Grant Not impressed with Grants performance

[leftyhunter]

May we say that Sherman made a herculean effort against daunting odds as he "grind" his way northward to unite with Grant?

General's are paid to win wars not stage fair fights. War is not a boxing match. Has @Bee noted Sherman earned his paycheck.
Leftyhunter

 

[contestedground]

Exactly. Marching a gang of 60,000 looters and vandals through civilian areas with very little military opposition is hardly an impressive accomplishment. I suppose it did take a little time to stop and burn buildings along the way, and to loot all that jewelry, money and livestock. I guess that could be considered "grinding". :/

After all, Lee led an army of 70,000 slavecatchers north, right? Only to lose over a third of them at Gettysburg?

Much more impressive, I guess.

I don't think such exchanges advance discussion at all, but if one's true, so's the other.

 

[contestedground]

Let's tell the truth here. The CS slowed down US armies, even stopped them or drove them back for close to four years. How about that Union army, running for their lives after Manassas? Twice.

And how about Bobby Lee, crossing the Potomac twice, getting his men slaughtered, and then recrossing twice in defeat?

Let's tell the truth here indeed. Of course, the "truth" may be in the eye of the beholder.

I hope that brings an end to the cheerleading part of our program. Back to understanding instead of rooting.

 

[Andersonh1]

General's are paid to win wars not stage fair fights. War is not a boxing match. Has @Bee noted Sherman earned his paycheck.
Leftyhunter

He did indeed. But no one should have expected "no hard feelings" over the methods used.

 

[contestedground]

I study history and quite a bit of it is more than US history. The Civil War did not take place in a vacuum and history did not begin and end in the American south. Contrary to your fantasies the US soldier is not so evil as you wish others to believe. You are fond of slandering the US soldier but are careful to make certain they are dead. I expect you would never call one of those men such to their face.

I've always wondered why a poster who demands that we respect the Confederate soldier does not respect the Union soldier.

 

[Andersonh1]

I study history and quite a bit of it is more than US history. The Civil War did not take place in a vacuum and history did not begin and end in the American south. Contrary to your fantasies the US soldier is not so evil as you wish others to believe. You are fond of slandering the US soldier but are careful to make certain they are dead. I expect you would never call one of those men such to their face.

Particularly not my many family members who have been a part of that military, and fought in WW2, Vietnam, the Iraq War, and if I go far enough back, the War of 1812 and the Revolutionary War. But I'm not going to sugarcoat military wrongdoing when I see it, and you seem to me to be overly sensitive of criticism if you think my disgust with the US military of the 1860s and 1870s applies to the US military in general. It does not. It's not slander to tell the truth about what they did.

 

[Andersonh1]

I've always wondered why a poster who demands that we respect the Confederate soldier does not respect the Union soldier.

I respect some of them. But the ones who went after civilians with such zeal are the ones I have a real problem with.

 

[leftyhunter]

The closure of Confederate ports certainly did free up vessels to go onto the blockade at other locations. Here in the western Gulf of Mexico, the blockading force off Galveston increased from one or two vessels in 1861 to a dozen or more by the latter part of 1864. that's a function both of the increasing size of the U.S. Navy and the closure of other ports where those vessels were no longer needed.

Regarding Wilmington, Fort Fisher was successfully taken in January 1865, that effectively closed Wilmington as a blockade running port. This was about a month before Beauregard abandoned Charleston.

Fair enough. Certainly the

He did indeed. But no one should have expected "no hard feelings" over the methods used.

Not from all Southerners by any means just does who supported the Confederacy. Did blacks and Unionists who combined are a good sized portion of the South's population really hate the Union?
Leftyhunter

 

[Bee]

I respect some of them. But the ones who went after civilians with such zeal are the ones I have a real problem with.

This is a mischaracterization of Sherman (if we are referring to Sherman)

 

[AndyHall]

We can only wonder what one of the greatest military geniuses in history would think if he could somehow know that his campaigns would be later compared to Sherman's March to the Sea and then north into the Carolinas.

Julius Caesar called from Alesia. He says Sherman was a piker.

 

[19thGeorgia]

This is a mischaracterization of Sherman (if we are referring to Sherman)

Yes, William Tecumseh-
"There is a class of people, men, women and children, who must be killed or banished before you can hope for peace and order."

 

[contestedground]

I respect some of them. But the ones who went after civilians with such zeal are the ones I have a real problem with.

How do you feel about Forrest's men at Fort Pillow?

 

[Andersonh1]

Not from all Southerners by any means just does who supported the Confederacy. Did blacks and Unionists who combined are a good sized portion of the South's population really hate the Union?
Leftyhunter

I think once your house has been burned down, your hogs and your corn taken by the army, and your grounds turned upside down by soldiers searching for the family silver, like or dislike of the Union doesn't matter any more. It becomes more personal than that.

 

[contestedground]

Yes, William Tecumseh-
"There is a class of people, men, women and children, who must be killed or banished before you can hope for peace and order."

Anyone who reads Sherman's letters knows that he said a lot of things ... as a way of blowing off steam.

How did Sherman *act* at Bennett's Place?

 

[Andersonh1]

How do you feel about Forrest's men at Fort Pillow?

I'm not happy with any time they gave no quarter to black soldiers from the other side. It's fair to call out both US and CS soldiers for brutal behavior.

 

[cash]

We can only wonder what one of the greatest military geniuses in history would think if he could somehow know that his campaigns would be later compared to Sherman's March to the Sea and then north into the Carolinas.

You obviously don't know much about Sun Tzu.

https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/suntzu/art-of-war/introduction.html

 

[cash]

Yes, William Tecumseh-
"There is a class of people, men, women and children, who must be killed or banished before you can hope for peace and order."

Yes, that's the typical out-of-context quote meant to try to fool people.

 

[Jamieva]

Can we get back to grant??

 

[Burning Billy]

We can only wonder what one of the greatest military geniuses in history would think if he could somehow know that his campaigns would be later compared to Sherman's March to the Sea and then north into the Carolinas.

You've missed the point.

Your criticism of Sherman was that he didn't face serious opposition in his march through Georgia. That was intended.

Sherman was average as a tactician but as a strategist he was superb and had no equal in Confederate gray. Lee, who most would agree was the Confederacy's best general, was tactically brilliant but a poor strategist.

 

[Rebforever]

Well there you have it. Let's all beat hell out of Lee now. Again!