Dave @ 112

Get real. Texas had a total white population in 1860 of 421,000, and no industry whatever. It could more or less defend itself, it was tough terrain with plenty of strategic depth and poor communications, the population was rugged and well-armed… not that there was any reason why the Union would want to devote major resources to it, anyway. But it could never be anything but the smallest sideshow.

If you really want to think on how a Confederate victory could have happened, get the book I recommend at 122, above. To my mind, it makes a very credible case that Stonewall Jackson had conceived a strategy with a reasonable chance of success.