virginia was the largest state in the confederacy
%uh and lee aside %uh
the
a lot of the principal military officers in the confederacy
including some of those who fought in the west
joseph johnston for example came from virginia
%uh so there would have been
%uh important strategic
objectives in virginia richmond of course was the major industrial center for the confederacy
as well
and that would have been true whether or not the capital was in richmond
so there still would have been
a focus on virginia
it would not have been as much of a focus on virginia i think you're probably right
that lee's influence over confederate strategy
which by the way derived primarily from his success in those major campaigns starting with the
seven days
would have
still been fairly strong but probably not as strong as if the capital had not been in richmond
i think that's
that's a that's a very interesting suggestion
I've always
on this issue %uh it's a little bit separate from your question but this issue of
%uh
where the confederate capital should be
and why richmond
I've always asked people who raised that question well
where do you think it ought to have been
new orleans was the largest city
it of course it of course was %uh captured very early in the war april eighteen sixty two
%uh
i think the reason the confederates put the capitol in richmond is because virginia was
so important to them and so
important in symbolic as well as substantive sense I mean
george washington was from virginia thomas jefferson was from virginia the kind of
great %uh the people that the confederacy put on it's great seal and on it's coins
and on it's money were mostly virginians
and the prestige of virginia's %uh
having been you know the kind of
foremost state in the south in the revolution
where most of the founding fathers came from
that had a lot to do with the decision to put the capital in richmond I think
but i think you make an interesting suggestion about the
way in which confederate strategy and especially in lee's influence on that strategy might have
been quite different if richmond had not been the capitol
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