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.
I think Blockaderunner is correct, that Burnside did somehow outrank Meade, and that Grant, mistakenly, gave him the courtesy of his independant command at the start of the Overland Campaign. I think, at some point , before Petersburg, Grant did finally fold Burnside into Meade's command. . After his early coastal experience, with the exception of Knoxville, where all he had to do was sit tight, Burnside seemed to manage to bungle every opportunity affored him.
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"It was a very peculiar time." - Franklin D. Cossitt
Ancestors in USA Army: 6th IA Inf, 11th IL Cav, 1st AL Cav; 122nd NY Inf; 6th MI Cav; 35th MA Inf; 100th IL Inf; 1st CO Inf/Cav; 22nd IN Inf
The 9th Corps including a large number of USCT units. It was almost a USCT corps. Burnside, predictably, threw away many of their lives by screwing up the Battle of the Crater(with help both above and below the chain of command).
Butler was no commander, but to his credit, he didn't think he was either. Burnside on the other hand, was promoted past his competence level when he was made colonel, was a poor corps commander, a poor army commander, then a poor corps commander again.
All military confrontations tend to expose the nature of the officer corps. Unfortunately, the exposure tends to come at a tight spot--when the price for discovery is steep.
The officer corps is filled with men and women whose gifted talents do not include a facility for managing troops under battlefield conditions. We can find that out only after some calamitous fact.
Who'd a thunk a couple of mediocre, scruffy Ohio natives -- one who failed miserably at everything he tried, and another whose excitable imagination got him labeled insane -- would have the qualities so lacking in the resumes of the (on paper) superstars?
Just a thought.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Ole hit it right on the head. Unfortunately the necessary qualities for a leader are extremely hard to define because there is simply no way to truly test an individual's reactions to stress situations until it actually occurs.
Ole hit it right on the head. Unfortunately the necessary qualities for a leader are extremely hard to define because there is simply no way to truly test an individual's reactions to stress situations until it actually occurs.
You are overly kind, CW. And yet, we can't really denigrate the contributions of that battlefield fool, McClellan. He had mastered a major and important piece of building a real live army. That he couldn't bring himself, or had no desire, to use it as we can see it from our armchairs, ought not detract from the skill he brought to the ballgame. Every one of the little guys played a part.
We have the advantage of looking back and asking why this or that dumb bustard didn't see what is plainly apparent. (A bustard is some kind of African vulture--I think.) If you can truly put yourself into Lincoln's place, or Scott's, or McClellan's, or Grant's, or Sherman's, or Lee's, or Davis' shoes. You kind of get the idea that the whole thing was more than a bit overwhelming. These were more or less ordinary guys striving to do really important things. We are quite fortunate that more than a few stumbled on the right thing to do. Of such is history made.
Sometimes the magic works. Sometimes it doesn't.
Providence?
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
The 9th Corps including a large number of USCT units. It was almost a USCT corps. Burnside, predictably, threw away many of their lives by screwing up the Battle of the Crater(with help both above and below the chain of command).
Butler was no commander, but to his credit, he didn't think he was either. Burnside on the other hand, was promoted past his competence level when he was made colonel, was a poor corps commander, a poor army commander, then a poor corps commander again.
Absolutely not! The IX Corps had its beginnings at Second Bull Run then fought at South Mountain, Anteitam, Fredericksburg, Vicksburg, Jackson and Knoxville. USCT joined the IX Corps in April of 1864, one of four divisions in the corps. They were kept behind until June 19, 1864 when USCT joined in the line. In December of 1864 USCT were transfered to the new XV Corps. USCT were never more than 1/4 of the IX Corps and were actively fighting for six months before being transfered.
Let us not blast Burnside to the point of casting the entire IX Corps in the same light of its sometimes commander. The IX Corps regiments, both USCT and white, fought bravely at the battles they were in. Whatever Burnside's faults as a Civil War commander he fought bravely on the western frontier where he was wounded by an Indian arrow and earlier was in the war with Mexico, but saw no action. This June 13, 1865 quote is from History of the Thirty-Fifth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, 1862-1865.
"Disembarking from the steamer, we were escorted by a regiment of militia through the principal streets, which beautified by the throngs of the fairest ladies, and having marched past the home of General Burnside (where our beloved leader sat on the porch to welcome us), halted at a commodious hall..."
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"Those who forget to remember the past are condemned to repeat it", George Santayana.
Let us not blast Burnside to the point of casting the entire IX Corps in the same light of its sometimes commander.
Burnside is so difficult to blast because he's the lovable lover. Its difficult not to like him. He fails, but when he is thrust into command of the Army of the Potomac, he tells Lincoln that he's not ready for it.
Burnside should have been a CEO, I could definitely see him building a USX
You are overly kind, CW. And yet, we can't really denigrate the contributions of that battlefield fool, McClellan. He had mastered a major and important piece of building a real live army. That he couldn't bring himself, or had no desire, to use it as we can see it from our armchairs, ought not detract from the skill he brought to the ballgame. Every one of the little guys played a part.
We have the advantage of looking back and asking why this or that dumb bustard didn't see what is plainly apparent. (A bustard is some kind of African vulture--I think.) If you can truly put yourself into Lincoln's place, or Scott's, or McClellan's, or Grant's, or Sherman's, or Lee's, or Davis' shoes. You kind of get the idea that the whole thing was more than a bit overwhelming. These were more or less ordinary guys striving to do really important things. We are quite fortunate that more than a few stumbled on the right thing to do. Of such is history made.
Sometimes the magic works. Sometimes it doesn't.
Providence?
ole
Perhaps, to a point, but how can anyone excuse McClellan for that month long "siege" of Yorktown?
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"It was a very peculiar time." - Franklin D. Cossitt
Ancestors in USA Army: 6th IA Inf, 11th IL Cav, 1st AL Cav; 122nd NY Inf; 6th MI Cav; 35th MA Inf; 100th IL Inf; 1st CO Inf/Cav; 22nd IN Inf
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