Naim Peress wrote a post today (http://www.civilwaretal.blogspot.com) about how Reconstruction was a continuation of the Civil War and one of the first counterinsurgencies in history. What do you think of this idea? What are your views on counterinsurgency? Should we have learned anything from the guerrila conflicts during the Civil War and Reconstruction?
Hank, today's Army defines an insurgency as "an organized movement aimed at the overthrow of a constituted government through the use of subversion and armed conflict." Based on that definition (FM3-24) I don't think you could characterize of the movements in the post war South as true insurgencies as they were more aimed at intimidating African Americans and yankee sympathizers than actually overthrowing the Federal government. Of course, that opens the can of worms... was the entire war an insurgency then? I confess to being on the fence about that one. The Confederate states did attempt to overthrow the Federal Government authority in their own states, however, they did not seek to overthrow the entire Federal government...
