Senior thesis - officer tension

coolwater92

Cadet
Joined
Mar 9, 2015
Hello everyone,

First post here. I'm a cadet at West Point and I'm working on my senior thesis right now, just looking for any research guidance I can get. I am studying the social politics of the officer corps, and specifically examining the impacts of social tension/promotion competition (if any) on actual unit effectiveness. The two regiments in my case study are the 121st NY (Emory Upton's) and 124th NY, both volunteer units in the Army of the Potomac for the duration of the conflict. I guess my question is does anyone know of good secondary sources on officer motivation? Or any ideas of what I should be looking at to assess these impacts? I have been researching soldier diaries and newspaper clippings, but primary sources are hard to come by. I also haven't found any compelling secondary sources on my topic. Thanks for any help!
 
Welcome from Canada!:beaver: My first thought was diaries and letters, memoirs, etc., but you seem to have those covered. There is a book or two about West Point and graduates and the War but I cannot remember what they are just now. Someone else will be along to help shortly. We are good like that.
 
History of the 124th Regiment of New York State Volunteers: the Orange Blossom Regiment
By: Lt. Col. Charles H. Weygant
 
Hello everyone,

First post here. I'm a cadet at West Point and I'm working on my senior thesis right now, just looking for any research guidance I can get. I am studying the social politics of the officer corps, and specifically examining the impacts of social tension/promotion competition (if any) on actual unit effectiveness. The two regiments in my case study are the 121st NY (Emory Upton's) and 124th NY, both volunteer units in the Army of the Potomac for the duration of the conflict. I guess my question is does anyone know of good secondary sources on officer motivation? Or any ideas of what I should be looking at to assess these impacts? I have been researching soldier diaries and newspaper clippings, but primary sources are hard to come by. I also haven't found any compelling secondary sources on my topic. Thanks for any help!

Check these out:

Donald B. Connelly, John M. Schofield and the Politics of Generalship, though Schofield was in the West.
David M. Jordan, "Happiness is Not My Companion": The Life of General G. K. Warren
Stephen R. Taaffe, Commanding the Army of the Potomac
Jay W. Simson, Crisis of Command in the Army of the Potomac: Sheridan's Search for an Effective General
Gabor S. Boritt, Lincoln's Generals
Steven E. Woodworth, Leadership and Command in the American Civil War

This one covers confederates, but might provide some additional useful information:
Thomas L. Connelly and Archer Jones, The Politics of Command: Factions and Ideas in Confederate Strategy

These two primary sources are invaluable for their candid and incisive observations and comments:
Allen Nevins, ed., A Diary of Battle: The Personal Journals of Colonel Charles S. Wainwright, 1861-1865
David S. Sparks, ed., Inside Lincoln's Army: The Diary of Marsena Rudolph Patrick, Provost Marshal General, Army of the Potomac

Also look for Peter S. Michie, The Life and Letters of Emory Upton
 
Welcome! You will surely find what you need here! I have learned more in the last few weeks than in years of reading on my own! These people here know their "stuff."
 
Although USNA '77, I have always admired USMA. I am currently studying two areas that touch on your topic. The first is college alumni, in this case the inevitable friction between the relatively few USMA graduates who constituted the bulk of the senior officer ranks (in both armies), and the many other colleges whose alumni would have to fill the rest of the leadership roles in vastly expanded volunteer armies, and whose promotion potential would be constrained due to the USMA monopoly. I haven't gone far with the 124 NY, but do have three names: Major James Cromwell, Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute, graduated 1861; Captain William Augustus Jackson, Company K, Union College, graduated 1858; and 1st Lieutenant James Otis Denniston of Company G, Yale College, graduated 1856. The tension is characterized by LCol W. W. Blackford, a Confederate cavalryman who had in mind BGen Beverly H. Robertson when he stated [in War Years with JEB Stuart]: “Our cause died of West Point as much as of any one thing. (Robertson) was made a general without ever having done one single thing in action to deserve that promotion.” Whatever the merits of politically appointed generals, they surely had to overcome deep prejudices from their better trained, but occasionally deeply flawed, West Point counterparts. The second area, which I have just recently begun to explore, is the truly astonishing number of family members (usually brothers) who served together in every unit, and many times had a firm hold on the command structure of their units, thus raising at least the perceptions of favoritism and nepotism. Then too, nearly every senior officer could (and often did) choose family members to serve as volunteer aides on their staffs. For instance Gen. George G. Meade and his son; and MGen. Oliver O. Howard and his brother Charles. Such a son or a brother would be an extra set of eyes and ears, prying and poking around, and whatever they discovered could be expected to reach the top. As for source materials, do check the online unit histories of the NY State Military Museum - for the 124 NY it is http://dmna.ny.gov/historic/reghist/civil/infantry/124thInf/124thInfMain.htm Also see History of the One Hundred and Twenty Fourth Regiment N.Y.S.V. by Charles H. Weygant; Personal Experiences in the War of the Great Rebellion by F. W. Morse (121 NY); The Civil War Letters of George W. Collins (121 NY, online); the William Remmel letters (121 NY); History of the 121st New York State Infantry by Isaac O. Best; A Surgeon's Civil War, the Letters and Diary of Daniel M. Hunt (121 NY); and The Otsego Republican, Nebraska Correspondence, by Delevan Bates (121 NY). Good luck on this project and in your future endeavors, especially the next Army-Navy game!
 
coolwater (reminds me of "Cold Mountain")--are you getting what you need? I'm not up on this subject, or I'd try to help. But again, welcome and please stick around-these people here are amazing!
 
Failure in the Saddle: Nathan Bedford Forrest, Joe Wheeler, and the Confederate Cavalry in the Chickamauga Campaign by David A. Powell

I know this is Confederate but it provides some great insight into tension in the officer ranks and highlights the potential poor outcome as a result. It gets pretty deep into rifts between Forrest, Wheeler, Bragg and the political side of Jefferson Davis' inaction. If nothing else, it's a good read for a future officer.
 
Back
Top