Civil War History - The Eastern TheaterDiscuss any and all battles, movements, and events occuring in the Eastern Theater here! This includes any actions in tha area east of the Appalachian Mountains in the vicinity of the river capitals of Richmond and Washington D.C.
What was Stonewall's problem in the 7 day battle around Richmond? I'm reading Porter Alexander auto bio and he thinks it was Jackson's religion. Johnson’s and Lee's battle plan would have crushed McClellan}’s army if his orders had been carried out but between Jackson and Longstreet his orders weren’t carried out. Jackson spent 7 days dragging his feet and Longstreet changed his marching orders on his own. This jammed the roads up and the other units could get in the line of battle. This wasn’t something new for Longstreet because he did this through out the War. As you can guess I’m not a Longstreet fan but Jackson had preformed brilliantly before the 7days and after. Harvey Hill said that Jackson depended on God to win the battles for him. Hill was Jackson’s brother inlaw. Your opinions ,please.
8thvacav
__________________ "I want to bury myself in a den of books. I want to saturate myself with the elements of which they are made and breathe their atmosphere until I am of it."
--Lew Wallace, 1885
I think it may well have been physical & mental exhaustion, look to his actions and the hard marching of his men in the time period... There is ample evidence showing just how worn out his men were.
Fatigue played a critical role in several battles...
__________________ Few take the trouble to understand or to view the American scene with perspective. And we Americans love to find ourselves guilty of something. However, it is never I who am guilty, but those other Americans, the past or present government or the other political party. Americans almost never find other countries guilty. It is always ourselves or our fancied influence in other countries. Louis L'amour
"between Jackson and Longstreet his orders weren’t carried out. Jackson spent 7 days dragging his feet and Longstreet changed his marching orders on his own. This jammed the roads up and the other units could get in the line of battle."
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Sorry, but you're not describing Longstreet during the Seven Days. Jackson was physically exhausted, but Longstreet performed well during the Seven Days. I think you may have it confused with Seven Pines, which was not part of the Seven Days, where Longstreet clearly made an error in judgment.
Lee wrote the following in a dispatch to Davis: "Longstreet is a Capital soldier. His recommendations hitherto have been good, & I have confidence in him." [Lee's Dispatches, p. 11] After the Seven Days were over, Lee said Longstreet was "the Staff of my right hand." [Thomas J. Goree to S. W. Goree, 21 Jul 1862] After the Seven Days, Lee got rid of four generals, G. W. Smith, Benjamin Huger, John B. Magruder, and Theophilus Holmes. He then reorganized the ANV and gave Longstreet responsbility for five divisions while giving Jackson responsibility for only three divisions. In his book about his trip to America, Arthur Fremantle wrote of Longstreet that "By the soldiers he is invariably spoken of as 'the best fighter in the whole army.' " [Arthur Fremantle, <u>Three Months in the Confederate States,</u> pp. 246-247]
Unfortunately, after Lee's death there was an organized campaign of character assassination against Longstreet that was orchestrated by Jubal Early, William Nelson Pendleton, and William Jones. This cabal went so far as to fabricate the charge that Lee had ordered a dawn attack on 2 July at Gettysburg which Longstreet failed to execute as ordered. Lee's staff officers, Walter Taylor and Charles Marshall, attested there was no such order ever given. The charge that Longstreet was always slow was also a fabrication of Early's.
"between Jackson and Longstreet his orders weren’t carried out. Jackson spent 7 days dragging his feet and Longstreet changed his marching orders on his own. This jammed the roads up and the other units could get in the line of battle."
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Sorry, but you're not describing Longstreet during the Seven Days. Jackson was physically exhausted, but Longstreet performed well during the Seven Days. I think you may have it confused with Seven Pines, which was not part of the Seven Days, where Longstreet clearly made an error in judgment.
Lee wrote the following in a dispatch to Davis: "Longstreet is a Capital soldier. His recommendations hitherto have been good, & I have confidence in him." [<u>Lee's Dispatches,</u> p. 11] After the Seven Days were over, Lee said Longstreet was "the Staff of my right hand." [Thomas J. Goree to S. W. Goree, 21 Jul 1862] After the Seven Days, Lee got rid of four generals, G. W. Smith, Benjamin Huger, John B. Magruder, and Theophilus Holmes. He then reorganized the ANV and gave Longstreet responsbility for five divisions while giving Jackson responsibility for only three divisions. In his book about his trip to America, Arthur Fremantle wrote of Longstreet that "By the soldiers he is invariably spoken of as 'the best fighter in the whole army.' " [Arthur Fremantle, <u>Three Months in the Confederate States,</u> pp. 246-247]
Unfortunately, after Lee's death there was an organized campaign of character assassination against Longstreet that was orchestrated by Jubal Early, William Nelson Pendleton, and William Jones. This cabal went so far as to fabricate the charge that Lee had ordered a dawn attack on 2 July at Gettysburg which Longstreet failed to execute as ordered. Lee's staff officers, Walter Taylor and Charles Marshall, attested there was no such order ever given. The charge that Longstreet was always slow was also a fabrication of Early's.
