A British Officer’s Account of the Battle of Gettysburg
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- čas přidán 7. 09. 2024
- A first hand account by British officer Lt. Col. Arthur Fremantle of the Battle of Gettysburg.
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The Fremantle Diary: A Journal of the Confederacy
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Having been born in Hagerstown, Md., and my fathers parents living in Greencastle, Pa., it was interesting to hear how those place were a part of the Gettysburg campaign. My Grandmother told me that Gen. Robert E Lee and his army marched right down Carlisle Street, past her then home, in Greencastle on their way to Gettysburg. It was good to hear Lt. Col. Freemantle confirm this fact.
Sounds like you weren't sure it was a fact
I spent my elementary school years, the late 50s, in Smithsburg Md. This was the site of a skirmish between Kilpatrick and Stewart covering the retreat. A house two doors down the street still had a cannonball stuck in the second story wall.
BTW, my brother just retired as a minister in Greencastle.
@@jameshorn270 ...I think that we are all personally involved in all of these battles. The anecdotes are not necessary. The blood that these men shed on the battlefields of the Civil War helped to make this country what it is today.
My great grandmother's first memory was a wild ride on a buckboard -- she was a Sooner :-)
@@bobschenkel7921 Your grandmother wasn't alive when that happened, was she?? It's possible. Just curious.
General Longstreet was not an Alabamian, he was from South Carolina: born on a farm in Edgefield County, near the Savannah River. He urged Lee to abandon the position on Seminary Ridge and swing around to the southeast and occupy the heights there that would have cut off the supply train to a vast Union army and forced it to attack-uphill and out in the open. Lee failed to see the wisdom in Longstreet’s argument.
I have read that, too. I understand Lee felt it was impractical since the enemy was there, and his supplies were low for a pro-tracked time away from his supply lines.
It's pretty difficult to "live off the land" when you are engaged w the enemy. Absent from this depiction is the lack of intelligence and/or shielding of movements from the lack of Stuart's calvary.
Good post.
1) Lee had no way of knowing his fuse settings were failing on the artillery assault.
2) At G’burg, he stopped fighting like Sun Tsu, and went, ‘both barrels, war of attrition’ - always a mistake.
3) ‘I always suspected the Yankees had something to do with it.’
4) AFRICA started this war. They sold them own selves into slavery and have zero respect that our very constitution framed the argument that freed their agitating asses.
Longstreet was Warrior, yet.such a rational thoughtful Warrior
@@JoeCarpenter-yt7sq
Lonstreet was not some fantasy warrior who engages in melees barechested. He was a soldier and an astute military leader. He focused on logistics than sword swings.
@ycplum7062 To be fair every leader focuses on logistics over sword swings.
Very nice. I knew there were observers but never thought to look them writing anything. I had a relative in Pickett's Charge, right flank, who lived.
My relative married Picketts oldest sister. His 5 brothers were all killed at Picket's Mill outside of Atlanta. He spent the rest of his life taking care of his younger brother's families. They were all in the 29th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. They had no children...my father remembers his great aunt being a terror of the good looking boys at famiily gatherings
@@thikifo395Picket's Charge at Gettysburg or Picket's Mill? I thought Picket's Charge was all infantry?
Gettysburg the Movie does Fremantle a disservice. He appears as almost a cartoon figure in the movie. Fremantle went on to have a long militairy career and retired as Governor of Malta. His account of his travels during the Civil War is available on Kindle for very reasonable price.
Fremantle was an example of the English who supported the Confederates. Loved the depiction of Freemantle in the movie Gettysburg.
Great movie but l agree, the Fremantle character was too one-dimensional.
@@steveschlackman4503Arthur wore his own clothes whilst travelling in the South.
This would likely have been tweed outdoors clothing.
His views on slavery can be seen from his reaction to the Draft Riots he witnessed in New York and the attacks on black Americans he saw clearly appalled him.
yeah, his portrayal is horrific in that film 🤦🏻♂️ and completely contrary to his real character and appearance.
+ he's in uniform, which is beyond absurd...
