Nathan LaFollette During the first battle of Bull Run the Union troops ran in full retreat back to Washington DC. During this time General Lee told president Davis that give him ten thousand troops and he would capture Washington DC, Davis thought he was kidding and just laughed him off. Had Davis not been mistaken our country might very well be split in half. That is just one of the massive blunders the South committed …showed first 75 words of 439 total…

…showed last 75 words of 439 total…such events like the battles of Gettysburg, and Vicksburg, and the burning of Atlanta. In my mind this added to the feeling of hopelessness in the Southern moral. To coin the phrase "There is no I in the word team" comes to mind. Had the South created a strong front, received foreign support, and achieved strategic victory early in the war they might have won. But without unity no long term victory can be guaranteed.