Did most generals select staff officers and aide-de-camps based on skill or for some other reason?

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Aug 25, 2012
It would seem like a general would want staff officers and aide-de-camps with a high degree of skill. However, it appears that some generals selected them based on family connections, political favors, and even loyalty to the general. I do wonder if staff officers and aide-de-camps selected for these reasons were real assets.
 
Jackson's letter requesting the appointment of James P. Smith:

Smith was attending Union Theological Seminary before the war and was a devoted student of Robert Dabney who was on the staff of the seminary. After the war Smith returned to seminary and became a Presbyterian minister. Was appointed to the First Presbyterian Church in Fredericksburg, Va, in 1869, where he met and married Agnes Lacy, daughter of Major James Horace Lacy of Chatham and Ellwood House.

appointmet.jpg


jackson&staff.jpg
 
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