Ranking the Confederate Lieutenant Generals

JeffBrooks

2nd Lieutenant
Joined
Aug 20, 2009
Location
Hutto, TX
Taking a cue for Major Bill's thread about ranking the Full Generals of the Confederate Army, I thought I'd post a similar thread for ranking the Lieutenant Generals of the Confederate Army.

1. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson: His 1862 Valley Campaign would by itself have placed Jackson in the top tier of great captains of history. His performances at Second Manassas, Sharpsburg and Chancellorsville were nothing short of brilliant. He didn't do well in the Seven Days, it is true, but did anybody?

2. Jubal Early: With little in the way of resources, he carried out one of the most remarkable campaigns of the war, securing the Shenandoah, relieving the pressure on Lee, raising morale throughout the South and very nearly capturing Washington. Against Sheridan, he did better than anyone had a right to expect, considering the disparity of forces.

3. James Longstreet: Solid and dependable, Longstreet was the pillar of the Army of Northern Virginia.

4. William Hardee: "Old Reliable", indeed. Peachtree Creek and Jonesborugh were bad days, but marvelous at Murfreesboro and good at Shiloh, Atlanta, and most of the battles in the first phase of the Atlanta Campaign. His evacuation of Savannah was a textbook case of how to escape from a vastly superior enemy with one's forces intact.

5. Nathan Bedford Forrest: Not the invincible superhuman many seem to think he is, but obviosuly one of the great military leaders of the war.

6. Richard Taylor: Underrated and underappreciated. His performance in Louisiana should be ranked among the great performances of the war.

7. Alexander Stewart: Underrated, if you ask me. A solid brigade and division commander who came into his own as a corps commander. He did very well at Peachtree Creek.

8. D. H. Hill: Very good, even if he couldn't get along with anybody.

9. Wade Hampton: Workmanlike cavalry commander.

10. A. P. Hill: The best division commander Lee had, but only average as a corps commander.

11. Simon Buckner: Unfortunately best known for being the fall guy for Fort Donelson. But actually not a bad commander.

12. Richard Anderson: Underrated, but no Jackson or Longstreet.

13. Richard Ewell: Not bad in the Wilderness. Pretty bad everywhere else.

14. Stephen D. Lee: Ezra Church, anyone?

15. Theophilus Holmes: His refusal to send assistance outside of his department is a major reason the Union gained control of the Mississippi River.

16. John Pemberton: Seriously, was he TRYING to lose the Vicksburg Campaign?

17. Leonidas Polk: He should not have been appointed a lieutenant, let alone a lieutenant general. His ineptitude lost the Confederacy the chance of bringing the state of Kentucky into the war on its side. On the battlefield, he was worse than useless.
 
Okay, because there are so many choices, I'm going to divide my ranking into three tiers, above average, average, below average.

Above Average: All except Ewell, Polk, Hardee, Holmes, and Pemberton

Average: Hardee, Ewell

Below Average: Pemberton, Holmes



Secret Rank..........Polkish. Definition or rank: A person who if they found themselves in the battle of Armageddon on the Lord's side would somehow give the victory to the adversary.

Who get's this rank, surprise, it's Polk......
 
I think you're being a bit too hard on poor Pemberton; it's worth noting that he was in a completely impossible position. He managed to prevent the investment of Vicksburg for months against greatly superior odds, which is an impressive feat when you consider that he had very little going for him. He had Jefferson Davis ordering him to hold at all costs a city that - once the Union army finally managed to get there - was easy to besiege, he had Joe Johnston ordering him to ignore the president's orders and abandon the city and join forces even though the Union Army was between them, he had Johnston (again) refusing to send reinforcements despite Davis' orders, he had the city's residents to feed alongside his army, he faced constant scorn from many of his subordinates for his northern birth, and he actually had one division commander actually commit what is unarguably an act of blatant mutiny and completely abandon the army, taking nearly 20% of the garrison with him (something the aforementioned subordinate got away with). Did he lose Vickburg? Yes. Did he stand a chance in hell of winning? Not really. I think, ultimately, that his overall battle record is fat too sparse to give him a fair assessment one way or the other.

As for Jackson, there are few generals in American history (save perhaps MacArthur or Patton) who are more overrated. He had a talent for exploiting incompetence and turning it into a victory over his opponents' psyches, but absent errors by his opposition, he was never more than average. Luckily for him and his legacy, incompetence in the Union's eastern armies was something of which there was a notable surplus. I'm fairly certain, however, that Jackson would not have fared quite so well against the more stubborn and less panic-prone Union generals of the latter half of the war.
 
13. Richard Ewell: Not bad in the Wilderness. Pretty bad everywhere else.
Second Winchester?
I think he was pretty good at Gettysburg.
And if you are going to count Jackson's time before he was Lieutenant General, then Ewell should get credit for the Valley campaign as well. In my opinion Jackson looked good because of Ewell.
 
Second Winchester?
I think he was pretty good at Gettysburg.
And if you are going to count Jackson's time before he was Lieutenant General, then Ewell should get credit for the Valley campaign as well. In my opinion Jackson looked good because of Ewell.

To assess Ewell at Gettysburg, only one quote comes to mind:
"It took a great many mistakes to lose that battle. And I myself made most of them."
--Richard S. Ewell

Over-generalized, yes, but not inaccurate. He was slow to move, he was indecisive, he deferred too much to Early (whose personality often overshadowed his other subordinates), he failed to exploit multiple opportunities, and large portions of his Corps were barely engaged for the latter two days of the battle.
 
To assess Ewell at Gettysburg, only one quote comes to mind:
"It took a great many mistakes to lose that battle. And I myself made most of them."
--Richard S. Ewell.
I am not familiar with that quote.

I am familiar with this one:
"I know I have been blamed by many for not having pressed my advantage the first day at Gettysburg. But, then, I cannot see why I should be censured." -- Richard S. Ewell
 
If I'm honest, it's a second-hand quote (though an easy-to-find one); my understanding is that it's from his posthumously published memoirs, The Making of a Soldier (in other words, it's from his late life), but since I've never been able to get a copy of the book in question, I can't confirm this, either.

Our of curiosity, what's the source for the censure quote?
 
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