There is widespread disagreement over the turning point of the American Civil War. The idea of a turning point is an event after which most observers would agree that the eventual outcome was inevitable. While the Battle of Gettysburg is the most widely cited (often in combination with Battle of Vicksburg), there are several other arguable turning points in the American Civil War. Possibilities are presented here in chronological order. Only the positive arguments for each are given.
At the time of the event, the fog of war often makes it impossible to recognize all of the implications of any one victory. Hindsight well after the fact reveals the endpoint and all the developments that led up to it. In most cases, contemporary observers may lack confidence in predicting a turning point. In the Civil War, many of the turning points cited by historians would not have been recognized as such at the time.
Read more about Turning Point Of The American Civil War: Confederate Victory in First Battle of Bull Run (July 1861), Confederate Invasion of Kentucky (September 1861), Union Capture of Forts Henry and Donelson (February 1862), Union Capture of New Orleans (April 1862), Union Victory in Battle of Antietam (September 1862), Stonewall Jackson's Death (May 1863), Union Capture of Vicksburg and Victory in Battle of Gettysburg (July 1863), Union Victory in Third Battle of Chattanooga (November 1863), Grant's Appointment As Union General-in-chief (March 1864), Union Capture of Atlanta (September 1864), Lincoln's Reelection (November 1864)
Famous quotes containing the words civil war, turning, point, american, civil and/or war:
“... there was the first Balkan war and the second Balkan war and then there was the first world war. It is extraordinary how having done a thing once you have to do it again, there is the pleasure of coincidence and there is the pleasure of repetition, and so there is the second world war, and in between there was the Abyssinian war and the Spanish civil war.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“Many people operate under the assumption that since parenting is a natural adult function, we should instinctively know how to do it—and do it well. The truth is, effective parenting requires study and practice like any other skilled profession. Who would even consider turning an untrained surgeon loose in an operating room? Yet we “operate” on our children every day.”
—Louise Hart (20th century)
“Mildred Pierce: You look down on me because I work for a living, don’t you? You always have. All right, I work. I cook food and sell it and make a profit on it, which, I might point out, you’re not too proud to share with me.
Monte Beragon: Yes, I take money from you, Mildred. But not enough to make me like kitchens or cooks. They smell of grease.
Mildred Pierce: I don’t notice you shrinking away from a fifty- dollar bill because it smells of grease.”
—Ranald MacDougall (1915–1973)
“The greatest public health threat for many American women is the men they live with.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“A man’s real and deep feelings are surely those which he acts upon when challenged, not those which, mellow-eyed and soft-voiced, he spouts in easy times.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 2, ch. 13 (1962)
“The war is dreadful. It is the business of the artist to follow it home to the heart of the individual fighters—not to talk in armies and nations and numbers—but to track it home.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)