- Joined
- Feb 23, 2013
- Location
- East Texas
Interesting perspective. I don't recall anywhere reading that Jackson did not "get along with the administration." He- like Longstreet- certainly seems to have gotten along very well with Lee. Do you mean Davis and the 'Richmond establishment'?
I'd like to learn more. What is your source? Thanks.
I was referring to Davis and the government, yes. It's all speculation since Lee never commented on why he preferred Longstreet to Jackson but one has to assume that, having worked with both for the better part of a year, Lee saw something in the two men that forged his opinion. My opinion is that Jackson's personality and his difficulty in getting along with others had something to do with it.
Ryan
That is my personal belief. (so not something I got any great sources for)
In case Lee got killed Longstreet would take over and I think Lee found Longstreet the better option when he made the decision after the 7 day battles in 1862. (since he made sure that Longstreet was promoted before Jackson)
One particular instance of Jackson being "difficult" and not getting along with either the administration or his subordinates would be the exchange he had in early 1862 with then-Secretary of War Judah Benjamin. Jackson had maneuvered the Federals out of Romney in a brutal winter campaign, then left Brig. Gen. William W. Loring and his small division that had been ordered to assist Jackson to remain there as a garrison. Loring was another of those "difficult' types who resented being left "hanging out" in the wilderness of western Virginia garrisoning Romney while Stonewall took his division back to the relative comforts of Winchester. Loring went over Jackson's head complaining to Benjamin in a letter also signed by his subordinate brigade commanders, one of which was William Taliaferro. Benjamin unwisely sustained Loring, ordering Jackson to recall him from Romney, prompting Jackson to submit a letter of resignation due to interference with his command. Feelings were smoothed over but Jackson lost the service of Loring's command for the time and sorely missed them once the Valley Campaign got underway. Loring was soon transferred to the west where he became an insubordinate thorn in Pemberton's side, and although Taliaferro eventually succeeded to command of Jackson's Division, Stonewall bore him a grudge and never really trusted him.