- Joined
- Apr 4, 2017
- Location
- Denver, CO
The land part of the Civil War was determined at the operational level. Infantry forces that got to their assigned destination on time and ahead of the opposition consistently won. Sherman was good at that. Very few of them had any tactical insight into using the improved artillery in combination with infantry.Interesting thought. It is true that Sherman's greatest military accomplishments occurred when he gained operational control of an entire regional military division, which he attained after Grant was promoted to Lt. General and General-in-Chief. Thus, Sherman's fame is based on his masterful flanking maneuvers against Joe Johnston from Dalton to Atlanta, and his subsequent movements from Atlanta through Georgia and the Carolinas. Before then, Sherman's record was mixed at places like Shiloh, Chickasaw Bluffs, and Chattanooga. But once attaining total command, Sherman was able to implement his military thinking that targeted civilian infrastructure as much as individual fighting forces. Probably no other commander would have gotten away with his decision to stop the pursuit of Hood's AOT after that army began its retrograde movement towards Tennessee; Sherman chose instead to have Thomas and elements of the western armies deal with Hood, while he Sherman, concentrated on his much broader strategic campaign of cutting through the heartland of the south and delivering a body punch to that public's ability to see a realistic pathway to southern victory.
Most of the people with experience in the west, quickly realized that cavalry raids were incredibly disruptive. Nathan Forrest adopted those tactics and there were many imitations.
Sherman was good at carrying out orders and not making excuses for being late.
The fact that he was an average racist for his time did not mean that he wanted the freedmen to demonstrate their loyalty to the US by getting mowed down in battle. It has nothing to do his military record.
The comparison to Thomas Jackson is extremely apt.