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Originally Posted by Sackett
I see your point Pistol. I'm no good at what ifs, but let me ask one anyway.
What if the South had the manpower and artillery that the North had, do you feel the outcome would have been different?
Personally, I think yes.
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That, my friend, is one of the most interesting "what ifs" that can be posed with regard to the Civil War. Yes, I agree with you on that issue. If the South had possessed anywhere close to the resources of the Union, the war would have been over within the first two years. It took the Union that long to get its act together militarily. In the first two years of the war, the Confederacy clearly had the edge in terms of trained military leadership, many of whom were professional soldiers and had indeed been trained at West Point. I think it is pertinent to note also, that for the South to win, it only had to draw, to force the Union to allow the Confederacy to go its own way. Greater resources would have allowed the Confederates to take the war to the Union instead of fighting the defensive war they were essentially forced to fight.