Edward H. Bonekemper III - The Myth of the Lost Cause

I discovered this gem of a book accidentally at B & N and it's a terrific book for me as it directly addresses the myths and untruths of the Confederacy and the Civil War.  The author is not a traditional academic, but he does seem to have credentials.  He backs his points with solid evidence.

The gist of the book is that slavery caused the war.  It's amazing that this fact still has to be defended.

The "Lost Cause" is a house of cards that collapses upon examination of the evidence.

Protection of slavery trumped the military needs of the Confederacy.  Slavery and white supremacy were the basis of the would-be nation.  P. 92

Europeans probably didn't intervene because they knew that slavery was the heart of the matter.  P. 93

The Confederacy could not emancipate for it would have negated the whole purpose of secession.  P. 94

Davis and Lee refused to treat black soldiers as normal prisoners which only helped maintain the North's numerical superiority.  P. 95

"In summary, contrary to the Myth of the Lost Cause, preservation of slavery was the primary cause of Southern states secession and their creation of the Confederacy.  Evidence of this connection is found in the slavery-related demographics of the South, the dedication of slave- owners to the war, the official secession resolutions and declarations of the seceding states, prewar settlement efforts, lobbying and diplomatic efforts by early-seceding states,contemporaneous pronouncements

The anti-Longstreet campaign started with Jubal Early's famous Lee birthday speech on January 19, 1872.  P. 144

The old discredited canard that Lee ordered Longstreet to attach early in the morning of July 2 which Longstreet disobeyed thereby losing Gettysburg and the war itself.  P. 146

The war for the South was not to be won or lost at Gettysburg.  P. 150

Lee's one theatre emphasis for Virginia with his reluctance to send any of his troops to the West, probably doomed the South as much as anything.  P. 152

The author creates the impression that Lee by himself lost the war for the Confederacy.  P. 159

The author dissects Gettysburg in minute detail which I cannot fathom  with the obvious conclusion that Robert E. Lee lost the battle for the Confederacy.  P. 192

The Lost Cause myth is that Grant was an accidental Northern hero who won his victories only by superior numbers and by being a willing butcher.  The facts are otherwise.  P. 194

Grant was the greatest general of the war.  Troops under his command suffered fewer casualties and injuries that those commanded by Lee.  P. 201

If Grant lost 94,000 men and Lee lost 121,000 how could Grant could have ever been labeled a "butcher."  P. 206

Grant's Vicksburg campaign was the most brilliant military campaign of the war. His plan to approach from the south was very risky but it worked.   P. 207

"Ulysses Grant won the Civil War."  P. 206

The ordinances of secession make it clear that slavery was the cause of the war, the only cause of the war.  P. 259

This is the most useful book I have ever read on the Civil War.