Confederate Strategy

[ole]

You could argue that he was one of the most qualified managers and leaders in the south in 1861.

Nathan Bedford most certainly would rank with Warren Buffit and George Soros.

Here was a guy who could barely read and write. (Apparently, he was really good at ciphering and decision-making.) He built a fortune from nothing but grit and he built a reputation from nothing but grit.

The Confederacy was blessed with the presence of this unique talent ... much as the Union was blessed with unique talents of Grant.

Just a thought.

Ole

 

[Elennsar]

Find a pre war officer who'd created rather than inherited an enteprise of that scope. There may be a few, but they're rare. Was he qualified. Yeah.

Qualified to run a business does not necessarily lead to all the other stuff of an army.

I quite frankly think Forrest in terms of natural talent (instead of learning from books - on war or anything else) was one of the very highest. But I'm not sure if that makes him one of the very highest overall.

That being said, any winning Confederate strategy would involve trusting Forrest with a minimum of a division to cause havoc. Failing to use his talents would be unforgivable. Failing to use his talents to the fullest would require somewhat more to merit the conclusion he could go further than he did.

After all, the number of truly successful corps command level leaders can be counted on one's hands and feet. Probably for both sides.

 

[Baggage Handler #2]

Qualified to run a business does not necessarily lead to all the other stuff of an army.

I quite frankly think Forrest in terms of natural talent (instead of learning from books - on war or anything else) was one of the very highest. But I'm not sure if that makes him one of the very highest overall.
...

80% or more of an officer's daily grind is evaluating personnel, worrying about resources, planning for resources and activities, following up on subordinates, and all of the other mundane things involved in running any enterprise. You don't do these things well there is no army to place on a field.

The shiny bits: battlefield dispositions and directing battles comprise a very small (but important!) part of what is actually necessary. A genius in this category who cannot follow up, track and plan supplies, properly take the measure of his troops or project resource needs is either a private or a civilian.

This is tiresome, however, and I think I'm going to go away for a while.

 

[Elennsar]

The problem is that Forrest demonstrated a fairly low level of ability to work with the kind of people like Davis that at army command he would work with, and at corps command he'd butt heads as much (and as destructively to getting anything done) as he did with cavalry.

Forrest was superb at being an independent raider. Putting him in charge of infantry might work, or it might be a waste of his talents with his weaknesses overcoming his hard earned (as opposed to book learned) knowledge.