It’s easy to forget from the vantage point of 150 years after the fact, but there were dark days early in the Civil War, when it seemed not only possible for the Confederacy to win but, at moments, likely that they might win.
I hate to think of what would have happened to the United States if that had happened. There might very well have been future wars to go through between North and South. We might be bitter enemies to this day. I have no doubt that slavery as it was known in the 1800’s would have crumbled eventually, but how long would it have taken? Decades? What western states would belong to the Union and what would belong to the Confederacy? Would we have been a power to reckon with in either of the World Wars? Without our strength in WWII, would any of Europe be free today?
Sorry. I went off on a “what if” tangent, didn’t I? The curse and blessing of a novelist. {{grin}}
On this day in 1861, the gloom that had engulfed Washington DC because they were basically surrounded by states who had seceded lifted when the Seventh New York Regiment under the command of Colonel Marshall Lefferts arrived. “With hostile secessionist sympathizers in Baltimore and destroyed train lines throughout Maryland, Lefferts faced limited paths to the capital and decided to abandon the overland route. He chartered the steamer Boston for his unit to travel down Delaware Bay to Annapolis, Maryland, and decided against traveling further south by water since Confederate forces reportedly lay in wait on the Potomac River.” His forces marched the twenty miles to Annapolis Junction and then went by train to DC where they were welcomed by elated residents and by President Lincoln and members of the cabinet.
Quote of the Day: “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.” — Abraham Lincoln
~robin
Source: HISTORY™
