He could have had McLaws promoted.Lee could not and would not move Stuart from the cavalry. So if not Stuart who but A.P. Hill could have been the corps commander?
Regards
David
Maybe an outsider like Buckner or Breckinridge, or even Richard Taylor.
Promote Cleburne and the A of T will have an extra Corps commander.
Lee was definitely a promote from within army commander. Also no Virginians in thereMaybe an outsider like Buckner or Breckinridge, or even Richard Taylor.
Promote Cleburne and the A of T will have an extra Corps commander.
Should Lee have kept the ANV a 2 Corp army instead of expanding to 3 Corp. Stuart could have replaced the fallen Jackson and IMBODEN could have replaced Stuart in command of cavalry.
I've been under the impression that what Lee wanted was:Of the other available officers, I've always thought D.H. Hill the most able but one of the more problematic for his forthright and tactless nature. Obviously Ewell and A.P. Hill did not enjoy enough confidence from Lee for either man to replace Jackson so got to command smaller Corps instead, with mixed reviews.
He could have had McLaws promoted.
It's important to consider the state balance in corps commanders.
Jackson was Virginian. (As was Ewell.)
Longstreet was South Carolinan.
McLaws was Georgian.
DH Hill was South Carolinan.
AP Hill was also Virginian.
In which case he'd count as North Carolinan, then. Thanks for the clarification!FYI - DH Hill ws born in South Carolina but considered himself more a North Carolinian. He relocated to NC in 1854 and lived there for most of the rest of his life. His first commission in the Confederate army was with the 1st NC Volunteers ("Bethel Regiment") and his career was championed mostly by NC political figures, some of whom were relatives of his North Carolinian wife.
I've been under the impression that what Lee wanted was:
- DH Hill not to get a corps
- 3 Corps if none of them is DH Hill
The situation post-Northern-Virginia campaign is practically tailor made for a Longstreet/Jackson/DH Hill division, but Lee doesn't take it up.
Oddly that one's one Lee doesn't really deserve blame for! Lee never launched the Confederate troops at Malvern Hill, it was a SNAFU.I not sure whether D.H. Hill ever really recovered his respect for Lee after Malvern Hill - of which Hill said "it was not war - it was murder" - so that wouldn't have helped their relationship either.
I don't understand why you think this. The Cavalry Corp probably had a number of abled men to lead it. Wade Hampton was arguably as good a cavalry officer as Stuart, and that is no knock on Stuart. If you move Stuart over to Jackson's Corps and Hampton up to Cavalry command, you now keep Hill in division command and don't have to promote as many officers who aren't ready yet. I've long thought this would have been a better solution, but in hindsight is 50/50, Lee had long wanted to promote Hill to corps command and there was no reason to believe he wouldn't do a good job, he was already handling the largest division in the army.I believe the reorganization to three corps was overdue, leadership issues not withstanding.
I wonder what others may think of the staff's of the corps as they then existed also. They seem awfully small, especially considering the size of the two corps. I maybe incorrect but I believe the staff of a brigade commander in the French army of the Napoleonic era was larger than that of a corps commander in the ANV.
If I was Lee I would have been very reluctant to have anyone but Stuart as the head of my cavalry.
John