‘The U.S. wasn’t the basket case the confedercy had become very early in their rebellion’
True. The North was a ‘basket case’ when it came to the leaders it installed at the head of the various army’s it had in the field.
I’ve always thought Stonewall Jackson would have had his ass handed to him during his famous ‘Valley Campaign’ if he had encountered just one competent General in opposition, for example. Years later, Grant expressed a similiar point of view in his memoirs. What would have happened if Sheridan, or Sherman, or even Meade, let alone a Hancock had been there instead of Fremont?
I do love this era, and the what ifs.
There was a boob or two running the Army of the Potomac and other commands. But the Union command in the west was pretty solid.
Years later, Grant expressed a similiar point of view in his memoirs. What would have happened if Sheridan, or Sherman, or even Meade, let alone a Hancock had been there instead of Fremont?
It's had to say for sure. Sherman almost had a nervous breakdown running what would become the Army of the Cumberland for a short period late in 1861. Sheridan was a regimental commander when Jackson was in the valley. It's easy to look at their actions after 2 or 3 years of war and say they could have whipped Jackson, but it's hard to make the case that they would have automatically done better than Fremont in mid-1862. Likewise, if Fremont had a little less ego and had spent the war working for Grant he might have made a good army commander by 1864.
Jackson was not perfect. His actions during the Seven Days battles was mediocre at best, but he improved as his relationship with Lee grew longer. Lee was beaten his first time in the field, at Cheat Mountain in September 1861. Grant struggled a time or two early on as well. But as the war went on the cream quickly rose to the top and with a few exceptions the crud usually settled to the bottom.
Only if you think the entire war was fought in Northern Virginia. In the Western theater from Kentucky to New Orleans, the Confederates were second to none in fielding incompetent commanders.
The big difference is that Lincoln canned the incompetents while Jeff Davis tended to just shuffle them around.
Think how much the western theatre would have changed if Johnston would not have been killed at Shiloh. Most battle experts believe without that event the results would not have been a stalemate. i.e. dominoeing to Vicksburg, etc. etc.