Most "Intelligent" General...?

[leftyhunter]

Though even after Van Dorn left the state, Hindman was able to keep Curtis from taking Little Rock in 1862.

No doubt Hindman was a good general but he lacked so to speak political intelligence because the local politicians ended up getting him removed from Ar. Not saying Hindman was wrong per se but he did rub some folks the wrong way.
Leftyhunter

 

[diane]

No doubt Hindman was a good general but he lacked so to speak political intelligence because the local politicians ended up getting him removed from Ar. Not saying Hindman was wrong per se but he did rub some folks the wrong way.
Leftyhunter

That he did! Some of them were after him when he turned to his friend Cleburne for help - and almost finished off that future general. Later, somebody did succeed in blowing Hindman away in his own house.

 

[leftyhunter]

The role of Intelligence as a military discipline grew drastically through the Civil War. From initial, largely ad-hoc and localized efforts to gather information on the number and composition of enemy troops arrayed against a force, through spies and informers, to codemaking/breaking and message interception, on up to the formal development of the Army of the Potomac's Bureau of Military Information, the methods and techniques for gathering, processing, and exploiting information assumed ever-greater importance. My question to the forum is which generals best utilized intelligence in their operations? Which officer(s) made the best use of the assets available to them at the time? Who successfully pieced together a picture of his enemy's movements and exploited it, or prevented it? Who was able to position his forces and carry the day through prompt action on information? Answers will vary, but please "show your work" as my math teachers always said…

Per the book "Loyalty and loss Alabama's Unionists in the Civil War and Reconstruction" Margret M. Storey Louisiana State University Press in the chapter titled "Wild Justice" Gen Thomas and Dodge made very good use of Unionist spies and Partisan Rangers in gathering intelligence on CSA forces. I would venture to guess that in other parts of the South Unionists, ,slaves, deserters and partisan rangers or guerrillas where a huge part of Union intelligence gathering.
Leftyhunter

 

[ole]

Reject the qualifier "intelligent." I'm officially intelligent and have done some really stupid stuff.