Thomas F. Harney

[L Verge]

I also read the Stelnick manuscript years ago, and Bill has given an excellent synopsis of it. Personally, I think he (Stelnick) made some very good points. Unfortunately, however, he had some very undesirable personality traits that over-rode his historical research with those of us who dealt with him. Frankly, I don't think that his central theme that Yankee financiers were out to get Lincoln is all that far-fetched. It's just easier to blame everything related to our Civil War on the Confederates.

Getting back to the Harney theme, is it all that far-fetched to think that, from the fall of 1864 on, things were going so badly for the South that it became unwritten policy from the top that anything was feasible if it gained ground for the Confederacy? In other words, people such as Gen. Raines could devise strategy without the approval from the top? If Davis wanted to continue the war via guerrilla tactics, wouldn't he also sanction "do or die" attempts?