View single post by Mark
 Posted: Sat Jul 16th, 2011 01:30 am
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Mark
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Mana: 
 Hank, thanks for posting the context. All my books are still packed up from the move at the moment. Pender, after reading the passage in context here are my thoughts: Ironically, Grant is deconstructing the claims of lost cause writers. He is explaining that some Southern (and northern) writers are exaggerating the disparity between the sides. Grant explains that Confederates had the advantage of being able to mobilize a greater percentage of manpower than the Federals because of the institution of slavery and that since the vast majority of the battles were fought on Southern soil, they did not have to worry about guarding supply lines. As to the quote in question, Grant is making the point (incorrectly I think) that the South's one party system prevented dissension on the home-front. Could the South have been successful on its own? Of course, why not? But that is the realm of the hypothetical.

Mark