I’m sure Gustave de Ponton d’Amécourt would be downright fascinated, kinda like Doc Brown seeing a practical applcation of the flux capacitor in 1955.
If I were a Senator I’d probably move.
Of course to get there they’d have to cross into the most heavily fortified city in the western world, over a bridge, down numerous narrow streets in a city full of soldiers and finally, hardest of all, find parking near the capitol, plus think about all the damned metal detectors.
Well, I bet Sherman would fight back.
What would really do it would be B52 with unlimited bombs and fuel, support crew and a safe base in the South. I imagine the Union Army would be helpless against this.
Again, the only good approach would be to send in wave after wave of spies and assassins to take out the crew, on the assumption that nobody from 1861 could be trained to replace them, or at least not quickly. How long would it take for an experienced pilot to train a replacement under these conditions, anyway?
Admittedly, though, it’s not like you’d have to train a replacement pilot to evade enemy fighters or guided missiles or anything. Can a B52 autopilot handle takeoffs and landings? It might actually be a lot easier to handle than an Apache.
Sooner or later, though, any piece of late 20th-century tech is going to need spare parts. A skilled 1861 metalworker might be able to hand-tool some pieces within tolerance, but what if something plastic or computerized breaks?
But even supposing that training could be finished quickly, when will the pilot not be needed long enough to train somebody? I don’t think that the crews would be able to replace themselves with recruits from the Confederacy.
Well, rereading the thread and post #2, it seems also that the speed of an Apache is so hugely beyond anything the Union had that in week or so, the war could be effectively over.
Robert E. Lee: [at strategy conference] Now, if we dispatch the Second Alabama Regiment, they may be within striking distance of Athens by Wednesday…
Apache pilot: [sitting bored in the corner] Oh, you mean those guys from the 9th Illinois? Yeah, we smoked 'em two days ago!
Lee: What? “Smoked” them?
AP: Yeah, just massacred them. We were on our way back from Selma - by the way, you can tell Forrest that Wilson’s guys have been wiped out, so there’s no need to rush - and we had a few hundred 30mm rounds left, so we expended them. Expended the HECK outta them.
Lee: I see. Well, then we must plan the Red River campaign -
AP: Did it.
Lee: Poison Spring?
AP: Did it.
Lee: Sand Creek?
AP: Did the hell out of it. Anyway [looks at digital wristwatch], the refueling should be done by now. If you’ll excuse me, we’ve got Killdeer Mountain, Fredericktown and Mark’s Mill on the schedule and I want to be back by 0200.
Lee: But it’s nightfall!
AP: Well, we may as well test the FLIR anyway. So long. I’ll let you know how it went.
The Apache would probably be worth its weight in gold just as a messenger!
Well, the OP did say unlimited fuel, ammo and support, so I think just the Apache could fly around attacking as long as it took to win. The Abrams would be best utilized guarding the choper while it’s refueling and rearming. Now, if the Union guys could sneak up on the Apache during a refuel/rearm stop, they might be able to take it out, but the tank would probably survive.
Also, according to the OP canon, I would assume the two Apache guys and the four Abrams dudes plus probably at least ten or twenty support dudes would have modern firearms, so you would have several dudes with m-16’s and pistols, with unlimited ammo. In the right place/terrain, I would bet they could hold off hundreds of Union dudes, at least until the chopper could take off again. I don’t know the turn-around time to refuel/rearm an Apache under battle conditions, but I would guess it’s not that long.
I vote for the Apache/Abrams.