¶ … Vicissitudes of War
The principle topic of the article entitled No Peace Without Victory, 1861-1865, is the various attempts made at constructing a peace between the Union and Confederacy armies during the final two years of the Civil War. Intrinsically linked to this concept of peace and the number of overtures made for securing this purpose between both sides was the effect of the war on the morale for Americans in both the north and the southern portion of the country. By 1864, both sides were beginning to lament the wanton bloodshed that left several young men -- some of whom may have been related to one another -- dead. Adding to the drama and the increasing cry for peace that was heralded on both sides of the Mason-Dixie line was the fact that the upcoming presidential election would largely be decided on Lincoln's success...
Furthermore, with the fate of the presidential election largely hinging upon the issue of a quick end to the war, the attempts at peace were also moves to assuage the voices that cried for a reconciliation to end the
violence and death tolls that the war was increasingly escalating. In fact, the author provides a number of examples in which the terms of peace were specifically denoted by representatives from both sides as not being truly indicative of an armistice, but rather as a means of demonstrating that the leader of the opposing side was against such a truce in order to rally the support of various partisan political partisans.
The author indicates that both…
