Terrain

[matthew mckeon]

I was biking today, along a rail trail in NH, enjoying being out of the house. The railroad had been laid out in the 1850s, cut through some ledge, and past nice ponds and hill country. The tracks had been taken up about 20 years ago and a path paved on the old roadbed. Lovely.

Anyway I'm biking along on this roadbed, with the ground falling on either side, 15 to 20 feet, and I got to thinking about railroad cuts and sunken roads in the Civil War, and how they were vital factors in maneuvering and fighting battles. This cut I was biking in, I thought as I spun along, would be tough to seize. And then I thought of the approaches, the ravines and rock walls, the swamps(could they be forded? By horses, by guns?), the hills and how thousands of men would move in this landscape, attack or defend, be supplied, communicate with each other. And this during the Civil War, generally without reliable maps, much of a road net, rainfall that made muddy tracks that slowed movement.

I concluded it was tough to be a Civil War general. The combination of will, of understanding the ground, of keeping all the different factors in mind: the rate of march, the psychology of subordinate commanders, the level of training of the troops. And even giving a little thought to what the enemy might be up to.

 

[Pete Longstreet]

You make valid points. All of those you stated above, and on top of that... marching across states on foot. The resiliency of the CW soldier amazes me. It's a good part of the reason I'm fascinated by this war. These generals were operating under tremendous pressure as is, not to mention having to deal with issues within their own rank and file. Yet, still having to outthink and outmaneuver the enemy with limited provisions. I think sometimes a general, McClellan for example, their reputation can be tarnished by a certain act or decision they made...But imagine being in his shoes back in 1862... with the fate of the country in your hands...