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Military Pron - The Legend of General Lee (1 of 3) - long

Aug 9, 2021, 3:15 PM

Part 1 of 3

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I’ve gotten some nice compliments on these poasts and want to thank y'all for the feedback. I haven’t forgotten about jets and tanks and ships, and in fact, I plan the next topic to be on Operation Market-Garden in WW2, by request! But I already had this one in the pipeline so I’ll go ahead and squeeze it out for now.

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This post will examine the legend of General Lee, starting with some background stuff, then looking at his 10 greatest battles.

As I mentioned I try to make a Clemson connection when I can, but short of that at least give an unusual angle or perspective on the topic. This one is heavy on Virginia, which of course was Frank Howard’s white meat of choice. Sad, but the cawks can’t even be number #1 in disrespect. Howard did show them some attention though, saying “The only good thing ever to come out of Columbia is I-26.” True quote.

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Anyhow if you’ve ever wondered exactly why General Lee was so highly regarded in the Civil War, (and how Grant beat him), I’ll try to show some of his more interesting campaigns and battles. When I was a kid I heard the story of the child in church who asked his parents if Lee was in the Old Testament or the New. The guy has a near demigod status in some parts of the South. He has the Duke’s car named after him...

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and even a line of press-on nails named in his honor, but why? Why is this guy such a legend? Let's take a look.

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Within the framework of the Anaconda plan, the Union objective in the East during the Civil was pretty simple. Take Richmond. It was the third biggest city in the Confederacy at 38,000 people, had the essential Tredegar Iron Works (a great museum btw), and political value as the enemy capital.

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The Tredegar Ironworks was the largest employer in Richmond, and the largest, and about the only, ironworking facility in the entire South.

It supplied about half the South’s cannons during the war, so it was kind of important. Iron in general is important if you are fighting a war, unless you want to use clubs and bricks, or whatever...

The prevailing doctrine at the time was “take the enemy capital, win the war”, although that wasn’t always true. Hit ler himself overruled his own generals in the invasion of Russia and pointed out that Napoleon took Moscow and still got sent packing in the snow. He demanded the Soviet Armies be defeated in the field first, leaving nothing to defend Moscow. The Germans couldn’t quite pull it off, but he had the reich idea.

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Even despots have bad days, or months, sometimes. Here Napoleon and the French learn what the Russian winter is.

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Even in our own Revolution, the Brits took our revolutionary capital, Boston, then our economic capital, NYC, and then our governmental capital, Philadelphia, all to no effect. So the premise was flawed, but there still the belief, or perhaps the hope, that occupying the enemy’s capital would lead to a short war.

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Seems simple enough. If only it were that easy…

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Even if you can't be the best shot, at least be fabulously dressed for a Civil War. Fashion counts, too.

Usually only one or two big battles occurred in each theater, East or West, each year during the Civil War. Everybody marched around in the Spring looking for position, then crashed together for a big battle in Summer. Then there might have been a counter attack in the Fall, and everyone went home for the Winter. There were exceptions but that was the basic pattern of moving giant armies around in the 1860’s. Simplified, the whole war from the Union perspective in the East, year by year, looked like this:

1861 -Failed to take Richmond by land; went home
1862 -Failed to take Richmond by sea; went home; Rebel counterattack failed, Union counterattack failed; went home
1863 -Failed to take Richmond by land; went home; Rebel counterattack failed
1864 -Failed to take Richmond by land; Stayed for siege and won.

That’s it. Pretty simple really. The whole war in the East. About 10 big battles, and a very gruesome overall body count. There were side operations, raids, diversions, and a bunch of other stuff going on but that was basically the war.

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Long before V-E or V-J day there was V-C day. America’s Victory Parade, 1865 style.

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The one truly modern aspect of the war was railroads, which were essential for large armies and dramatically dictated where they could go. Sherman was once asked why he advanced along rivers and he said because one steam ship could carry as many supplies as 150 wagons and all their horse teams.

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One if by land, or maybe 150 if by land (not a contemporary pig, but a bunch of wagons to illustrate the point)

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Two if by sea...well, river

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Railroads had the same impact. A small force might be able to forage for a limited time, but keep in mind that these armies were far bigger than the cities they were attacking or defending. Supply was a monumental food, shelter, and even sewage, task. Yuck. That’s before you even got to belts, buckles, bullets and bayonets.

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Supply by rail. Technology FTW!

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One things common to both Grant's Vicksburg campaign and Sherman’s March to the Sea was that they both went “off the rail” so to speak and relied only on foraging for a time. That was part of their brilliance, but was extremely dangerous and could have melted either army away very quickly. When soldiers can’t eat they tend to get very upset and often just walk back home for a reliable meal from Ma and Pa, never to come back. There’s a saying that amateurs worry about tactics and professionals worry about logistics, and even Napoleon knew an army runs on its stomach.

