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Let's say you're redoing the Civil War and you get to play one of two characters: Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis.
Would it actually be easy to win the war playing as Jefferson Davis?
Obviously, the South would never have been able to conquer the North. The North had immense economic, technological, naval, and manpower advantages. But they didn't need to. They just need to impose enough of a cost on the North that the North would come to a settlement. This doesn't appear that far-fetched. The re-election of Abraham Lincoln was no sure thing in 1864. Had the war not turned decisively in favor of the Union, its possible that McClellan could have won. In the end, he still captured 45% of the votes and won three states (NJ, DE, KY). If McClellan prosecuted the war as President like he did as a General, its likely the South could have held out for a long time. Situations like the starvation of Union prisoners in Andersonville, and the sheer awfulness of the conflict would have likely have proven intolerable without a sure path to victory.
So what could the South have done?
Fabian tactics. They should have simply refused to give battle whenever possible, and harassed Union communications. Johnston did just that as he retreated in the face of Sherman's army. But then he was replaced by the Confederate government because they preferred someone who wanted to fight. Then Sherman took Atlanta.
Lee's incursion into Pennsylvania was a fatal mistake that did more to weaken the Confederate cause than anything. He may have been a good tactician but this strategic blunder is unforgivable.
But the real weak point here is Jefferson Davis. He often involved himself in military decisions and wanted commanders who took an aggressive posture. While appropriate for a stronger force, this is entirely inappropriate for a weaker one. Confederate doctrine should have been preservation of precious manpower, avoiding giving battle, never fighting when not intrenched etc... That last part is also key since the Civil War showed some signs of a proto-WWI type environment.
In any case, in hindsight, the war seems eminently winnable for the South. Which character would you play: Lincoln or Davis?
I think the more interesting question is: the North won the war and you play as Andrew Johnson. What do you do so that 130 years later people no longer identify with the cause of the South?
Do people really identify with the cause of the South now? The Confederacy fought for a very specific slave based political economy. That economy was destroyed by the war and never came back. All political fights in the US are within the political-economic universe created by the victorious Union.
I consider modern people who use Confederate imagery as similar to Ukrainians who dress up like the Nazis; they are appropriating the dress and iconography of a previous movement despite not advocating for that goals of that previous movement.
If by "cause of the South" you mean "very specific slave-based political economy", maybe.
But if by "cause of the South" you mean "anti-do-what-anyone-else-tells-you, accepting that you go your way and I go mine, and [to a lesser extent] that fighting if neither of us can do that is good and necessary, even if we die on our feet rather than living on our knees"? That's the reason the General Lee has the Stars and Bars on it (and why it's the symbol of the Dukes of Hazzard in the first place), and is also why even in other nations people reach for this symbol (for they have no native culture of their own) to evoke that particular kind of
childishAmerican-style liberty.That's kind of what "States' Rights (to [insert your favorite moral opprobrium here])" misses- the entire point of that is so that you may do in your area what you and your people have decided to do (i.e. good faith is assumed, per liberalism). One notes that "States' Rights" also includes "to murder your children and get away with it so long as you are a woman", but most don't actually realize that because they're focused on Muh Slavery.
I mean, yeah, the Nazis would have put all of Ukraine in concentration camps if they could. The Ukrainian Nazis are generally fighting the Russians (re: Azov) so obviously they don't advocate for that goal; so does the "never ask a white supremacist the race of his girlfriend" thing.
I think there's a lot of emphasis on words and not really on actions, but you have to be paying attention to said actions to know that.
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