Question of the Week: 2/15-2/21/16

Question-Header

Today’s Question of the Week comes from Edward Alexander, who asks, “What do you consider to be the longest single event of the war?”

“This will probably boil down to a semantics argument,” Edward says, “but it’s a discussion I’ve had thrust upon me a few times.”



10 Responses to Question of the Week: 2/15-2/21/16

  1. The Siege of Charleston, from April 1861 to February 1865, comes to mind. Also Emancipation, which lasted from the summer of 1861 through the whole war and beyond until December 1865

  2. The desire to take Richmond. It lasted the entire war. However I believe this is where semantics come in. It was not a continuous thing,but several incidents. I think Chris has the answer with Charleston,but again I suggest that there was never a continuous effort to take the city. I believe Grant’s taking of Vicksburg might meet the requirements. He started and did not stop until he accomplished his goal. He used several different approaches but they were all continuous or simultaneous.

  3. Going out on a limb, what about the 1864 Presidential campaign? It seems like some (especially Chase and perhaps Seward) were looking forward to it since Lincoln’s election, if not since his nomination as Republican candidate.

  4. I agree with Petersburg…while often referred to as a “siege” it was months and months of constant conflict. As a second choice, I’d offer the 100 day campaign for Atlanta, few days within that period lacked serious fighting.

  5. LTG Grant’s campaign against the Army of Northern Virginia in 1864-65. Although it is most often considered to consist of three or campaigns (Virginia Overland, Petersburg, Appomattox…2d Valley), I believe that this military effort is actually one long campaign; one that kept the eastern
    Union and Rebel forces in contact from 4 May 1864 through 9 April 1865.

  6. The reaction to the Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia. During the war, it was both feared and desired as capture would almost guarantee a Congressional Medal of Honor. Is that not the case today as well?

  7. I view the march of Union forces from Vicksburg beginning February 3, 1864, to Atlanta in May, following through to Savannah in December of 1864, and then continuing through the Carolinas to the Bennett House near Raleigh, NC, ending there on April 26,1865, as one event. It was estimated that the Union forces of the XVI and XVII Corps, under a single command structure, in a continuous campaign against the Confederacy, marched a total of 2,584 miles!

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