Posted on Feb 26, 2016
What happened on February 26 during the U.S. Civil War?
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On February 26 military campaigns were taking place in New Mexico and ramping up in North Carolina in 1862. in 1863 the Cherokee Indian Nation renounced slavery and switched to the union side and fought for the union at Woodburn, Tennessee. In 1863 the U.S. adopted a single currency.
http://bjdeming.com/2012/02/26/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-february-26-to-march-3-1862/
http://bjdeming.com/2012/02/26/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-february-26-to-march-3-1862/
Civil War
Slavery
Edited >1 y ago
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 3
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The US Civil War took a toll on this nation in terms of manpower and infrastructure beyond imagination. I concur with PO3 Steven Sherrill's comment that upholding of the port blockade as part of the Burnside Expedition was a major step in that the blockade helped demoralize the south. The confederates in New Mexico had hopes of establishing warm water port in California which would be blockade free. I think the fact that the Cherokee Indian Nation renounced slavery and left the Confederate cause to join the union and fight at Woodburn, Tennessee must have demoralized the southern leaders who expected them to continue to fight for them.
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SSgt Robert Marx
The southern leadership figured that a passive fight to win by ensuring the Union never captured the main Southern army in the field was the best route to independence. Jeff Davis felt that the South could not hope to match the North in force of arms but could outlast them. Gen Lee stymied the goal at Sharpsburg & Gettysburg where he came close to losing his army in northern territory. The South closed its bets further by allowing blockade runners to focus on profit. The South kept a small source of supply for the duration of the war with blockade runners but never regulated the ships. The South lost at least partially to mismanagement, rigid centralization of power {Dictator Davis], and failure to free or at least conscript the slaves. The whole point of the war was over blown and cooler heads should have prevailed. The Civil War was unnecessary.
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LTC Stephen F.
Unfortunately the US Civil War like the earlier 30 years war in central Europe was incredibly bloody and vicious; but, that process was used to forge a stronger nation in our case and a stronger faith in god in central europe.
In contract, the civil war in Spain and in Vietnam last century were bloody but did not produce anything very positive.
In contract, the civil war in Spain and in Vietnam last century were bloody but did not produce anything very positive.
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SSgt Robert Marx
It is true that Spain's & Vietnam's civil wars produced nothing but bitter fruit; however, both countries are unified with a national government in control. Spain could still split as per the recent election for Castilian independence. I view the 30 Years War (1618-1648) as disastrous. It fractured the German state into an impossible conglomeration of many states, city states, and ecclesial holdings. The good of it was that the various German states' rulers were free to choose their religion as Protestant or Catholic, vice having the "Holy Roman Emperor" declare a Catholic empire. The bad fruit was the splintering and obfuscation of a nascent German nationalism. Kaiser Wilhelm unified the German Empire in 1871, thus making Germany the last major European state to unify. The Thirty Years War provided huge destruction across the physical map of central Europe. I have heard it said that the destruction was on par with WWII (obviously impossible to verify), and huge swaths of population became refugees. The population movement caused by war was on par with the movements of the 1940's.
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LTC Stephen F.
SSgt Robert Marx - The German state never existed until 1871 because even while divided the majority of Monarchs who led the European nation-states feared a unified Germany and did their best to play off the Germanic states against each other.
Austria didn't become an independent state until after WWI ended.
The 30 years War stopped Rome from meddling in German affairs for some time.
The Spanish civil war was a testing ground for the Luftwaffe and paved the way for Spanish leadership to lean towards Germany in many ways in WWII.
Austria didn't become an independent state until after WWI ended.
The 30 years War stopped Rome from meddling in German affairs for some time.
The Spanish civil war was a testing ground for the Luftwaffe and paved the way for Spanish leadership to lean towards Germany in many ways in WWII.
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LTC Stephen F. It is Friday. I don't want to think, but then you and SrA Christopher Wright go posting these awesome articles that are thought provoking. I voted for all of the above. I think that you should have had the upholding of the port blockade as an option over the burnside expedition. Having an enemy blockaded is one thing. Having that blockade legitimized under international maritime law is above and beyond. It is like any other siege event. It takes a toll on the morale of those under siege. Weakened morale can lead to weakened will to fight. Thus making it easier for the siege to be successful, which with the surrender of the South came to pass. Having the Cherokee Nation change allegiances is another huge event. It both reduced the Confederacy's fighting strength while bolstering the Union's fighting strength. National Currency means that the ability to trade for goods and services becomes standard across the board. Good for the economy, good for the war effort, good for the nation (until much later when some jackass takes the currency off the gold standard, but that is not for this discussion). As for the battles, any skirmish during a war is important. Even today people, animals, materiel, and territory are all won and lost in every battle. To those involved in the battle there is no such thing as an insignificant battle. To those who have lost brothers in arms, or literal brothers, sisters, fathers, sons, mothers in battle there is no such thing as an insignificant battle. To those who have had their homes destroyed in battle there is no such thing as an insignificant battle. So I had to choose an all of the above on your poll LTC Stephen F., and as always thank you for sharing.
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The Union really manipulated the dollar to help finance the war. The treasury was by law to have a certain amount of gold to back up each dollar. The federal treasury instead printed many millions & billions of unbacked bills - the greenback. The high inflation that hit the country was a direct repercussion of the debasement of the federal bills. The national debt also really expanded during the war.
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SSgt Robert Marx
LTC Stephen F. - Thank-you. That is a very good history of the debt. I knew that the US had attempted to pay down its debt after each war until World War II. The debt is now so huge that it is the elephant in the room that no one knows what to do with it. The trouble is that debt like elephants can break through restraints and start a stampede.
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PO3 Steven Sherrill
SSgt Robert Marx - Can we teach it to fly, then sell tickets to see the flying elephant? I mean it worked in Dumbo?
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SSgt Robert Marx
PO3 Steven Sherrill - and we have that other Disney movie, Operation Pettycoat or something.
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PO3 Steven Sherrill
SSgt Robert Marx - Dennis Leary giving an elephant a suppository of tranquilizer makes the movie worth watching. I actually happen to like Operation Dumbo Drop.
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