@@greg_4201 I"m sorry but I just loved the film trashing of Freemantle. The English certainly can be acting like a fop when they are overseas. So what if it was way overdone. Freemantle was a solid supporter of the Confederate cause and was deep into worshiping RE Lee. I believe that he wrote a book, when he returned to England, predicting a Confederate victory. He did a lot of unofficial military traveling. I assume that his family had money.
This was an excellent listen.
A fascinating first hand account, of this crucial part of the US civil war.
A magnificent recounting of the story, close to being there as the talk goes on. Now I am rushing to find the other part of this story.
We inherited one of those " receipts", its blank, but as I recall I believe it identified itself as from the Army of the Confederacy. Amazing that the paper is nearly without stain, fading or yellowing, as it is not made on acid paper.
Was made of cotton paper.
Longstreet wasn't technically an "Alabamian" but he was serving on behalf of Alabama where his mother lived and where he had been appointed to West Point from.
I learned something, thanks.
I am reminded of the Movie Gettysburg by this narrative and how well it was made.
Great movie but it was horrendously unfair in its portrayal of Fremantle.
@@OriginalNiceButOdd Agreed, made him out as a dandy and part buffoon. This account showed his keen insight. Not sure why used him this way in the movie.
Wonderful reading and account! Absolutely wonderful!
Meade's decision not to counterattack may also have been influenced by the cavalry action behind his lines between Stewart and Gregg (although Custer gets so much press that it is often assumed he was in command; he exhibited the same flaws which he continued to show throughout his career, outrunning his spare ammo, failing to conduct a basic reconnaissance, and exposing his troops unnecessarily to fire prior to engaging.)
There was a charge of the Third Division V Corps which was a limited and successful attempt to retake stocks of muskets and cannon which were being prepared for destruction by the Confederates. I know of this because my Great great Grandfather's published notes provoked a dispute over credit for saving the Union right (he got his info from a Gettysburg regiment in the Third Division and did not know of Vincent's brigade) He got a couple of letters from MG Crawford accepting the credit in terms which amount to a stereotype of a blustering showboat which included a copy of his official report and inventory of the arms recovered. I might add that the penmanship was good, until it is clear that the General took over writing on his own. His almost indecipherable scrawl reflects that he had been a pre-war military surgeon.
Absolutely brilliant well made and narrated listening to this in Carlisle Cumbria thank you nice that its no a ridiculous Ai taking oddly.
I suppose it's good to know that Pennsylvanians haven't changed much.
I love the detail and uniqueness of perspective that comes with first hand accounts. Thank you for sharing this!
not only that, but this is as reported by a non-combatant foreign observer (who happened to be a foreign military officer, so he was at least some degree 'an expert witness'). So this record will be a reasonably neutral or non-biased account.
I Enjoyed listenening to this, great insight of the account from different persepective. Keep up the greak work i subscribed after listening
Lee's rank insignia: it seems we're so accustomed to associating general officers with rank insignia made up of various numbers of stars that we fail to realize the three stars Lee wore on his uniform were the Confederate Army's insignia for the rank of colonel, not general.
When Lee resigned his US Army commission he accepted a commission as a colonel in the forces of the state of Virginia. This was before Virginia formally joined the Confederacy and before any Confederate army yet existed. With the formation of the Army of the Confederate States of America, Lee was commissioned as one of five officers with the rank of general, but Lee continued to wear the uniform and rank insignia of his rank of colonel in the Virginia state forces, saying that he would adopt his general's uniform and rank insignia until the war was won and Southern independence was achieved.
The gold stars on the lapel of a Confederate officer correspond to what are now called "field grade" officer ranks: one star for the rank of major, two for lieutenant colonel, and three for colonel. General officer ranks, on the other hand, consisted of an upright collar of tan or buff coloring with three stars, the middle one being slightly larger, surrounded by a gold wreath. Strangely, this was the prescribed insignia for any general officer, regardless of whether they were a brigadier, major general, lieutenant general, or (full) general. That is to say, Confederate rank insignia did not distinguish between the various ranks of general officer.
Remember that "Colonel" is the absolute highest southern rank. Colonel Sanders being the most famous example.