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This map completely dictated both Northern and Southern strategy. Big armies only go where rivers and rails go.

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For instance, at 7 Days in 1862 you had two armies, each over 100,000 men, maneuvering around Richmond, which didn’t even have a population of 40,000. That’s two Memorial Stadiums fighting over one Wallace Wade stadium. And out West in Tennessee and Mississippi, a large city like Nashville or Memphis was only 5,000 people, caught in the maelstrom of two 60,000 man armies duking it out around them.

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Aka, Richmond

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Not quite big enough to be The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia

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Not quite big enough to be The Union Army of the Potomac

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You can see where the peeps were in this pig, and the very, very rural South. But Montgomery, Al is too big. Less than 10,000 in 1860. It shouldn’t even be a dot.

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As far as theater supply, Lee had it easy in the East. The East was tight. Just 100 miles between Washington and Richmond. That’s I-85 from the SC-GA border to the SC-NC border. That’s like a cage match. His job was to just be in the way of the Union Army, primarily, and protect Richmond and the Shenandoah Valley from Winchester to Harrisonburg, an important food supplier for the South.

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The guys out West had the impossible task. Huge distances chopped up by the Cumberland, Tennessee,
and Miss Rivers. Oh, and your enemy has a navy while you don’t.

So shed a tear for J Johnston, Beauregard, AS Johnson, and Hood. They drew the short straw when they got shipped out to the West. Just an impossible, impossible job.

What’s more distressing? Defending the West or attending an actual UNC class?

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A lot of battles in the Civil War had 2 names, and I usually flip-flop between them based on nothing in particular. But the Confederates liked to use the closest town name, and the Union the closest river name, if there was an option. So Manassas is also Bull Run, and Shiloh is also Pittsburg Landing, etc. Plus the Union called the conflict the War of the Rebellion, and the South sometimes called it The Late Unpleasantness. That’s much more graceful and gentile, don’t you think?

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I saw a great discussion years ago between two generals talking about Montgomery and Rommel. A question from the audience was “Who was the better leader?” The reply was that they were both equally good because both did exactly what they should have in their circumstance.

Rommel HAD to be risky. He was outnumbered. If he had been conservative Monty would have simply crushed him. Monty was right to be conservative, because he could be. He had the advantage and he used it to make safer moves. If he had been risky he would have been foolish. Don’t pass in the 4th quarter when you are winning. Run, use the clock, and protect your quarterback. Use your advantages.

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Les Miles, passing in the 4th quarter with the lead, led to this. Thanks, Les. You’re a moron, and that's why we love you.

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In one of the great “what ifs” of the war, Lee was offered a top command job in the Union Armies by “Anaconda” Scott himself. But in the end he declined, stating “How can I raise my sword against my state?” Lee got his start in the Confederate army in west Virginia (Not West Virginia till 1863), and on the SC coast, then at Davis’s side in Richmond as an advisor. He was so obsessed with digging trenches there he was called “The King of Spades.” That would be helpful later.

The dude was legit. All the credentials in the world, 2nd in his class at West Point, behind some guy named Charles Mason, who went on to become chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court rather than a field general. Mason and Lee were tied for the head of the class in Artillery, Tactics, and Conduct, but in all other subjects Mason scored 1,995.5 points out of a possible 2,000, compared to Lee's 1,966.5.

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They still hold the two highest graduation scores in the history of West Point, with the third highest score in the Academy's history going to Douglas MacArthur. So it’s no surprise Lee was getting choice offers. He was the Trevor Lawrence of the military. A superstar just waiting for his chance.

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He missed the first two big battles in the East, Manassas and 7 Pines, but an injury to army commander J Johnston gave him his chance. JJ said, paraphrased, “The bullet that has struck me down is the best thing for the Confederacy, because now a man who actually thinks we can win has the helm.”

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JJ where’s the faith? A very good general, but also a realist. Good enough that Davis brought him back for an encore prior to the Atlanta campaign, so his buddy Sherman could beat the crap out of him.

One quick side on the “club” of leaders from the last post. Sherman beat J Johnston like a rented mule all the way over the Appalachians from Chattanooga to Atlanta in 1864. JJ died when he caught pneumonia, after the war, standing in the rain with his hat off, at Sherman’s funeral. Asked about getting wet, he said “I have no doubt Sherman would show me the exact same respect.” All these guys knew each other.

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Just two friends doing their job. And a deadly one at that.

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So that’s the setup. In the next poast I’ll dig into the specifics of Lee’s Top Ten battles and show why he drove the Union bat sh** crazy for 4 years.

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Military Pron - The Legend of General Lee (1 of 3) - long

Orange & White***

Re: Military Pron - The Legend of General Lee (1 of 3) - long

Re: Military Pron - The Legend of General Lee (1 of 3) - long

Great opening background as always

Excellent as usual

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