Slavery

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   The War of Northern Aggression was fought primarily over the issue of States Rights, the right of the individual states to determine thier own path, as originally intended, not a over controling central Federal Government favoring the industrial northern states by official policy.

Slavery was a secondary issue, wherein the Stars and Stripes supported slavery longer than the less than four years of the Stars and Bars.  Several Northern States during the war still had forms of slavery supporting industrial concerns.

Grants policy of "Total War" was original in that to destroy your enemies ability to make war, you shorten the war.  The narrow swaths Sherman cut through Georgia from Atlanta to Savanna was a small part of the concept, limited in scope, but it did have a dramatic impact on those affected as well as the Southern Military Commands future ability to make and sustain the war effort.  

South Carolinas State Government, (The Confederate Government was not firmly established nor had any control of Confederate issues at the time), proposed a bombardmant of Ft Sumpter only after diplomatic attempts were made for the Northern garrison to agree to leave the state territory peaceably, the final decesion for the bombardment was made in error at the time, without written or supporting orders from a command, by a local artillery commander, the appearence of a Northern resupply ship entering the area instigated the beginning of the bombardmant to prevent resupply of the besieged forts garrison. And only after the fact did the Southern authorities justify the action.

Many southern troops were from the poorer end of thier society, and had no stake in the slave issue, only protecting thier homes and thier way of life.  The Southern Officer corps were for the most part West Point trained and many were originally offered commands in the Northern Armies before they returned to thier home states in the south to fight for thier state.  Lee was a Virginian  first and American second, that was the Southern mindset of the times, allegiance to thier state first, those states under a Confederacy supporting states rights, not a Federal Government demanding a controling overall authority over state governments.

Slavery has exsited since the beginning of time and still exsists throughout the world, and somewhere in America today someone is working under conditions resembling slavery in some form or condition. And no Government edict, demand, law, policy or program, no matter how noblely inspired, will ever change the human animals desire for power over another.

Edited by oldsoldier