- Joined
- Mar 31, 2012
- Location
- Central Ohio
If there's one characteristic I'd assign to Ben Butler, it wouldn't be "tentative." But that's sort of how he's coming across in Schiller's The Bermuda Hundred Campaign. He comes across as sort of rear-echelon support staff to William Farrar Smith and Quincy A. Gillmore, neither of whom are showing themselves as military superstars (I'm up to Beauregard's counterattack south of Drewry's Bluff, and Smith and Gillmore are both suggesting a retreat to the Bermuda Hundred fortified lines). Is it possible that Mr. Ego could have been intimidated by the military "professionals" under him?
As a direct contrast, Beauregard is showing himself at his best-- scraping up a force out of virtually nothing, directly contradicting President Davis when the latter's orders don't suit him (and, even drawing forth understanding from Davis that the contradictions were necessary).
Because Schiller pretty much confines himself to a descriptive narrative of events, I'm developing more questions than answers... if Kautz had been pulled right from the cavalry bureau, why does he seem to know so little about employing cavalry? Does Gillmore really think entrenching is the way to advance? And why does Smith spend more time criticizing others' troop dispositions than he seems to do attending to his own?
Hoping Longacre's Army of Amateurs answers some of these questions...
As a direct contrast, Beauregard is showing himself at his best-- scraping up a force out of virtually nothing, directly contradicting President Davis when the latter's orders don't suit him (and, even drawing forth understanding from Davis that the contradictions were necessary).
Because Schiller pretty much confines himself to a descriptive narrative of events, I'm developing more questions than answers... if Kautz had been pulled right from the cavalry bureau, why does he seem to know so little about employing cavalry? Does Gillmore really think entrenching is the way to advance? And why does Smith spend more time criticizing others' troop dispositions than he seems to do attending to his own?
Hoping Longacre's Army of Amateurs answers some of these questions...