Harper’s Weekly – September 28, 1861

Harper's Weekly archives ^ | September 28, 1861

[Homer_J_Simpson]

All for the Union: The Civil War Diary and Letters of Elisha Hunt Rhodes, edited by Robert Hunt Rhodes

[Homer_J_Simpson]

The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Diary of Edward Bates, September 30, 1861 (Attorney General Bates wants to see military action.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/01/diary-of-edward-bates-september-30-1861.html

Brigadier General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, September 30, 1861 (“We cannot tell what they are about, but I believe we are ready for them, let them come in what direction they choose.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2013/09/brigadier-general-george-g-meade-to_30.html

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: September 30, 1861 (“Official notice informs us this evening that Captain Plummer, U. S. A., has been appointed Colonel of the Eleventh Missouri”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/02/diary-of-private-daniel-l-ambrose.html

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: September 30, 1861 (Disloyal prisoners are being let out of prison and Jones doesn’t like it.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/06/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-september_11.html

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Today’s posts:

“Jefferson Davis, American,” reply #19
George B. McClellan, #20
Elisha Hunt Rhodes, #21
George Templeton Strong, #22
Links to 4 items at Civil War Notebook, #23

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from September 30 (reply #19).

William J. Cooper, Jr., Jefferson Davis, American

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from September 1 (reply #12).

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3990589/posts#12

1

2

James Lee McDonough, William Tecumseh Sherman: In the Service of My Country, A Life

[Homer_J_Simpson]

All for the Union: The Civil War Diary and Letters of Elisha Hunt Rhodes, edited by Robert Hunt Rhodes

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Abraham Lincoln’s Memorandum for a Plan of Campaign

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/01/abraham-lincolns-memorandum-for-plan-of.html

Diary of Major Rutherford B. Hayes: October 1, 1861 (The situation on Sewell Mountain.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/01/diary-of-major-rutherford-b-hayes.html

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: October 1, 1861 (”This morning Colonel [John Pope] Cook leaves for Springfield on a leave of absence.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/02/diary-of-private-daniel-l-ambrose_36.html

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: October 1, 1861 (More on the departure of enemy aliens leaving the Confederacy.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/06/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-october-1.html

Brigadier General Thomas J. Jackson to Mary Anna Morrison Jackson, October 1, 1861 (Jackson present when Pres. Davis met with his generals at Fairfax Courthouse.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/04/brigadier-general-thomas-j-jackson-to_29.html

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Today’s posts:

“Jefferson Davis, American,” reply #25
“William Tecumseh Sherman: In the Service of My Country, A Life,” reply #26
Elisha Hunt Rhodes, #27
Links to 5 items at Civil War Notebook, #28

[BroJoeK]

"William J. Cooper, Jr., Jefferson Davis, American"

"Today" Davis visited Confederate troops near Washington, DC, and conferred with his senior generals.

"After some discussion of army organization, the generals raised the point that most interested them -- going on the offensive.
They wanted to cross the Potomac, flank the Federals, force them out of their fortifications and attack them.
An obviously interested president listened...
...the generals insisted they needed substantial reinforcements of seasoned troops.
Davis told them they were asking for the imnpossible.
No such body of experienced men existed...
Thus with the decision that Johnston's army would retain its defensive posture, Davis on October 4 returned to Richmond."

Now, based on reports like this one, FR posters like central_va have long argued the Confederacy was on the "strategic defensive" and did not actually threaten the Union itself.
But as of September-October 1861, Confederate forces have successfully invaded and defeated weaker Union units in Union New Mexico, Oklahoma (Indian Territory), Missouri, Kentucky and even West Virginia.
In due time the Confederacy will claim New Mexico, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kentucky as Confederate states/territories, and thus, despite their caution in Virginia, Confederates are already on the strategic offensive in every Union state & territory they can reach.

[central_va]

Now, based on reports like this one, FR posters like central_va have long argued the Confederacy was on the "strategic defensive" and did not actually threaten the Union itself.

Which is totally true.

"The strategy of the Civil War for the Confederacy (the South) was to outlast the political will of the United States (the North) to continue the fighting the war by demonstrating that the war would be long and costly."

Part of that was pressuring DC, maybe even capturing it as a negotiating tool when a peace was reached. Which never happened.

You do not understand the difference between "tactics" and "strategy". You appear to have no military background or training at all.

[rockrr]

All in all it proved to be a piss-poor “strategy”.

[BroJoeK]

"James Lee McDonough, William Tecumseh Sherman: In the Service of My Country, A Life"

At this point Sherman seems to have the McClellan disease -- overestimating Confederate forces and emphasizing his own weaknesses, while asking everywhere for reinforcements.
I'm guessing that in due time, unlike McClellan, Sherman will settle down and soldier on.

It's worth noting, perhaps, that of 53 engagements to date, the smaller force has won only 15% of the time, meaning, as a certain Confederate commander would later say: "Git thar fustest with the most mostest."

[BroJoeK]

central_va: "You do not understand the difference between "tactics" and "strategy".
You appear to have no military background or training at all."

It's true I have no personal experience whatever in mid-19th century warfare, strategy or tactics.
I did, however, play a small role in the Cold War, in Europe.
That war was based on something called "Mutual Assured Destruction" and remained "cold" based on firm orders of "no first use of force".
A first use of force in the Cold War was understood to result in massive retaliation.

And massive retaliation is, more-or-less, what eventually happened after the Confederates' first use of force against Union forces in South Carolina, Missouri, New Mexico, Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia.
Of course, you may well call those "defensive first strikes", but I'm not sure whether that falls under the category of operations, tactics, strategy or just bovine excrement, to use the technical military term.

[jmacusa]

General Jubal Early.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

With Lincoln in the White House: Letters, Memoranda, and Other Writings of John G. Nicolay, 1860-1865, edited by Michael Burlingame

[Homer_J_Simpson]

The Civil War Papers of George B. McClellan: Selected Correspondence 1860-1865, edited by Stephen W. Spears

[Homer_J_Simpson]

The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Major Wilder Dwight: October 2, 1861 (“In my judgment, the next severe blow our cause gets will be in Kentucky, whither the theatre of war is moving.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/08/major-wilder-dwight-october-2-1861.html

Charles Eliot Norton to George William Curtis, October 2, 1861 (“In a fight so desperate as that which is now being waged in Missouri we have need of all our arms, — and Lincoln has compelled us to throw aside the most effective of them all”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/12/charles-eliot-norton-to-george-william_25.html

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: October 2, 1861 (Still excited over enemy aliens.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/06/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-october-2.html

Diary of Judith W. McGuire: October 2, 1861 (“Our army in Fairfax has fallen back from “Munson’s Hill” to the Court-House; thus leaving our dear homes more deeply buried in the shade of Yankeeism than ever.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/01/diary-of-judith-w-mcguire-october-2-1861.html

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Today’s posts:

John G. Nicolay, reply #36
George B. McClellan, #37
George Templeton Strong, #38
Links to 4 items at Civil War Notebook, #39