it swelled up from there. When he became Supreme Commander of the Continental Army he was much, much smarter. He changed our weapons to weapons that were much more accurate than the garbage we were using before. However, he was still no match for General Lord Cornwallis. His undying allegance to the Crown and to the “rules of war” may have been his undoing. Cornwallis was a gentleman all the way down to the core. He was unwavoring in his courtesy towards wounded soldiers on both sides. It was proper for any army to give quarters to wounded soldiers on either side of the battle. The Colonial miltia came in and broke the rules of war. Cornwallis did not stoop down to our level and was defeated because of it (with a HUGE assist to the French Fleet of course). The only recorded ungentlemanly thing Cornwallis ever did was during his surrender. It was proper for a defeated General to relinqhish his sword to the victorious General. Cornwallis did not do this as he was too ashamed. He sent his second in command to do it and quietly went back to England where he was disgraced for losing the war and the colonies. If Cornwallis would have tried to move to America, I, for one, would have welcomed him open arms. There are not many people to ever live who know more about war than him, and there are not many people in history as devoted to doing right than him. Our next generals come close though.

The Civil War:

This war was won by the Union by sheer luck, geography, and numbers. “Stonewall” Jackson and Robert E. Lee knows leaps and bounds more about war than Grant and Sherman. They proved that by defeating the Union forces time and time again. The South had several problems going against them though. They had a significanlty smaller population than the North did, which means that thety had a smaller army. The smaller army was not a problem with the genius of Robert E. Lee and “Stonewall” Jackson pulling the strings. Another problem was shoes. The textile mills and factories were all in the North and obviously the North was not trading with the South. Their only hope was trading with England who could benefit much more from the South due to the cotton that the North did not have. However, Lincoln took care of Britian by issuing the Emancipation Proclimation, which had no power to do anything, and were just words on a paper. However, the Proclimation told England that the North wasagainst slavery and thought everyone as equal and the South did not. Salvery was dead in England long before and they agreed with the North’s ideals of equality and they stayed out. The biggest to the South was, in my opinion, the accidental shooting and subsequent death of “Stonewall” Jackson. The South, with all it’s problems, my still have won the war had Jackson been alive to see it through. No one had the respectg of their troops like Jackson did. They all thought the world of him and rightfully so as he was a very upstanding individual who treated everyone he knew with rthe utmost dignity and respect. He was, however, a slave holder, but by all accounts, he treated them like family and frequently donated money for their education. This blow left the South devasted and very weakened. After this, General Grant (who was completely unqualified) sent wave after wave, after wave of sodiers to overwhelm the shoeless South and after four years, in 1865, the South was finally overwhelmed. This was hardly an act of Military genius.

 America stumbled it’s way through two important battles on our way to becoming the most powerful nation in the world.

Todd