History UsefulNotes / RebelsWithRepeaters

Nevertheless, the South did have a strong advantage in leadership. For the first half of the war, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were an almost unbeatable team. Lincoln, on the other hand, [[YouHaveFailedMe fired his Union generals after almost every single engagement]]. It got to the point where Lincoln felt he had to reappoint General George [=McCellan=] despite the fact that he was a MilesGloriosus of an insubordinate coward of a battlefield commander whose most notable victory was at Antietam which was more of a glorified stand-off because he had a lucky break with discovering secret battle plans of Lee's that he almost frittered away in his hesitancy to act on it.. Nevertheless, their tactics only slowed the inevitable, as the North had [[WeHaveReserves a much larger manpower pool]] and industrial capacity, and Southern generals proved [[WeHaveReserves no better at preserving their men's lives]]. Many historians agree that even if the South won engagements such as Antietam and Gettysburg, they still would have been overwhelmed in the long run. For instance, while a Confederate victory at Antietam would have forced Lincoln to delay announcing the Emancipation Proclamation without seeming desperate and allowed European nations to consider intervening, Lee winning at Gettysburg would likely have meant little considering General Grant captured the city of Vicksburg at the same time, splitting the Confederacy in two by seizing total control of the Mississippi river. When Grant was assigned command of the Army of the Potomac, Lee suddenly faced a Union opponent who was a skilled big picture [[TheStrategist strategist]] with the will to use his superior forces to grind Lee down relentlessly, combined with Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman who had the determined pragmatic ruthlessness to destroy the Confederacy's morale and viability by cutting a destructive swath through it. By 1864, the only hope the South had to win was to hold out in sieges from the Union army until the North, sick of war with no end in sight, would vote for a government more open to a peace agreement. But then Atlanta fell and Lincoln was reelected, showing everyone that the Confederacy had lost.

As for their navy, the South did have two claims to fame: the ironclad ''Virginia'' (née ''Merrimack''), one of the first iron-plated vessels; and the submarine ''Hunley'', the first to sink an enemy ship (which proved to be a MutualKill, as the ''Hunley'' sank with all hands soon after). Still, they were never able to break the Union blockade. A number of foreign-built high seas raiders, such as ''CSS Alabama'', are also well-known among history buffs, notable for causing a decade-long diplomatic dispute between US and Britain (who built and sold the ship) and the fact that these ships never actually came anywhere near the waters of Confederacy, as they operated from overseas bases with mostly mercenary crews except for their officers. Some, such as French-built ironclad raider ''CSS Stonewall'' were taken over by US government after the war and sold to foreign countries where they were occasionally involved in other historical events (The ''Stonewall'', for example, became The Japanese ''Kōtetsu'' and later the ''Azuma'' and was involved in the wars of the UsefulNotes/MeijiRestoration).

As for their navy, the South did have two claims to fame: the ironclad ''Virginia'' (née ''Merrimack''), one of the first iron-plated vessels; and the submarine ''Hunley'', the first to sink an enemy ship (which proved to be a MutualKill, as the ''Hunley'' sank with all hands soon after). Still, they were never able to break the Union blockade. A number of foreign-built high seas raiders, such as ''CSS Alabama'', are also well-known among history buffs, notable for causing a decade-long diplomatic dispute between US and Britain (who built and sold the ship) and the fact that these ships never actually came anywhere near the waters of Confederacy, as they operated from overseas bases with mostly mercenary crews except for their officers. Some, such as French-built ironclad raider ''CSS Stonewall'' were taken over by US government after the war and sold to foreign countries where they were occasionally involved in other historical events (The ''Stonewall'', for example, became The Japanese ''Kōtetsu'' and later the''Azuma'' and was involved in the wars of the UsefulNotes/MeijiRestoration).

As for their navy, the South did have two claims to fame: the ironclad ''Virginia'' (née ''Merrimack''), one of the first iron-plated vessels; and the submarine ''Hunley'', the first to sink an enemy ship (which proved to be a MutualKill, as the ''Hunley'' sank with all hands soon after). Still, they were never able to break the Union blockade. A number of foreign-built high seas raiders, such as ''CSS Alabama'', are also well-known among history buffs, notable for causing a decade-long diplomatic dispute between US and Britain (who built and sold the ship) and the fact that these ships never actually came anywhere near the waters of Confederacy, as they operated from overseas bases with mostly mercenary crews except for their officers. Some, such as French-built ironclad raider ''CSS Stonewall'' were taken over by US government after the war and sold to foreign countries where they were occasionally involved in other historical events (The ''Stonewall'', for example, became Japanese ''Azuma'' and was involved in the wars of the UsefulNotes/MeijiRestoration).