Hi,
What I'm going by on Longstreet is what Porter Alexander said in his auto bio. Thanks for your opinions.
Martin
__________________ "I want to bury myself in a den of books. I want to saturate myself with the elements of which they are made and breathe their atmosphere until I am of it."
--Lew Wallace, 1885
Which version of Alexander's memoirs are you using? There are two versions, _Military Memoirs of a Confederate_ and _Fighting for the Confederacy._ The two versions have some differences. Alexander wrote what became _Fighting for the Confederacy_ without looking to publish it. He intended it only for his family, so his viewpoints of the various personalities is more candid and more personal. He had intended to publish _Military Memoirs of a Confederate_ from the beginning, so he was writing with an eye toward who would read it and who might feel offended.
This is from _Fighting for the Confederacy:_ "Gen. Longstreet entirely misconceived his orders, & instead of marching straight down the Nine Mile Road & massing in front of G. W. Smith, he crosses over to the Williamsburg Road, to get behind D. H. Hill. Of course he would not have done it had he not conceived himself ordered to do it. And, in crossing over, his troops met & blocked the road of Huger's troops en route for the Charles City Road, where they were to open the ball. It is said that when they met Huger asked Longstreet which of them was the older & ranking maj. genl., & entitled to take precedence; & that Longstreet said that he knew himself to be the senior, on which H. surrendered the road to him. It afterward turned out that Huger was the senior." [Edward Porter Alexander, _Fighting for the Confederacy: The Personal Recollections of General Edward Porter Alexander,_ p. 85] This portion is not discussing the Seven Days, but rather is concerning Fair Oaks/Seven Pines. Longstreet doesn't seem to come under any criticism at all from Alexander for his role in the Seven Days.
"Thanks for your opinions."
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Actually, I gave you General Lee's opinions about Longstreet.
Hi Cash,
I didn’t realize there were two books till last night. The one I’m reading now is “Fighting for the Confederacy”. Your right, it was 7 Pines where Longstreet took the wrong route. Maybe I’m wrong about Longstreet but I just can’t like the guy. There are so many negative things I’ve read about him that makes me feel this way. Like Gettysburg and when he was out West and 7 Pines. Back to Jackson. Alexander didn’t think being tired was a valid reason for Jackson’s troops being late getting into the battles. Alexander said that Jackson didn’t want to fight on Sunday so he let his troops rest. I’m not downing Jackson because I think he was one of the best generals ever but being late was so out of tune for him and it never happened again up till the time of his death. It’s still is a mystery to me. Thanks for helping me out on this topic.
Regards, Martin
__________________ "I want to bury myself in a den of books. I want to saturate myself with the elements of which they are made and breathe their atmosphere until I am of it."
--Lew Wallace, 1885
Jackson fought several times on Sunday. Alexander really wasn't in a position to know what Jackson's problems were. James I. Robertson goes over Jackson's situation in his biography, <u>Stonewall Jackson: The Man, the Soldier, the Legend.</u> Jackson had just come through the Valley Campaign and rushed ahead of his troops to meet with Lee and Longstreet. He then rushed back to his troops and basically had no sleep at all for days. With another general it wouldn't have been so bad, but Jackson kept all his plans to himself, and if he wasn't directing things they didn't get done. When he basically collapsed physically from exhaustion, there was nobody else who could tell his men where to go and what to do.
Much of the bad press Longstreet got concerning Gettysburg had to do with the campaign of character assassination launched against him by Jubal Early.
As general background, we should remember that, until 1861, the US Army was very small. No one dreamed that armies as large as the AOP or the ANV would ever exist in America. Consequently, no one was ever trained in how to handle, supply, or fight an army of the size each side had at the 7 Days.
Even an able and experienced US soldier as R. E. Lee had never commanded a body larger than a battalion, I don't believe, before the war.
Most of the better generals were graduates of West Point; but even West Point never trained the students to deal with such large armies. Consequently, particularly early in the war, you can see a lot of SNAFU's taking place.
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