Not quite accurate. Lee's colonelcy was his last Union rank. When he accepted service in the Virginia armed forces, he was given the militia rank of major general. At that time the rank did not exist in the Confederate service; the only general rank was brigadier prior to August 1861, at which time the rank of full general was instituted. The rank of major general was created in early 1862, and of lieutenant general in early 1863.
@@unclesmrgol That's kuh-nul to you, buddy.
Excellent video and very well narrated 👍👍
Very well done interesting.
This is a very detailed and well written report. A great historic incite. Interesting to observe the discipline of the Confederate army
Posting soldiers on every rich house to keep plundering in the limits ordered shows everything but or the lack of discipline.
Lee accepted RESPONSIBILITY for the defeat. Authority can be delegated. However responsibility cannot be. In our modern times, no one wants to accept responsibility, preferring to cast blame on others.
This man British Officer and observer Arthur Fremantle was very accurate in his observations and description of the Battle of Gettysburg. I am surprised how accurate he was. I have never heard any of his reports; that he was a military man of some competence and knowledge is quite obvious.
Texas, Arkansas, and Alabama. Good thing an English speaker was along to write the account.
My favorite line from his account of traveling through the South was his remark concerning citizens all carrying guns. He notes that it does have the benefit of keeping arguments much shorter.
Some historians state that the North would have sued for peace if gettysburg went the other way, and Lee was left to move further into PA. But listening to this, I notice a lot of fight in PA, or at least in her ladies!
Historians aren't prophets. Historians analyze the sources and with the historical critical method gives us the best possible description of what has happened. Prophets on the other hands make claims and some found even their own religion.
He was free to travel freely. He just had to stay at least a step ahead of union troops. But his men lacked shoes because he had no resupply of basic items like shoes. So the rumor of shoes in Gettysburg was enough to draw his army to Gettysburg. But his commanders lacked discipline, disobeyed his orders not to get into a battle over shoes and drew him into a battle outside of Gettysburg that he did not want to fight. Then once he committed to the fight they chose to disobey his orders and fight on the flanks. Then once they lost the flanks they chose to obey his orders to attack the center of the Union line. Then they ran out of manpower. Because they surrendered on Cemetery Ridge after beaching the Union line on Cemetery Hill as the Rebs who breached the Union line found themselves isolated on Cemetery Ridge with no support. Lee then found himself isolated outside of Gettysburg with a shell of his original force at the bottom of Cemetery Ridge out of supplies and facing incoming Union forces and chose to surrender the battle.
He could have done that two days earlier, gone back to his original plan and attacked Harrisburg but he lacked the personal discipline to do that.
Basically you can take a Reb out of the South but you can't take the South out of a Reb.
@@TorianTammashe didn't say that they were prophets
@@TorianTammasnot clams. Predictions.
Strategists make predictions. Historians make claims based on historical notes. Similar but not the same.
@@touristguy87 Where did anyone mention strategist?
The narrator sounds like Jared Harris - son of Richard Harris. Slick production!
“Look at Pharaoh’s army going to the Red Sea.” LOL that’s actually a pretty good one, and also turned out to be true. 😂
The breastworks joke lmao
26:42 soon as described the gallant flag bearer who planted his flag and whose regiment fought well. He is the one who with great verve shook his fist every so often as he retreated with his regiment shook his fist at the advancing rebels. He was seen to be shot down dead And even his foes who saw it have remarked on his legendary bravery
There was one aspect of Lee’s orders that this “gentleman” doesn’t remark upon or is he using the mistaken phrase of contraband to the free blacks that were enslaved during the Gettysburg campaign on his orders. As Britain had banned slavery about 30 years earlier he should remarked against such treatment. He embraces the rhetoric of his Confederate hosts.
Maybe he personally does but he is also recorded as bluntly telling Confederates that Britain would refuse to support the Southern Cause directly due to slavery.
ah, he wasn't in Great Britain when he was observing this part of the war. Laws are particular to the territory or jurisdiction that you are located.
For example, when in France, obey their laws. When in Canada, obey their laws. Now what are the laws at Gettysburg at that time when 2 opposing armies are fighting.? What are your chances of being taken seriously, if as a non-combatant observer, you open up and whinge about something not being right.... oh, that's illegal (somewhere else). They would laugh at you.
