Wars often are resolved as a matter of will to fight. Vietnam is often cited as an example where the US, while winning militarily, lost the will to continue, and left the field. Another example would be the American Civil War. In that case the only chance the South had to win was to inflict severe losses on the North to the point that the North would quit the fight. As it happened in the Spring of 1864 the people and the politicians in the North, particularly the Democrats, were ready to quit. Grant had launched an offensive into the South and had pushed ahead despite heavy losses. Grant had twice as many men as Lee and the Northerners were equipped with new Spenser repeating rifles, not the old muzzle loaders being used by the Southerners. Grant launched a poorly planned attack against Lee's brilliantly conceived defense at Cold Harbor and lost 7000 men in what amounted to a suicide attack on 1 June 1864. In all the North lost 13,000 men in a week. Politicians and the people in the North were distraught, and ready to quit. But, in reality Lee was finished. Even though he had lost far fewer men than the North, he could not replace those lost while the North could. We can only speculate at what the history of the US would have been if Lincoln and Grant had lost their nerve and followed the will of the people of the North, most of whom were ready to quit.