| redbanner4145 | 25 Mar 2015 5:08 a.m. PST |
Everything provoked the South Carolinians. I'd say kinda' like today but I don't want to be DH'd. |
| John the Greater | 25 Mar 2015 5:56 a.m. PST |
redbanner is right, the South Carolinians were already provoked. If Anderson has stayed at Ft. Moultrie he would have simply been overrun and there would have been many casualties. As James Petigru, South Carolina's Attorney General, said: "South Carolina is too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum." |
| Who asked this joker | 25 Mar 2015 6:31 a.m. PST |
Like above, Anderson saved many lives in his command. Now the real question is, should the South have opened hostilities with the North knowing they were outnumbered something like 4-1 in manpower? |
| Mute Bystander | 25 Mar 2015 7:21 a.m. PST |
Has anyone ever won when outnumbered more than 4:1 in the pre-ACW history? Yes. Were other reasons not to start this fight they ignored, misunderstood, or dismissed? Yes. Was Idealism, Cultural Naivete, and Ego driving the South's decision? Yes. No Opinion myself, but there was no "good" choice here for Anderson if my history reading is correct. |
Frederick  | 25 Mar 2015 9:36 a.m. PST |
Major Anderson made the right decision given as noted he had no good choices – among other things, it forced the Confederates to take the first shot |
| RavenscraftCybernetics | 25 Mar 2015 10:20 a.m. PST |
second-guessing historical figures and their decisions is the height of arrogance. |
| Weasel | 25 Mar 2015 3:45 p.m. PST |
Regardless of which specific spark set off the war, it seemed that war was inevitable. |
| darthfozzywig | 25 Mar 2015 7:06 p.m. PST |
second-guessing historical figures and their decisions is the height of arrogance. And the heart of historical wargaming. :D |
| nazrat | 26 Mar 2015 8:28 a.m. PST |
"second-guessing historical figures and their decisions is the height of arrogance." So what, we aren't allowed to talk about what we think about historical actions because YOU say so? THAT seems like the actual height of arrogance. Darth is absolutely correct! |
| Tom Bryant | 29 Mar 2015 6:34 p.m. PST |
I'm not entirely sure that "the war was inevitable" Lincoln and many in the North knew full well that the right to secede was built in to the Constitution from the getgo (it would never have been ratified without it). Furthermore, Lincoln was not in the situation of initiating combat with the South as there were too many factions in the North that would not allow it. Also it meant that any overt hostile acts like a blockade were out of the question until the shooting started All the South had to do was sit back and wait out the North. They could have ignored Sumter, forcing Lincoln to make the first hostile move. |
goes to sea with the Terrain Mat.
