Not to be contrary, but I think we have covered the main points in the Foreword. We will often refer back to it I think. Today the early birds can comment further about the Foreword. Tonight we will move ahead and discuss the Spy. We have a long way yet to go and the meet is about 6 weeks away.

 

Looking forward to seeing how other folks felt about the spy. Interesting stuff.

 

Yes, absolutely. The South was tied to the land. A sense of being rooted that was never felt in the North. Loyalty comes from that.

 

Not a problem Bill, I was just curious. I'm sure we'll look back often.

 

I felt neutral about the spy. I had a little trouble figuring out his significance.

At the time of the Civil War I believe spys and snipers were regarded with as whores. Men of very little breeding, dignity or character.

I don't think that Lee wanted to trust him, but Longstreet did. Maybe the significance is the difference in the two men's approach to him.

What am I missing?

 

R.E. Lee........"It is all in God's hands." Was it?

 

I think that they (Lee) thought so except that he and his army could help God to make up his mind.

I also tend to think that is the way that many approach the future and the unknown. In this case the outcome of the battle.

 

Spys were/are necessary to collect information on an enemy force. Both sides used them. Leaders had to pay them whether they collected valuable information or not. Since they did not "fight" with arms, march into battle, they were not highly regarded. You hit on a great point Rob, men of very little character..........but this spy has a lot of character, and courage..........knows his Shakespeare too. Lee admired/loved Jeb Stuart, sort of as a son. He could not believe that Jeb Stuart would leave the Army "blind". He occupied one of the most highly regarded positions in the Army, General in command of Lee's cavalry, "the eyes and ears of the Army." It was Stuart's job to locate/report on the enemy's position/movements, so to Lee, he did not need to pay spies. But, Stuart was "joyriding," and he did leave the army blind. Hard for Lee to believe. So yes, Lee did not want to believe the Spy..........he wanted to hear and believe in Stuart, his "son". Lee was emotionally tied to Stuart. Longstreet was looking for facts, and the spy provided them, not Stuart.

 

Interesting point.

 

An Army of 70 thousand men searches for an army of 90,000 men and both are within a day's march of the other. You have no satellites, radar, airplanes, radios or other modern equipment. Typically you rely on Cavelry to find the enemy's position. Lee doesn't even have that. Longstreet employs an actor to travel the road and find information about the enemy.

As Rob notes, the man is regarding in almost the same light as a prostitute. Yet he brings information of untold value. Despite all the spy risks to carry out his job, Lee can barely believe the man. And even Longstreet who employed him shows him the barest of courtesy.

Compare that to today's intellegence agencies and army. Even withall the electronic survelliance in the our world, we still fail when we do not have relaiable information from reliable sources. Our intellegence agents (spys) are the subjec of hero worship in pop culture and great disappointment when they fail us. Were things really so different back then. Is it the fact that the spy is spying on fellow Americans that makes the difference? I wonder if he would be viewed with contempt if he was hired to spy on a foreign enemy?