A Deceptive Victory

[War Horse]

Still not convinced... the Confedeates would be used to having one single man point his weapon in their direction. The true threat (in my eyes) came from his feigning that a whole company was directly coming behind him... (I know because I did once a very similar thing. Only that I waved to imaginary "reinforcements" behind my "enemy" and turned around the corner, knowing he would not display any further interest by looking if there was someone behind him).

And I thought the two separated soldiers first charged together until one of them fell and the other did the trick alone?

Oh, sorry, @War Horse now I'm afraid we might have managed to damage your great little story by too much reasoning...

No damage, I'm afraid there seems to be many different accounts of the same actions and many different interpretations as well.

 

[MajGenl.Meade]

Yes, @FarawayFriend, you are quite correct - they charged together. One fell with the leg wound from which he died. Our guy was left trembling at the wall and decided the only thing to do was to jump over it. The rebs had already panicked and retreated from the "assault" that they thought was by large force. Then he arrived, doing something so stupid they assumed he was still not alone. The rebels laid down their arms, not believing any one man would do such a thing alone.

I'm not sure how accustomed one comes to having a person pointing a weapon at one. Seems clear these rebels were ready to surrender and no one wanted to be the one to get shot. The man's bravery stands all by itself without embellishments. Perhaps he waved (I'd be keeping both hands on my rifle) ... perhaps he didn't.

What @War Horse has done here is bring to our attention a very interesting and heroic action, regardless of details, and I'm glad he did. I don't think history is damaged by examining it.

And Target is not sending out "50% off" coupons on Facebook

 

[DR_Hanna]

In the "old age and treachery" tradition, here is an example of deception which occurred at Perryville:

From Confederate Generals in the Western Theater, Volume 3. Essays on America's Civil War.

The lines intermingled in the darkness. Sergeant John Berry of the 8th Arkansas Infantry Regiment wrote that "the approach of night made it difficult to tell foe from friend." Liddell's Brigade fired upon a "dark line" of soldiers near the Benton Road, close to the intersection. Suddenly, the obscured troops yelled that they were friends. Liddell's Brigade ceased fire, and Polk rode forward to investigate, asking the colonel of the mysterious regiment why he had been firing upon "his friends." The officer replied that he was shooting at the enemy. "Enemy?" Polk scoffed. "Why I have only just left them myself -- cease firing, sir; what is your name, sir?" The officer replied, "My name is Colonel [Squire Keith] of the [22nd Indiana Infantry Regiment], and pray sir, who are you?" Polk realized that he was behind enemy lines, and thinking he would be killed at any moment, he decided to "brazen it out." Riding down the line, he pretended to be a Union officer and ordered the Yankee troops to cease fire. He then spurred his horse back to Liddell, sputtering, "General! Every mothers son of them are Yankees." The Confederates unleashed a volley and, Polk wrote, hundreds of muskets "blazed as one gun." He added that "the slaughter of that Indiana regiment was the greatest I had ever seen in the war." The 22nd Indiana suffered nearly 70 percent casualties, the hightest percentage of any regiment at Perryville. It was caused by the men of Buckner's Division, thanks to Polk's ruse.

 

[Tom Elmore]

Here's a master practitioner of deception in the naval realm: Robert Baker Pegram, who in 1855 had assisted a British warship in Hong Kong in routing a fleet of Chinese pirates, became a Confederate naval officer. He helped to capture the immensely valuable naval base at Norfolk, Virginia by running train engines back and forth near the base, and circulating rumors of an imminent arrival of a Confederate fire-ship, which caused the Federals to evacuate. Next, setting up a battery at Pig Point at the mouth of the Nansemond River, he adjusted the channel buoys to fool the enemy ship Harriet Lane into coming within range of his guns. Then, as Captain of the Nashville, he found himself in Southampton, England, alongside the USS Tuscarora. Both ships being ordered out of port, the Tuscarora stood out and waited for him. But Captain Pegram, by bluff and shrewd negotiating with the British, and also changing his rigging to make his vessel look different, eluded the Tuscarora and subsequently ran the blockade at Beaufort, N.C. (Confederate Military History, volume 3, pp. 1101-1103)

 

[civilken]

In the pantheon of battles Chancellorsville stands alone in surprise it was Jackson's masterpiece.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

as Captain of the Nashville, he found himself in Southampton, England, alongside the USS Tuscarora. Both ships being ordered out of port, the Tuscarora stood out and waited for him. But Captain Pegram, by bluff and shrewd negotiating with the British, and also changing his rigging to make his vessel look different, eluded the Tuscarora and subsequently ran the blockade at Beaufort, N.C. (Confederate Military History, volume 3, pp. 1101-1103)

The captain of the Tuscarora was, I think, Tunis A. M. Craven... that gallant but luckless officer would go to the bottom with his monitor Tecumseh at the beginning of the Battle of Mobile Bay.

 

[NedBaldwin]

In light of our discussion about Chickamauga in another thread, I offer this act of deception:

Bragg "would do his best to be sure the enemy was deceived as to his own actions. For that purpose he sent carefully primed 'deserters' to Rosecrans with the story that the Army of Tennessee was in headlong retreat and about to come apart." -- Woodworth, Six Armies in Tennessee, page 67​

 

[War Horse]

In light of our discussion about Chickamauga in another thread, I offer this act of deception:

Bragg "would do his best to be sure the enemy was deceived as to his own actions. For that purpose he sent carefully primed 'deserters' to Rosecrans with the story that the Army of Tennessee was in headlong retreat and about to come apart." -- Woodworth, Six Armies in Tennessee, page 67​

Here is an interesting study of Rosecrans vs Bragg in both the Tullahoma and Chickamauga campaign's. It's a study of the use of the available intelligence.

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a211897.pdf

 

[Rebforever]

A distance of less than twenty miles. (I believe it was less than 12 miles but I don't have my sources present)

Well, if we got right down to it, War Horse, it depended on whether Stonewall was on the East or the West side of the Mountain when he went into camp.

 

[1SGDan]

Here is an interesting study of Rosecrans vs Bragg in both the Tullahoma and Chickamauga campaign's. It's a study of the use of the available intelligence.

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a211897.pdf

Interesting that you note the Tullahoma Campaign. Rosecrans started his campaign with a deceptive move toward Triune with Granger's Reserve Corps that so thoroughly convinced Wheeler of action there that it drew the entire Confederate cavalry in that direction. This left the eastern edge of the Confederate line open. The rest, as they say is history. The Confederates were surprised from the east and outmanuevered. They gave up their position almost without a fight. Wheeler ended up jumping his horse into the river to escape when the Union attack on the left finally materialized.