How long do you think the Civil War would have lasted had the Confederacy resorted to Guerrilla warfare?

Question

I imagine that Nathan Bedford Forrest would have been hard to handle.

Answer 1

Decades; burned farms, raped women, murdered children on both sides. Hatred like they have had in Northern Ireland since 1512 or in Bosnia since the 1200's. No reconciliation.

Saying "We lost. It's over. Go home." was Robert E. Lee's most noble action.
Saying "Good. Go home and we won't bother you" was U. S. Grant's most noble action.

Answer 2

One of my direct ancestors rode with John S. Mosby and used to tell my grandfather the various tales of his experiences.

Guerrilla warfare did rage in the country. There are still places in Missouri and Kansas where the other state wouldn't be welcome.

Bloody Bill Anderson, Sam Hildebrand, M. Jeff Thompson, William Quantrill, the Kansas Redlegs, Chief Stand Waitie, Jo Shelby, Union Gen. Stoneman and on and on.

And do you really think the former Confederates didn't resort to guerrilla tactics after the war. They most certainly did and Nathan Bedford Forrest and the KKK were very effective at removing Republican government from Tennessee. In fact, once they had gotten rid of carpet bagging Republicans, they hung up their sheets.

So that's how we get rid of the Republicans......

Answer 3

The South was economically devastated enough as it was by the war, and took 120 years to recover. Imagine if the conflict had lasted twenty more years. The South would have been a wasteland. I cannot imagine a worse outcome than guerrilla warfare.

Answer 4

Stuart King's answer above is excellent (give him the ten points, I say!) praising both Lee and Grant.

I'd add that in many ways the leaders of the Confederacy didn't need to resort to Guerilla warfare. Within two to three decades many of them (or their children) were back in power. Slavery had been eliminated but most African Americans (in the South >AND< in the North) continued to live powerless lives of poverty. The status quo had been cut down but what grew up in its place really didn't change things for another 100 years.

Answer 5

3 to 5 years, longer if Lincoln had lived much shorter after the assassination. Shermans boys were ready to kill every living thing. Phil Sheridan would have made short work of Forrest and Mosby. You have to realize how badly beaten the south was in April 1865., The union had all of Grant & Meade's army, Shermans army and the troops that general Thomas was commanding. Lee's army was starved and would have been anhilated at Appomatox. After Sherman would have wiped out Joe Johnston they could have literally combed the country out. The romantic fantasy that the south could have lasted is laughable. Thet were done and Lee knew it.

Answer 6

I'ld agree with Uncle Billy....you have to understand..by the war's end they were no longer sending young men into battle... there were sending small children and very old elderly men.. at that point Guerrilla warfare wasn't even an option...

Answer 7

It would still be going on. While a 'formal' settlement probably would have been reached after years of fighting, we would never have developed the basic security that we did, thus allowing minor skirmishes to continue to the present day.

With that occurring, economic development would have been totally stagnated and this country would be totally unrecognizable today.

Answer 8

A long *** time!