The British slavery laws at that time were about the transportation of slaves, and they enforced it seriously. The British Navy used to stop, search and arrest slave ships on the high seas between Africa and anywhere, including the America's in general.
They legislated abolition of actual slavery later, in their own country, colonies and dominions.
They never had power of what happened in the US and it's domestic or foreign policies after American Independence, some time before this civil war in the mid 1860's.
The British could not ban slavery within any other country as well.... which is why they concentrated on the cessation of slave transport / trade, on the high seas only.
43:12 We all know from the movie that Long Street did not fully believe in the chances of the attack's success. We've read the words of Long Street in the years after the civil War developing his thoughts further. But this moment here captured by our narrator shows exactly what longstreet looked like at the moment of the attacks failure and of the thousands of men streaming to the rear with all their wounded. General Longstreet has an impassive face and then has a fierce laugh and retort to a comment by our narrator. And speaks very matter-of-factly about their david that he had not planned but which he was given the sorry task of ordering
42:15 he comes across a mass of wounded "as numerous as the crowds on Oxford Street [London] in the middle of the day
Lee won a lot of games at home but couldn't get it done on the road in the playoffs.
53:05 stragglers had robbed some of the officers trunks, a very distressing way for them to begin the 4th of July, day after Pickett's charged
Interesting. It really shows how even someone present at the battle didn't really know what was going on. Colonel Fremantle didn't seem to realize that Lee lost at Gettysburg, even though Lee himself did, which is why he apologized. Colonel Fremantle didn't really seem to have a good grasp of the battlefield; not understanding the folly of Pickett's attack or even being aware of the battle on Little Round Top or it's significance. That is really sad considering that Pickett's tactics where repeated over and over during WW1 with great slaughter as the result. Perhaps a more perceptive British officer with some influence could have warned that the day of the bayonet charge was over. But then none of the European officers present that day really understood what they were seeing. The technology of killing leaping forward. Only the advent of the machine gun was needed to perfect it.
When you have to steal your ammunition after you won a battle as you have zero other option to replenish then your artillery is doomed and with it your army.
Interesting, but not good history. Confident Confederates march north passing by countless Union prisoners and spoils of war led by their virtuous generals. Ewell is sweeping away all resistance. Everyone expects a great victory. Interesting comments about the locals in Pennsylvania but strangely, nothing about the hostile reception by civilians in Maryland where Lee hoped for support. No mention that Lee twice tried to flank Meade and failed, and finally the disastrous coup de main by Pickett's Division which is incorrectly claimed to have been successful. Then surprise, the battle is lost. Listening to this without knowing the history I would not be able to understand why Lee lost this battle or that it was a spectacular loss that turned the tide of the war. Lee would never go on the offensive again.
One of my history professors in university told us the British and French sent military observers to the Confederacy but the Prussians sent observers to the Union. The Prussians learned how Grant and Sherman used rivers and railways to speed troops to the front while using pontoon bridges to cross rivers. They saw cartridge guns used for the first time in war and saw their superior rate of fire. Like the Union they employed conscription to build larger armies than the old professional armies of the past. And they saw that industrial capacity was key to win wars. Captain Justus Scheibert wrote a book on his experiences in America. With what they learned they quickly defeated Austria (1866), and France (1871), two traditional first-rate powers. This was shocking at the time and enabled Bismarck to have the Prussian King crowned German Emperor in Versailles.
An excellent synopsis of the lessons of the US Civil War. Britain and France took the wrong lessons, while the Prussians learned the correct ones.
Certainly the magnitude of the loss was not made clear. That would not have served the hopes (still cherished by the Confederates despite Freemantle's disclaimers) of British intervention. But in this account Longstreet is quoted setting Freemantle straight on the major point of the failure of Picket's charge. A great deal was made of the martial conduct of the Confederates which only makes sense in the context of a dangerous reverse, however it was downplayed.
Excellent summation.
I would only add that nobody seemed to draw the lesson that firepower now meant that entrenchments would become key, and that war of manoeuvre would not be possible in WW1. A keen observer of the civil War could have predicted that.
