"Ward Moore - Bring The Jubilee2" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moore Ward)

INTRODUCTION BY JEFF SHAARA

I LIFE IN THE TWENTY-SIX STATES
II OF DECISIONS, MINIBILES, AND TINUGRAPHS
III A MEMBER OF THE GRAND ARMY
IV TYSS
V OF WHIGS AND POPULISTS
VI ENFANDIN
VII OF CONFEDERATE AGENTS IN 1942
VIII IN VIOLENT TIMES
 IX BARBARA
X THE HOLDUP
XI OF HAGGERSHAVEN
XII MORE Of HAGGERSHAVEN
XIII TIME
XIV MIDBIN'S EXPERIMENT
XV GOOD YEARS
XVI OF VARIED SUBECTS
XVII HX-1
XVIII THE WOMAN TEMPTED ME
XIX GETTYSBURG
XX BRING THE JUBILEE
XXI FOR THE TIME BEING



INTRODUCTION

It is a never-ending source of entertaining discussion among those who
are fascinated by the great events of history: "What if . . . ?" Throughout
time, and the great events of Man, it has often been said that what has
occurred was determined by the Fates. Or perhaps each decision that resulted
in some great achievement, heroic and everlasting, in fact hinged on plain
dumb luck.
Students of the Civil War often notice these peculiar and intriguing
occurrences more readily than the historians from whom they learn, possibly
because it is the job of the historian to ignore the "what if" and focus
instead on what _was_. And often, the more endearing charms of history are
pushed aside by these very students, in pursuit of a higher test score.
There have been countless debates on the outcome of significant events:
What if . . . Stonewall Jackson had lived? Would his presence at Gettysburg
have turned the tide in Lee's favor? Even those who were there at the time
felt his absence. What of the "lost orders" of Lee, found by chance by
scavenging Federal soldiers, who surely valued the cigars around which the
papers were wrapped more than the papers themselves? Yet, at least one of them
had the wisdom to show the papers to an officer, who in turn went to General
McClellan. Thus was the Battle of Antietam fought at all.
But these are documented, discussed, and debated because the events were
monumental, the results clear and defined. For each of these, how many were
never discovered at all, never noticed in the mundane day-to-day lives of the