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| | The Wild Geese Today -- Patrick Cleburne's Proposal |
 | | Cleburne's notion was revolutionary, explosive, and one of the greatest ironies to emerge from the four-year struggle to vouchsafe the Confederate States of America. |
 | | At the moment Cleburne, a major general, put forth this proposal, the war was in its fourth year, and he was at the zenith of his career after his stunning victory at Ringgold, Georgia, a victory that he himself engineered and commanded. |
 | | In the end, Cleburne's judgment was vindicated, and we are all left to wonder what might have been if, in January 1864, Jeff Davis and the rest of the politicians of the Confederacy had possessed his foresight, as well as his courage to act on it. |
| www.thewildgeese.com /pages/clebprop.html (1337 words) |
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