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| Joined: | Sat Jan 27th, 2007 |
| Location: | Texas USA |
| Posts: | 833 |
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On the question of whether or not the southern states actually left the Union, the answer would depend on who you asked. Jefferson Davis would have said that they had. Abraham Lincoln would have said that they hadn't. The USSC finally weighed in on the question in the 1869 decision Texas v. White. At that time, they said that Texas and the other states never actually left the Union.
My personal view is that the eleven states involved did leave the Union and form their own country, the CSA. However, as a result of the war, the CSA ceased to exist in 1865.
General Sherman did lead the 60,000 troops on the March. He did so after getting Mr. Lincoln to okay his plan. General Grant recommended to Mr. Lincoln that the plan be approved.
Since in our system, the President heads the Executive Branch and the Executive Branch includes the military, both Generals Grant and Sherman were subordinates of the President and ultimately were: "Carrying out his orders or desires." Obviously, if Mr. Lincoln had disapproved of General Sherman's plan, it would not have been carried out..
I believe that I understand General Sherman's motives very well, and they are described in my previous postings and also in the New Georgia Encyclopedia source that I provided. General Sherman's plan was to convince the southerners of the weakness of the CSA in late 1864 and early 1865, and to try to convince them of the futility of continuing the fight. His : "Goal" was to end the war as quickly as possible, and there wasn't anything: "Secret" about it. Conspiracy theories about land records and the like are just so much piffle.
Last edited on Fri Dec 28th, 2012 12:01 am by Texas Defender