Jefferson H. Davis wrote:
they were extremely impressed also
I think the Union soldiers always RESPECTED the fighting qualities of Johnny Reb, which to me is not quite the same as being "impressed" which implies inferiority & superiority. Using your yardstick of "impressed", you would have to acknowledge that the Confederate soldiers were "impressed" by the Union soldiers at Missionary Ridge, Franklin & Nashville TN, Little Round Top and the Angle at Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Atlanta.... et al...
Jefferson H. Davis wrote:
If you think they were't impressed, why was Grant having to say what he had to say at the Wilderness later on?
sorry, don't know what Grant said. But interesting you should bring up the Wilderness. Because when Grant ordered the movement south to Spotsylvania CH after the horrific fighting in the Wilderness in which helpless wounded soldiers burned to death - unlike previous Union commanders in Virginia which had always withdrawn north behind the nearest river after fighting the AoNV - the Union soldiers CHEERED!!
"Our spirits rose," recalled one AotP veteran who remembered this moment as a turning point in the war. Despite the terrors of the past three days and those to come, "we marched free. The men began to sing." For the first time in a Virginia campaign the Army of the Potomac stayed on the offensive after its initial battle.
So how "impressed" could they have been ?