George B. McClellan, Sterling Price, Ambrose E. Burnside
Well isn't that a question all of us have asked at the table as we watch our plan of attack fold up due to a roll of the dice or a flip of a card. As gamers we have dammed them and adored them, each in there time from both sides. As historians we have looked at the information available and pondered the questions thru hindsight.
I'll go over some of the ones that I've found wanting, in my humble opinion. From the North we have:
Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, great organizer but a poor and slow field commander, He is a study of having the most and the best and using it the worst. Starting in 61 he takes the field and moves with his army. But where does he go and why does he fail to use his numbers and artillery. His greatest fault, "Their every where, their every where." To view your opponent as worthy and due respect is what is taught in all the military academies throughout the world. One of the greatest military maxims. "Never underestimate your opponent" lends truth to the statement but should not make you dream up your worst fears.
Now on to the South and the west.
Maj. Gen. Sterling Price his on again off again talent. Great Victory at Wilson's Creek, great loss at Pea Ridge. His force and command style is more suited to the raider and resistance movement. His lack of logistics hampered his force due to all the basic needs, yet he was able to accomplish great deeds. Now he is shifted to the east side of the Mississippi and he becomes just another also ran, back over the Big Muddy and in 64 the great plan to storm Missouri and drive in to the North thru Illinois, Wow! What a great dream but such a lack of vision. The Confederacy has abandoned the West side of the Trans-Mississippi even before the loss of the Mississippi river. The force available is nothing like he had in 61 and then he could not accomplish the task.
Now back to the east, and one of my favorite whipping boys.
General Ambrose E. Burnside, Antietam and Fredericksburg; who can forget the Burnside Bridge or the Marye's Heights. The use of the ford to the left side of the bridge would have allowed the Confederate right to be rolled up and the battle would have been finished before Gen. A. P. Hill's arrival, and the gross slaughter of the assault of Marye's Heights is just criminal. On par with Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg and Grant's Cold Harbor debacle.
The Great Commanders
As to the Greats How can we miss the Lee and Grant? Grant had the West and made the name for himself that won him the post and the fame as the Commander of the Federal army and the final victor in this; the greatest bloodshed on American soil, yet he had his bad days, Shiloh and Cold Harbor.
Lee was at most times the greatest tactician of the war but his moments were there as well, his defeat's at Antietam and Gettysburg left his mark as faulty and there are those that say his heart was not in it to fight the Nation he served faithfully and sadly he chose to go to the Sate and Confederacy or the war that he loathed may have been short and swift. Think of the picture of Lee in Blue and at the head of the Army of the Potomac as it moves south 100,000 strong can we say that his use of that army would have meant the destruction of the Confederacy in short shrift.
Well, however we view this War whether as readers and researchers, gamers or collectors it must be said that there are many great moments and sad disasters waiting for us in the future as we continue to enjoy this Great and Tragic chapter in American History. I for one find fault in the basic structure of the commanders in this war it just amazes me to no end that this war was fought with such talent that was available and such fools who knew how to work the system and were appointed to march the flower of our youth out to meet the destructive power of the advancing arms and weapons that destroyed the Napoleonic style of warfare and lead to the trench and snipers. So it is truly a matter of taste and locality that leads us in our tastes for our favorite or our worst choice of the Civil War Generals.
Mail with a Meaning Who is the Worst General of the ACW?
Back to Table of Contents -- ACW Newsletter # 2
Back to ACW Newsletter List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Magazine List
© Copyright 2004 by Marc Shefelton.
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com