They probably dismissed both American armies as not being professional enough in comparison to the European armies.
Fremantle is a southern sympathizer. His viewpoint is identical to that of those in which he was imbedded.
I don’t see how it’s “not good history.” It’s simply a firsthand account that is limited by the information he was present for, but everything he said is corroborated by the historical record. The Confederates DID carry the day on July 1 and took many prisoners. The fact that Sickles advanced out of line and ran into Longstreet’s advance meant that technically they DID overrun several US positions before eventually being checked (on Little Round Top). Even though he missed Pickett’s Charge, he was aware that it was a disaster. If anything, this account is an excellent piece of the historical puzzle that can be pieced together with other sources to get a picture of the whole.
16:30 The description of Lee both physical and in terms of his personality
Okay?
24:20 they come across a very large group of wounded men going to the rear under their own power, or assisted, or on stretchers, which is a terrifying vision to my mind. However, he describes the nonchalance of the soldiers marching past them towards the front, who are observer expected would have shown some sort of emotion, but it was one of nonchalant's, and he says this is the result of two years of hard fighting where the appearance of ghastly wounds on many soldiers of their own side does not phase the soldiers
After losing 900 of the 1200 men from the Irish Brigade at Fredericksburg, General Thomas Meagher threw a party in the town of Fredericksburg, while his dead still lay frozen on the ground a mile away at Marye's Heights.
Invaluable narrative!
It's interesting that Lee forbade damage to private property. As I recall, Sherman didn't burn property willy-nilly, but only if rations were forthcoming.
Sherman expressly stated he “would make Georgia howel” and did so by torching Atlanta and almost every dwelling until he hit Savannah - he didn’t light up Savannah but deliberately caused even more destruction to South Carolina
Fremantle sounds very sympathetic to the CSA. Probably because of the common culture; Southern officers fancied themselves to be aristocrats, and Fremantle certainly must have been one.
25:02 Union is captured by the rebels seem to be on good relations with them as they talk and swap canteens. This was not a genocidal War. There was much gentlemanly fraternity between this slides
Interesting to see that the confederates had a strict anti looting policy, at least for civilian houses. I wonder if the union did the same for places other than Georgia of course.
The Confederates did so to convince the Pennsylvanians of their benign intentions and they would be better off if the kindly rebels won the war. The Yankees had no such regard because they rightfully considered the southerners as traitors to the Union and deserving of whatever they got. Sherman, of course, showed them what he thought of them.
This courtesy was not afforded to the black population of the North, whom the Confederates were under direct orders to round up and enslave. At least 1000 black people were enslaved by Lee’s army as they marched North, and many Pennsylvanians reported seeing the Rebels chasing down terrified black people who were not able to hide or evacuate in time.
Almost sounds like a love letter
"...Nor would they believe me when I told them I was an English spectator, and a non-combatant. They said I must be either a rebel, or a Yankee, by which expression I learned for the first time, that the term "Yankee" is as much used as a reproach in Pennsylvania, as in the South"
much thanks1
Apparently, Meade was justified in not launching a pursuit of Lee. The Confederates would have been expecting them. Both sides made mistakes. In that battle, the Union made the fewest.
Really.... really???...you think that Longstreet had any clue what the pressure that Gen. Lee was under??..didn't think so
Flashman?
I wonder if the Confederate army would’ve had a better chance of winning the war if they had conducted a Guerilla type campaign against the Union from the very beginning. Instead they were completely committed to the idea of waging a conventional war using conventional tactics that were in and of themselves very outdated.
Their war objectives were hardly compatible with such a strategy.
Iv thought exactly the same since I studied the civil war for my history exam aged 16 in 1976.
They conducted both simultaneously. As Fremantle says, the rebel armies were very dependent on captured supplies, which they often obtained by guerilla raids. Ironically, after losing the war, they used a combination of passive resistance and terrorist (KKK) tactics which allowed them to keep their "way of life" for almost another century. They were almost as successful in defeat as they would have been in victory. Or if they had never rebelled at all.
