Abraham Lincoln by David Colbert

Author:David Colbert
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin
Published: 2009-11-14T16:00:00+00:00

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THE CONFEDERACY’S CAPITAL FOR MOST OF ITS EXISTENCE WAS RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, JUST ONE HUNDRED MILES SOUTH OF WASHINGTON DC.

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But that first crisis was soon replaced with others. Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina joined the rebellion. On the day of this first battle, eleven former Union states now call themselves the Confederate States of America. The country is truly divided.

THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS

As each state seceded, many of the soldiers and sailors from those states switched their allegiance to the South. These included important officers. Lincoln had to reorganize the Union’s army and navy before the rebellion could be stopped.

The seventy-five thousand volunteers who joined the cause after Lincoln’s request for troops had signed up for just one hundred days. Some officers felt that was barely enough time to train the new recruits. But other aides, as well as influential journalists, shared the public’s general opinion that a swift, overwhelming action by the North would lead to immediate victory. The self-puffery that had led the South to attack Fort Sumter was present in the North, too. Overconfidence and wishful thinking about a single decisive battle are common mistakes in warfare.

Lincoln gave his commanders as much time as he could, but it was impossible to ignore the hundred-day deadline after which his soldiers would return home. Shortly before the deadline, he ordered his generals to bring the fight to the rebels in Virginia.

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