Civil War History - The South & Western TheatersCheck this forum for all South and Western Theater Questions. Included are the Western, Pacific, Trans-Mississippi, & Lower Seaboard and Gulf Approach Theaters.
I think Lee should have been sent to the Westenr Theater (I know...gasps abound). The tide of the war could have been changed but it was that idea of Lee only fighting for/with VA. States rights took the CSA down in this instance
Warning! Warning, Matt Robinson! Lee was a regional general. His focus was Virginia. He knew nothing of the Western mind set, let alone the terrain. He would have been a disastrous failure against Sherman who actually knew the terrain and all the possibilities.
I will give you that Lee was a darned good general, but it would have been much like trasferring a salt-water fish into a fresh-water aquarium. Not even Lee could have kept Sherman from trouncing through Atlanta. The die was cast. Couldn't happen. Sherman had an army that knew it could walk on water. You can't take a rag-tag bunch of demoralized, underfed group of however dedicated men and reasonably expect to stop Sherman's army. It was all over and due for the shouting. The fat lady had indeed begun to sing.
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
As far as Hood was concerned, He was looking too far ahead of himself. Just to his north was that hugh stash of supplies in Nashville. All of it was feeding Shermans forces. It was a thousand miles from long and almost all of it by a single railroad. Killing two birds with one stone could have been his thought. Break Shermans supply line and resupply this army at Nashville. What he did not count on was the tremendus losses at Franklin, the weather, and the force that Thomas had assembled at Nashville.
If and when Sherman was perturbed, it was about his railroad. He was obsessed with it. In that it could have been effectively severed, he'd have been stymied in the max. But that railroad had dedicated to it a force of 10k builders, plus divisions of some pretty good infantry. He was very sensitive when it came to his railroad. That single point was Sherman's Achilles heel
I haven't figured out why that weakness wasn't exploited. Maybe because the defense of Atlanta took precedence? Come back.
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
Disrupting the rail lines between Nashville and Chattanooga, wasn't what Forrest was sent to do after Franklin? If I remember and I could be wrong, that the damage that he did to that line was fixed in very short order. I was under the impression that the engineers under Thomas had developed a rapid repair system with rail sections and prefab bridge parts for the repair of the line. Not to mention the reserve of engines and rail cars. Of course after Nashville, no affective force could be mounted against that rail line. What was left of the AOT was hundreds of miles away, and in no shape to do it.
__________________ Located near Indianapolis, home of Col. Eli Lilly and the Eli Lilly Civil War Museum
Actually Forrest did take out the rail on the Nashville-Chattanooga line between Nashville and Shelbyville. Yes, that had already been done several times and the Union provost presence around Tullahoma always repaired it in short order. By the time of the Battle of the Cedars Dec 6 and 7 1864, (Fortress Rosecrans, a railroad yard) Sherman was no longer relying on this railroad for his supplies. He was too far away in east Georgia eating peanuts and stolen ham. The key to that line was the Cowan tunnel affording a passage through the Cumberland Mountain to connect to the line at Stevenson, Alabama which went up the Tennessee River valley to Chattanooga. Hood might as well have been trying to attack Chicago, the war was over aside from the fighting. Sherman was fixed on linking with Sherman either in North Carolina or Virgina if needed. Hood was not a player. Forrest "owned" the railroad in the Murfreesboro area during most of December 1864, but had to leave. It was time to try and save what was left of Hood's butt.
Saying the line should be broken was easier said than done. It could be broken and it was, often. But to really break it (say, take out 10 miles and turn the rails into Sherman's bow ties) would take more than Forrest or Hood had available. Sherman had arranged for stockpiles of engines, cars rails, ties, spikes, et al., and he had an army of 10,000 constantly at work on the line. Break it anywhere and in a very short time a large crew with divisions of armed protection was at work fixing it.
Sherman also stockpiled supplies. During the Atlanta campaign he talked of having 20 days worth on hand, as well as backup in Chattanooga and Nashville. The road was key to Sherman's campaign, but breaking it was as hard as defending Atlanta.
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
Not a big fan of Hood's appointment nor his follow up strategem as an army commander, but I do understand Davis pressing the panic button.
To me, the jig was up for Johnson when he found cause to abandon the Kennesaw Mountain defense line AFTER he had already thrown back McPherson, Schofield and Thomas with heavy loss. Big fan of Cleiborne, at this stage of the war what did the Confederate Govt have to lose by promoting from within?
Respectfully,
Spartan
Jeff Davis, alas, was human to a fault and had no particular business trying to run a war. Cleburne as well as perhaps half a dozen other young officers would have been far superior commanders than Hood. Of course, we have the advantage of 140 plus years of hindsight.
Jim Hardee!
Pat Cleburne
A. Stewart
John Gordon (?)
You will note that after Hood led his AOT against the Yankees in three separate attacks, Davis wired him and called on him to halt. Does this prove Johnston was right?
Not a big fan of Hood's appointment nor his follow up strategem as an army commander, but I do understand Davis pressing the panic button.
To me, the jig was up for Johnson when he found cause to abandon the Kennesaw Mountain defense line AFTER he had already thrown back McPherson, Schofield and Thomas with heavy loss. Big fan of Cleiborne, at this stage of the war what did the Confederate Govt have to lose by promoting from within?
Respectfully,
Spartan
Johnston had to abandon Kennesaw. He knew Sherman could flank him on his right and put his Armies between Joe and Atlanta.
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