@@brianniegemann4788Ironically, slavery would have lasted a lot longer if they hadn’t rebelled. The US might have been the last country in the western hemisphere to abolish slavery otherwise.
Well yeah theirs bush wackers in the woods. If a invading army passes through your woods i bet you'd aim for the bush too
The Confederacy was trying to get support from England during the Civil War. I believe that’s why Fremantle was traveling with Lee’s army.
No. He was a military tourist, as were the Prussian and the Austrian officers whom he met on his travels.
He wore his own civilian clothes and subsequently went through Union lines and travelled on to New York.
There were American military tourists with the British Army in the Crimea, as this was seen as a legitimate way of observing the developments in weapons and tactics.
The British government was aware that there was no prospect of persuading the British people that Britain should recognise the Confederacy, and this was due in no small part to the efforts of Frederick Douglas and others in touring the British archipelago speaking on slavery in America.
After the battle, Lincoln felt confident to enact the Emancipation Proclamation. England had outlawed slavery in 1833. Any hope the South had of an outright alliance was impossible. The South's only way to win really was either very quickly militarily or by defeating the will to continue fighting. Lincoln won 55% of the vote, and an electoral landslide in 1864 vs ex union General McClellan, an appeasement candidate.
@@chrisgibson5267 The original poster was describing the motives of the Confederates, not those of the British "observers".
@@digitalnomad9985True, but the point stands, Britain wouldn't directly intervene on the South's behalf no matter how much the South asked and pleaded.
@@thehappy_spearman1389English cotton mill owners needed raw cotton from the south.
Interesting how Confederate generals had so little confidence in their cavalry.
I've speculated if J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry had followed up on Pickett's Charge by spilling through the gap in Union lines, they could have wreaked havoc.
But now reassessing if Stuart's men were capable of that sort of offensive action.
Cavalry in the USCW was not a shock weapon.
There were a lot of fences and obstructions that would stop a frontal cavalry charge. Perhaps a flank attack but I don’t know enough about the battlefield. Probably unlikely. In the Napoleonic period, cavalry charged infantry in the open and not behind walls and fences.
My thinking was cavalry units attached to Pettigrew, Trimble, and Pickett's divisions could have quickly followed up behind after the Confederate infantry had engaged, ready to pass through any gaps in the Union line (such as happened at the Bloody Angle).
It wouldn't be a frontal charge of the Union lines but rather a means of disrupting their cohesion, taking pressure off of the Confederate infantry in the front line.
@@RobertWF42 How would cavalry get through the fences and obstacles? Was there really a stretch of perfectly open field anywhere for cavalry to easily pass over and get engaged properly?
@simonlancaster1815 Yes that would be a problem -- were there high fences and walls on Cemetery Ridge? The cavalry would have to skirt around buildings.
Fremantle may have been competent in his duties but still a failed prophet: "And I am also of opinion that many will agree with me in thinking that a people in which all ranks and both sexes display a unanimity and a heroism which can never have been surpassed in the history of the world, is destined sooner or later, to become a great and independent nation."
Pharaoh's army rushing to the Red Sea.
37:49 dimensions as a European officer, how the federal zuwave uniforms were very poor imitations
Okay? Why are you saying thiſ
Kind of a confusing plot
40:00
This does not sound like the character in the movie. I bet there was no uniform or cup of tes
In fact, he warns the German not to wear his uniform.
@@brianholly3555 Yes but the yanks in the movie had to have a dig
He was not there officially and so could not wear his uniform
@@brianholly3555 which German are you talking about: his companions at Ghettysburg were one Prussian - Justus Scheibert, and one Austrian officer - Fitzgerald Ross.
❤
The British observer seems awfully biased by his familiarity with the army that he is embedded with and therefore remiss in his job.
I imagine that they could compare his account with observers with the Union Army? Thus getting a balanced view?
He was not there as an official observer or representative of the British Government. He was there entirely unofficially while on a leave of absence from his usual position as assistant military secretary in Gibraltar. Any opinions he express in his book are his alone.
Literally how? Because he doesn't depict Confederate soldiers and officers as cartoonish slave-whipping Klan members? Stick with Star Wars. Out here, you might have to learn something.
