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Did Jackson's Valley Campaign End Slavery?
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Author:  Blake [ Mon May 25, 2020 3:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Did Jackson's Valley Campaign End Slavery?
I was reading a book on the Civil War and the author inserted a brief hypothesis of "what if's" which deserved much more than the paragraph or two he allotted them.

Jackson's successful Valley campaign caused the detachment of McDowell's 40,000-man corps from McClellan's army just when it was needed "most" by Little Mac. What if Jackson had been unsuccessful and McClellan had been able to use McDowell's men? Let's say he crushes Johnston at Fair Oaks and within two weeks captures Richmond and the CSA dies in its infancy.

Lincoln would never have issued the Emancipation Proclamation and the war would have been concluded without the end of slavery firmly set as a Union war goal. Further the majority of soldiers and voters would still have been against the spread of slavery and not against the institution itself - as they would slowly become as the war grinded on for a few more years. What sort of reunion would have awaited southern states in DC after the "putting down" of the rebellion? McClellan would have been the hero of the day and he had little use for abolitionists and was a confirmed Democrat. Would Lincoln have compromised to prohibit slavery from all new territories and, maybe, added a clause to end slavery over time or to compensate the states for their emancipation?

There are a lot of "what if's" but the overall idea is interesting. What if McClellan won the war in the summer of 1862 because of a failure by Jackson in the Valley? What would it have meant for America, the South, and the future of slavery in America?
Author:  Larry Mills [ Tue May 26, 2020 9:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Did Jackson's Valley Campaign End Slavery?
Rob,

Fascinating "what if"! I just finished a badly written alternate history book where Lee is trapped against the Potomac after the battle of Antietam and crushed. Again the war was over in 1862. Southern man or not either one would have saved a lot of pain and suffering!
Author:  warhorse123 [ Thu May 28, 2020 9:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Did Jackson's Valley Campaign End Slavery?
Sorry gentlemen. Couldnt help but overhear your conversation. General Mills, it couldnt be any worse than Turetledoves "Guns of The Confederacy", Im sure, sir.
Author:  krmiller_usa [ Fri May 29, 2020 9:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Did Jackson's Valley Campaign End Slavery?
warhorse123 wrote:
Sorry gentlemen. Couldnt help but overhear your conversation. General Mills, it couldnt be any worse than Turetledoves "Guns of The Confederacy", Im sure, sir.


Sir, I believe you may have combined a couple titles here, Turtledove's book 'Guns of the South' and "Firearms Of The Confederacy" a book covering weapons of the ACW. Never read GotS. to me most stories about time travel to the past fall flat on their failure to explain how someone can go back to the past and change the history that allowed them to go back into the past in the first place.

That being said as a history and sci fi buff I've done a bit of alternate history reading and Turtledove's 'How Few Remain" alternate history although still a bit of a stretch is a little more believable. For those interested the basis of the book is the 'Lost Order' was not lost, Little Mac is his usual slow self and Lee is able to concentrate the ANV and move north and defeat the AotP in late '62. The subsequent intervention of Britain and France could very well have produced the alternate history Turtledove envisions as the basis for this story of the Second War Between the States and the subsequent effects it might have had on history through the rest of the 19th and 20th centuries the subsequent series speculates on.
Author:  warhorse123 [ Fri May 29, 2020 9:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Did Jackson's Valley Campaign End Slavery?
General Miller, sir. <salute>
Right you are. I mashed two separate titles together. I thought I would give the time traveling book a go. I couldnt do it.
Speaking of alternate history, I did enjoy the 3 part Newt Gingrich series "Gettysburg".
Had Lee won at Gettysburg, it would have been interesting to see what his approach would have been.
Author:  cameronm [ Sat May 30, 2020 10:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Did Jackson's Valley Campaign End Slavery?
I have read the whole lot from Turtledove's 'How Few Remain" WW1, Between the Wars and then the WW2 one. A great read if you just take them as is and don't try do over think it.
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