(05-10-2022, 07:16 PM)Lucky2Last Wrote: The South should have won that war, actually. They won the initial battle and could have marched on Washington, but they were insistent on seceding, not conquering the north. That said, the North was unequivocal in its pursuit of keeping the Union intact. It was Lincoln's primary objective. Lincoln did care about the slaves, but not as much as he cared about preserving the union. This is why the North went to war, and it's what they "solved" by winning it. The country became one country instead of many after the Civil War.

I don't see how the South could have won.  
They did try to conquer DC.  The whole point of the thrusts that culminated at Antietam and Gettysburg was to eventually turn east and lay siege to DC.  They were supposed to win those battles, hold the ground, the victory would inspire European support, have Europeans disrupt and distract the resupply of DC by sea, they are cut off from retreat, etc.
The Southern generals knew a simple thrust into DC might have conquered the city but would have had no other lasting effect if the armies defending DC were allowed to retreat north and west from there.  They had to be encircled.   The South knew the northern armies were going to eventually going to attack Chattanooga and Atlanta as they did, if they survived any battle for DC and weren't distracted by attacks from Europe.
Yes, once the war started, Lincoln said preserving the Union was the only goal.  That was 1861.  In 1860 Lincoln's campaign, and the Republican party platform, were about confining slaves to the South, as I said.

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