While such a claim may seem to be stretching things a bit, there is a certain amount of truth in the idea. There is also no question that strong opinions exist on both sides of this issue.
Theaters of War
The fighting in the American Civil War is generally divided into three major theaters, running from east to west - The Eastern Theater, stretching from the Atlantic seaboard to the Appalachian mountain range; The Western Theater, comprising the area between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River; and The Trans-Mississippi Theater, which generally refers to the region west of the Mississippi. (Some might wish to make the case for a fourth theater - The Far West - but that will have to wait for another day, and another article.)
Historians are in general agreement that of these three theaters, the two that had the greatest impact on the war were the Eastern and Western. The long-overlooked fighting in the Trans-Mississippi, while very likely exceeding both of the others in terms of sheer brutality and bitterness, is not considered to have had the same level of impact on the overall course of the war.
We will return to that idea shortly, but for now our focus is going to be on the two theaters east of the Mississippi.
The Case for the Eastern Theater
Almost certainly the most widely studied theater of the three, the Eastern Theater ("The East") was home to the war's best-known armies, and many of its most famous commanders. It was here that Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, James Longstreet, and other well-known Confederates in the Army of Northern Virginia squared off against the Union's Army of the Potomac, led at various times by such officers as George B. McClellan, "Fighting Joe" Hooker, and George Gordon Meade.
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