Posted on 08/13/2002 8:15:22 PM PDT by stainlessbanner
George Thomas was an able corps commander and army commander, but he never made his mark commanding a campaign on his own. He was under Rosecrans at Chickamauga, under Grant and Sherman at Chattanooga, and under Sherman at Atlanta. His actions during Hoods last campaign in Tennessee were good, but not good enough to break into the top 5 or so.
As for the rest, Sherman was good. I rank him number 4. Hooker, Buell, Rosecrans? Same level as Bragg, Johnston and Hood. Nowhere near the top 10. Meade was overshadowed by Grant so it's really hard to judge him on his own. He may have been an able army commander, but didn't match up with Lee. Grant did. Burnside? Even Burnside thought he had been promoted far above his abilities. Porter is a might-have-been, like Reynolds and a whole host of generals on both sides who were killed or had their careers derailed at some point. Who are we missing? We're missing a lot, on both sides. Sherman had a whole raft of excellent corps and division commanders who nobody hears of because they fought in the west. Logan, Blair, McPherson, Crittenden were but few.
All in all, I think that the Union Army was every bit as strong, or stronger, than the confederacy at the brigade, corps and division level. At the army level, I have to give it to the Union because looking at the confederat Generals then it's clear that it's Robert E. Lee and the seven dwarfs. No other confederate general came close to Lee, and damned few Union ones. That's why Lee is third, and I don't mind ranking confederates 2 out of the top 3. But it's Grant at number 2 that made Northern victory inevitable.
Grant won many of his victories against lesser men. The same can be said about Lee, with the exception that Lee also lost to lesser men. Grant didn't. Grant took on all comers and fought them to a standstill before beating them.
Grant took risks where risks were called for. In 1863 he crossed the Mississippi south of Vicksburg, severing his line of retreat. He proceeded to fight seven battles in nine days, winning every one of them, and pinning Pemberton into Vicksburg where he surrounded and finally forced him to surrrender. That is a heck of a risk, one which could have resulted in disaster for a lesser commander. But Grant pulled it off.
Forrest was a great cavalry commander, winner of battle after battle, and a general who embarassed the Union tima and again. And for all that, Memphis still fell, Vicksburg still fell, Atlanta still fell. His individual heroics don't disguise the fact that from a strategic standpoint he accomplished very little. Put Forrest in command befor Sherman or Grant and he wouldn't have done any better than Lee or Johnston or Hood.
Yep - the numbers game. Lee knew it, Grant knew it. The Southland was losing her supply of young men and great leaders!
He slammed against Lee, time after time at a horrible cost. Determined, he was; effective, too.
But a genius, Grant ain't!
More interesting, perhaps, are this "Captain Happypants" and "Woody." Do tell more ...
Whereas Lee may not've shone brillance at a few things, he was a master of large troop movements and tactics. Still, the Napoleonic tactics he was using were what was the norm during that time. Yes, his junior Generals were essential, but without Lee's mind and experience they couldn't have accomplished half of what they did! Grant on the other hand was not known for caring too much for the welfare of his men. How many men did he waste at Cold Harbor in useless frontal assaults against fortified positions? Meade?! Pretty timid and cautious. Hancock was a good leader.
Despite what your assertion is, Lee is much better than this author is trying to make him out to be.
On what do you base your assertion that the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia was as strong in the spring of 1864 as it had been in the spring of 1863. Do you think it was stronger for having lost Stonewall Jackson? Dorsey Pender? John Bell Hood?( severely wounded at Gettysburg and never really the same) Do you think that the 28,000 irreplaceable casualties sustained at Gettysburg made it stronger? In Pickett's division alone,of the 13 colonels, 7 were killed and 6 were seriously wounded. Two of the three brigadier generals (Armistead and Garnet,both fine commanders) were killed.In truth,the Gettysburg campaign destroyed the last offensive striking power of the ANV. It was, from that point on, a one dimensional force, that is: defensive.
After Gettysburg, no longer would the Union Commander(whoever it might be) have to fear a Confederate counterstroke such as those delivered at Second Manassas and Chancellorsville.
The army Grant faced had fewer than 55,000 men to his army of 120,000. How in the world can you say that it was "certainly as strong as the year before."
"He took a bloody nose"
Correction,my friend. Grant did not take a bloody nose. His troops did. In the first month of the spring 1864 campaign,he lost over 50,000 men, half as many as the Army of the Potomac had lost during th previous 3 YEARS of the war. Mary Lincoln called him a butcher and opined that she could fight an army as well herself.
"Grant won many of his victories against lesser men."
That's true in a sense. But he won ALL of his victories against lesser armies. He had superior numbers every time. You can't personify these things unless you want to even the odds. Grant did not personally win any battles.The Union Army did and, under Grant, they took horrendous casualties to do so. A great general does not turn in long casualty lists. Lee can be faulted too in this regard for his bloody frontal assaults during the Seven Days and at Gettysburg,but he can be excused as well because he felt the imperative to drive the Yankees away from Richmond and to win the big victory on Northern Soil,respectively. There is no way to excuse Grant's excesses in the Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor,unless he was waging a war of attrition (2 yankees sacrificed to kill one rebel). And waging a war of attrition does not qualify one as a great commander. Especially against an Army that has no offensive striking power. Had Grant faced the ANV at its height, with Longstreet and Jackson, and had he prevailed, he would perhaps deserve the praise you heap upon him. Had he faced Jackson, it is just as likely that his predictable tactics would have resulted in the demise of his army. He was willing to commit his army totally, unlike the previous Union Commanders, who were concerned(and justifiably so) with Jackson's Corps. Had Grant charged into Virginia and begun his flanking maneuvers, he might have found that a confederate counterstroke by Jackson would have bloodied more than his nose.