@@StoopidAnimul Would you consider Fort Pillow cartoonish? Did you know that the average Freedman had about 20% European DNA right after slavery? It wasn't voluntary. There was nothing funny about the slaveholding south.
@@Al-Rudigor What does any of that have to do with the account of an English officer?
sic semper tyrannis
Is this AI generated?
Words are real but the voice is fake.
Michael Page is an actor and professor of theatre, he has narrated over 500 titles since the 1980's.
@@dalekenworthy4537 Are you sure this isn't just an AI impersonating his voice, though? The narration definitely gave me AI vibes, especially the way the ending syllables of a lot of the sentences have what (to my ear) sounds like identical changes in pitch and tone.
Some of his observations are questionable. Grain of salt.
Somewhat different from Sherman's march where rape, pillage and burn was commonplace.
He was there to explicitly destroy, and thereby end, the capacity AND WILL of the enemy to resist and prosecute the war. This was the means to that end.
He was there to explicitly destroy, and thereby end, the capacity AND WILL of the enemy to resist and prosecute the war. This was the means to that end.
@michaelray3865 What he did to his own countrymen was sick. Most of whom were just citizens. He was definitely no American hero. He was a ruthless tyrant.
@@PorkChopAChunky - They were not his countrymen, as they had renounced their allegiance to the US Constitution.
@@PorkChopAChunkyAre you a psychopath??? They enslaved human beings...Sherman was too nice
This Brit was convinced that the confederacy would win.
The cotton mills of Manchester were thirsty animals ?
the British thought their defeat in our Revolution proved (and Napoleon’s defeat in Spain and Russia) it🎉 was impossible to defeat a nation determined to fight. That and the writer is British upper class who always thought blacks and lower class whites were born to serve them.
The Civil War was a class war, aristocrats and their servants against all else.
The British already had their own cotton fields in their actual colonies and this expedited it.
Fascinating perspective on this historic event!
I believe the Brits played both sides. A smart approach really.
All his honorable men had slaves and were traitors.
This man is a reb grizzly gobbler.
Notice he missed the men this army enslaved on its march
How many ?
Is there any battle that the British won?
Waterloo, Trafalgar, El Alamein, Falklands..
Hundreds of them.
The list is endless 😂🇬🇧🏴
You don't get to have the biggest empire in the history of the world without winning a few battles. By the way I don't despise the Empire like it is so fashionable to do these days.
Too many - often very one sided, cannons and carbines v spears and arrows.
Fremantle?...Flashman???...pompous Victorian Brit...both
Confederate whining is always music to my ears.
(Mother has moved to Austin.)
That’s not how you spell winning,never mind the sentiment is appreciated.
Weird to be so invested in a 160 year old conflict
@@helenwhite2066 you lost more battles and the war. Go to school.
Pronunciations are terrible. Signed-Alabamian
Americans similarly mangle British place names - we are separated by a common language.
I have never read an account of a visit with evil which was so laughably uncritical of the subject's ambitions and laced with so much slobbering admiration for personal style and charisma... until I read the New York Times' coverage of the recent Republican convention
You wrote all that and not one person cared. The only interaction being from a troll mocking you.😂
Doesn't matter what the British think. They're British.
The bigger issue is that the Rebs keep losing battles despite a numerical advantage. They keep trying to attack in force with poor strategy and tactics and keep getting their asses handed to them.
On the other hand you have to applaud the bravery and determination of the Union soldiers who could easily have turned their backs on Lincoln and the Union and just stayed at home "minding their own business". They stood up for what was right and often paid for it with their lives. Helping the Rebs to understand with a little prodding by Mime ball and grapeshot.
The thing is that I would really hate to see another Civil War happen now. It would be an absolute massacre with modern technology.
How often did the Confederates outnumber the union forces over the course of the war, on very few occasions, you sir are an uninformed fool.
Lol..just had to laugh at the word turnpike, as it was back then.
Pennsylvanians still use the word turnpike.
What is it now?
In England, we still have turnpikes. There is one very close to where I am called the Rettenden Turnpike.
@@FlyxPat The Pennsylvania Turnpike
What is wrong with the word turnpike?