Lost cause

"Lost cause" may also refer to Lost Cause of the Confederacy

Lost causes are causesthat cannot forseeably be won, but are pursued nonetheless. Though defeat is certain, those fighting for their cause will do so out of a sense of duty or compunction. Ethicsand religionoften play a role in self-sacrifice.

Historical lost causes

• The Lost Cause of the Confederacy(and the Confederatecause itself during the American Civil War) is a movement that attempted to reconcile the Confederate States of America's loss of the Civil War. The Southern United Stateswas devastated both physically and psychologically by its defeat in 1865.
• The Battle of the Alamois a 19th Centurybattlebetween the Republic of Mexicoand the rebel Texanforces during the Texas Revolution. It took place at the Alamo missionin San Antonio, Texas(then known as "San Antonio de Béxar") in February and March of 1836. The 13-day siegeended on March 6with the capture of the mission and the death of nearly all the Texan defenders, except for a few slaves, women and children. The siege allowed the Texans to build a new government and to draft a constitution.
• Missionarieshave risked their lives, often unsuccessfully, in which case they became martyrs, in efforts to convert those of other faiths, ignoring the great personal risk to themselves and a low success rate, for their cause.
• The siege of Masadatook place in 73CE, one of the last battles in the Great Jewish Revolt, between the site's Jewish defenders and besieging Romantroops, during which almost all surviving defenders committed mass suicide, rather than submit to Roman rule, when defeat was certain.

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It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost+cause Wikipedia article Lost cause.