Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Excerpt from Vermont at Gettysburg: July, 1863, and Fifty Years Later
A number of reasons prompted Gen. Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania, which culminated in the battle of Gettysburg. He hoped that such an invasion of northern territory, threatening as it would the cities of Philadelphia and Baltimore and Washington itself, might result in withdrawing part of Grant's army from Vicksburg, where he had been besieging Gen. Pemberton since May 18, 1863.
He felt hopeful of victory and thought that a victorious campaign on northern soil would secure the recognition of the Confederacy by England and France. This hope of foreign recognition had been from the first the very life-blood of the Confederacy.
Such a campaign would also relieve for a time war-worn Virginia from the burdens she had borne for two years, and would transfer the scene of hostilities for a while to a section of the country that had known nothing of the devestation of war.
He felt that if he could administer a crushing defeat on northern soil it would add great strength to the faction in Congress which was advocating peace at any price and clamoring that the war was a failure so far as the North was concerned.
His immediate purpose - to secure food, shoes and other supplies - was to some extent achieved, but by no means so far as to suffice for the enormous outlay which had to be made in return. The expenditure of ammunition, the havoc in horse-flesh, the depletion of his fighting forces, summed up a heavy bill to pay for the movement.
No forces were withdrawn from the South and West to aid the Army of the Potomac, so no relief came to the Confederates in those sections because of the invasion. Instead of strengthening the peace party, Lee's advance put a muzzle on its lips, and served only to quicken and then to reveal in a magnificent way the love which the people of the loyal States bore for the Union.
The battle decided that the war policy of the South must be until the end only defensive in character. It decided that the South could never hope for foreign recognition.
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Synopsis
Excerpt from Vermont at Gettysburg: July, 1863, and Fifty Years Later
He felt that if he could administer a crushing defeat on north ern soil it would add great strength to the faction in Congress which was advocating peace at any price and clamoring that the war was a failure so far. As the North was concerned.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.