The cause of liberty and justice has triumphed in the late election. . . .

I am sorry that the people of South Carolina are making so much fuss about their defeat, but I have not the least apprehension that anything serious will result from it.

Williams Cullen Bryant

In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have no conflict, without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to “preserve, protect, and defend” it.

War for Independence, 1775-1783:25,000 killed or wounded; 25,000 dead of diseaseBattle of Bunker Hill (1775): 410 killed and wounded

Battle of Saratoga (1777): 800 killed and wounded

Battle of Cowpens (1781 ): 340 killed and wounded

War of 1812, 1812-1815:4,400 killed or woundedBattle of Plattsburgh, 1814: 200 killed and wounded

Battle of New Orleans, 1815: 71 killed and wounded

Mexican War, 1846-1848:5,700 killed or wounded; 13,000 dead of diseaseBattle of Resaca de la Palma, 1846: 120 killed and wounded

Battle of Buena Vista, 1847: 710 killed and wounded

Battle of Chapultepec, 1847: 830 killed and wounded

War for Independence, 1775-1783:25,000 killed or wounded; 25,000 dead of diseaseBattle of Bunker Hill, 1775: 410 killed and wounded

Battle of Saratoga, 1777: 800 killed and wounded

Battle of Cowpens, 1781: 340 killed and wounded

War of 1812, 1812-1815:4,400 killed or woundedBattle of Plattsburgh, 1814: 200 killed and wounded

Battle of New Orleans, 1815: 71 killed and wounded

Mexican War, 1846-1848:5,700 killed or wounded; 13,000 dead of diseaseBattle of Resaca de la Palma, 1846: 120 killed and wounded

Battle of Buena Vista, 1847: 710 killed and wounded

Battle of Chapultepec, 1847: 830 killed and wounded

Civil War deaths, 1861-1865

First Manassas, 1861: 3,500

Seven Days, 1861: 29,000

Second Manassas, 1862: 19,000

Shiloh, 1862: 20,000

Antietam, 1862: 23,000

Fredericksburg, 1862: 16,000

Murfreesboro, 1862: 18,500

Chancellorsville, 1863: 22,000

Gettysburg, 1863: 40,000

Chickamauga, 1863: 28,000

Wilderness to Cold Harbor, 1864: 82,000

Nashville, 1864: 9,000

The balance sheet at the war’s beginning

population RR mileage manufacturing workers value of products cotton

North

South

“No people ever warred for independence with more relative advantages than the Confederacy.”

CSA General Pierre Gustave Toutante de

Beauregarde

“We could bring the whole world to our feet. What would happen if no cotton was furnished for three years? . . England would topple headlong and carry the whole

civilized world with her. No, you dare not make war on cotton!

No power on earth dares make war upon it. Cotton is King.”

--South Carolina Senator James Hammond

Matchlock and flintlock mechanisms

Percussion cap system

Three-part model of military motivation:

INITIAL MOTIVATION:

factors that lead soldiers to join the army in the first place

SUSTAINING MOTIVATION:

factors that keep soldiers with the army on campaign

COMBAT MOTIVATION:

factors that drive soldiers once battle begins

Three Types of Combat Motivators:

REMUNERATIVE MOTIVATORS:

money or the promise of plunder

COERCIVE MOTIVATORS:

threat or direct application of force

NORMATIVE MOTIVATORS:

withdrawal of acceptance from a peer group

“Our men have something of the English bull-dog in them. You can whip them time and again, but the next fight they go into, they are as full of pluck as ever. They are used to being whipped, and no longer mind it.

Some day or other we shall have our turn.”

This government cannot much longer play a game in which it stakes all, and its enemies stake nothing.

Those enemies must understand that they cannot experiment for ten years trying to destroy the government, and if they fail still come back into the Union unhurt.

What would you do in my position? Would you drop the war where it is? Or would you prosecute it in the future with elder-stalk squirts charged with rosewater? Would you deal lighter blows rather than heavier ones? Would you give up the contest leaving any available means unapplied?

If we can march a well-appointed army right through his territory, it is a demonstration to the world that we have a power which Davis cannot resist.

CSA President Jefferson Davis

If the Confederacy fails, there should be written on its tombstone:

DIED OF A THEORY.

Confederate General George Pickett on the causes of the southern defeat at Gettysburg:

“I always thought the yankees had something to do with it.”

After four years of arduous service, marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude, the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources.

I need not tell the survivors of so many hard-fought battles who have remained steadfast to the last that I have consented to this result from no distrust of them; but feeling that valor and devotion could accomplish nothing that could compensate for the loss that would have attended the continuance of the contest, I determined to avoid the useless sacrifice of those whose past services have endeared them to their countrymen. By the terms of the agreement, officers and men can return to their homes and remain until exchanged.

You may take with you the satisfaction that proceeds from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed, and I earnestly pray that a merciful God will extend to you his blessing and protection. With an unceasing admiration of your constancy and devotion to your country, and a grateful remembrance of your kind and generous consideration of myself, I bid you all an affectionate farewell.