The Turning Point of the War—150 years ago today

Forget-me-nots at the Brock Road/Plank Road intersection
Forget-me-nots at the Brock Road/Plank Road intersection

Forget that nonsense you’ll hear from folks about “Gettysburg as the turning point of the Civil War.” Rather, Grant’s decision today–150 years ago–was the turning point of the war: Unable to get at Lee in the Wilderness, he decided he’d instead go around.

There’d be “no turning back,” he’d vowed, and on this day, he proved it.

I wrote about this turning point of the war last summer, at the close of Gettysburg’s sesquicentennial. At the Brock Road/Plank Road intersection, the momentum of the war shifted incontrovertibly in favor of the Federals. 

If there was “a” turning point, it was today, 150 years ago.



1 Response to The Turning Point of the War—150 years ago today

  1. Interesting perspective. The resolution of the turning points issue may be that after Gettysburg/Vicksburg the CSA could not WIN the Civil War, but after the Wilderness/Spotsylvania, it HAD to lose it.

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