"Put Forrest in command before Sherman or Grant and he would not have done any better"
Of course, this is pure speculation. I, and many military historians, think that Forrest was one of the very few authentic military geniuses produced by the Civil War. At Chickamauga, for example, do you doubt that Forrest would have pursued the Army of the Cumberland, which was in disarray, and retaken Chattanooga? Forrest was exasperated with Bragg and pleaded with him(as did Longstreet) to pursue Rosecrans, but Bragg did nothing.
"From a strategic standpoint, he accomplished very little"
If, by that, you mean he did not defeat Union Armies numbering 70-80,000 men, you are right. No one could do that with 3500 cavalry. But, if he had been given an Army of 40,000, it is entirely likely that he could have slowed, if not reversed, the Confederate disasters in the West.
Lee took 57,500 men into the field at Chancellorsville. He took 62,000 into the Wilderness. Losses in commanders were high on both sides during the period. It wasn't the loss of commanders like Pender and Armistead that put the ANV into a defensive mode, it was the actions of Grant and his unwillingness to let Lee rest and regroup. As a result, Grant paid a high price. That was true on both sides during the war. In 1862-63 the confederate army was on the offensive in 6 of the 9 major battles. Two of the six were clear confederate victories (Chancellorsville and Chickamauga) and one (Seven Days) was a strategic victory. In those 6 battles, confederate casualties outnumbered Union casualties by a rate of 3:2. Were Lee and Johnston bloody butchers? Does this mean that they weren't great commanders? Or was if forgiven because they won? Likewise when Grant was on the offensive his causalties were much higher than Lee's. But in the end he won.
Had Grant faced the ANV at its height, with Longstreet and Jackson, and had he prevailed, he would perhaps deserve the praise you heap upon him.
McClellan faced the ANV at its height, with Longstreet and Jackson, and he won. Meade faced the ANV at its height with Lee and Longstreet, and he won. Lee lost against lesser commanders. Grant didn't.
But, if he had been given an Army of 40,000, it is entirely likely that he could have slowed, if not reversed, the Confederate disasters in the West.
To use your own words that is pure spectulation. The history of the war is replete with examples of men who were outstanding division commanders but failed at corps commands, or who were great corps commanders but who were not up to running an army. To say that Forrest would have made a mark running an army is pure guesswork.
That's what the self-proclaimed "anti-Neo-Confederates" want stopped. They want an official campaign of demonization of all former Confederate states and all the Confederates who served them, all monuments to be demolished, all favorable mention expunged -- what the Romans called "damnatio memoriae".
Why, would require someone better versed in Marxist theory than I am to explain.
Their spleneticism reminds me of the Neo-Nazi sites I've seen, their vigor and hostility toward both Christianity and Judaism. Real rancor like that leaves a taste in the mouth.
The Confederate Army in 1864 lacked an offensive capacity. Lee actually had 75,000 men at Chancellorsville. He left 15,000 at Fredericksburg and took 60,000 with him to the West. But he could draw on those reserves. Also, Longstreet's corps of 20,000 was detached during Chancellorsville and out of the theatre, but Hooker did not know this. Grant knew that Lee's strength did not appraoch what it had been a year before. And it did not. I cannot believe you do not realize this. Your thesis is that Grant was great, and I suppose you do not want any facts to interfere with that proposition. Unfortunately, the facts are the facts.
Your thesis that being on the offensive yielded higher casualties is not true. Confederate casuaties at Chancellorsville and Second Mannassas were lower than the Union. I do not know how you are classifying offensive versus defensive battles. I think your stats are way off. Only in the 7 days and at Gettysburg were Confederate casualties higher than those of the Union and not by much even then. I do not know where you are getting your 3:2 ratio. It does not square with the facts.
Grant faced a significantly weakened army with far fewer excellent commanders. All the PR in the world cannot make him a great general. If MacArthur had attacked each of the Japanese held Islands instead of devisisng his island-hopping strategy,at the cost of hundreds of thousands of American lives, he would by your claculation be a great general because he WON. Had he attacked the North Koreans down the peninsula instead of the brilliant Inchon landing behind their lines, he would have won, had he had a large enough American force, but with huge casualties. But if he won, he would receive the Grant award as a great general. There is one salient problem with your thesis that Grant is a great general. He has a bad habit of creating "Gold Star Mothers". For myself, I would prefer MacArthur, Patton, Jackson, Forrest and other truly great generals who use their wits to spare their men's lives. Leaving aside the 7 days and Picket's Charge, I think Lee would qualify as well. Although I do not rate him as high in military abilty as Jackson or Forrest.
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