Download or read book Union General John A McClernand and the Politics of Command written by Christopher C. Meyers and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2010-10-01 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John A. McClernand was a career politician, and those ambitions and qualities continued during his Civil War service. A member of the Illinois General Assembly and a U.S. Representative for 10 years, McClernard was connected to other prominent figures of the time such as Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. However, he is best known for his rivalry with Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, and this biography balances McClernard's political career with his military leadership and his place in the Union command structure.
Download or read book Major General John Alexander McClernand written by Richard L. Kiper and published by Kent State University Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sympathetic assessment of Major General John Alexander McClernand, a highly controversial individual who served his country as soldier and statesman. It sheds light on the Union command systems and the politics of war, as well as the personalities and relationships among senior officers.
Download or read book The Art of Leadership and Command written by John Gibson and published by Page Publishing Inc. This book was released on 2020-11-09 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: They say he was slow-yet McClellan assumed command and in two weeks combined two different forces into one, marched on Lee, and defeated him at Antietam. They say he was not a fighter. Antietam is the bloodiest day in American History. History has not treated General George McClellan kindly, but there is another side to the story-the soldiers' side. No US general of the Civil War was adored more by his troops than McClellan, and with good reason. He gave them confidence and success. He was
Download or read book McClellan and the Union High Command 1861 1863 written by Jeffrey W. Green and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2017-02-19 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With Washington's proximity to the Confederate capital of Richmond, Union military operations in the first two years of the Civil War focused mainly on the Eastern Theater, where General McClellan commanded the Army of the Potomac. McClellan's "On to Richmond" battle cry dominated strategic thinking in the high command. When he failed and was sacked by President Lincoln, a coterie of senior officers sought his return. This re-examination of the high command and McClellan's war in the East provides a broader understanding of the Union's inability to achieve victory in the first two years, and takes the debate about the Union's leadership into new areas.
Download or read book Lincoln s Political Generals written by David Work and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, David Work examines Lincoln's policy of appointing political generals to build a national coalition to fight and win the Civil War. Work follows the careers of sixteen generals through the war to assess their contributions and to ascertain how Lincoln assessed them as commander-in-chief. Eight of the generals began the war as Republicans and eight as Democrats. Some commanded armies, some regiments. Among them were some of the most famous generals of the Union--such as Francis P. Blair Jr., John A. Dix, John A. Logan, James S. Wadsworth--and others whose importance has been obscured by more dramatic personalities. As the war proceeded, the value of the political generals became a matter of serious dispute. Could politicians make the shift from a political campaign to a military one? Could they be trusted to fight? Could they avoid destructive jealousies and the temptations of corruption? And with several of the generals being Irish or German immigrants, what effect would ethnic prejudices have on their success or failure? Work finds that Lincoln's policy was ultimately successful, as these generals provided effective political support and made important contributions in military administration and on the battlefield. Although several of them proved to be poor commanders, others were effective in exercising influence on military administration and recruitment, slavery policy, and national politics.
Download or read book Don Carlos Buell written by Stephen D. Engle and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2006-12-29 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Major General Don Carlos Buell stood among the senior Northern commanders early in the Civil War, led the Army of the Ohio in the critical Kentucky theater in 1861-62, and helped shape the direction of the conflict during its first years. Only a handful of Northern generals loomed as large on the military landscape during this period, and Buell is the only one of them who has not been the subject of a full-scale biography. A conservative Democrat, Buell viewed the Civil War as a contest to restore the antebellum Union rather than a struggle to bring significant social change to the slaveholding South. Stephen Engle explores the effects that this attitude--one shared by a number of other Union officers early in the war--had on the Northern high command and on political-military relations. In addition, he examines the ramifications within the Army of the Ohio of Buell's proslavery leanings. A personally brave, intelligent, and talented officer, Buell nonetheless failed as a theater and army commander, and in late 1862 he was removed from command. But as Engle notes, Buell's attitude and campaigns provided the Union with a valuable lesson: that the Confederacy would not yield to halfhearted campaigns with limited goals.
Download or read book Lincoln s Political Generals written by David Work and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2024-03-18 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the beginning of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln sought to bind important political leaders to the Union by appointing them as generals. The task was formidable: he had to find enough qualified officers to command a military that would fight along a front that stretched halfway across the continent. West Point hadn't graduated enough officers, and many of its best chose to fight for the Confederacy. Lincoln needed loyal men accustomed to organization, administration, and command. He also needed soldiers, and political generals brought with them their constituents and patronage power. As the war proceeded, the value of the political generals became a matter of serious dispute. Could politicians make the shift from a political campaign to a military one? Could they be trusted to fight? Could they avoid destructive jealousies and the temptations of corruption? And with several of the generals being Irish or German immigrants, what effect would ethnic prejudices have on their success or failure? In this book, David Work examines Lincoln's policy of appointing political generals to build a national coalition to fight and win the Civil War. Work follows the careers of sixteen generals through the war to assess their contributions and to ascertain how Lincoln assessed them as commander-in-chief. Eight of the generals began the war as Republicans and eight as Democrats. Some commanded armies, some regiments. Among them were some of the most famous generals of the Union--such as Francis P. Blair Jr., John A. Dix, John A. Logan, James S. Wadsworth--and others whose importance has been obscured by more dramatic personalities. Work finds that Lincoln's policy was ultimately successful, as these generals provided effective political support and made important contributions in military administration and on the battlefield. Although several of them proved to be poor commanders, others were effective in exercising influence on military administration and recruitment, slavery policy, and national politics.
Download or read book Staff Ride Handbook For The Vicksburg Campaign December 1862 July 1863 Illustrated Edition written by Dr. Christopher Gabel and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes over 30 maps and Illustrations The Staff Ride Handbook for the Vicksburg Campaign, December 1862-July 1863, provides a systematic approach to the analysis of this key Civil War campaign. Part I describes the organization of the Union and Confederate Armies, detailing their weapons, tactics, and logistical, engineer, communications, and medical support. It also includes a description of the U.S. Navy elements that featured so prominently in the campaign. Part II consists of a campaign overview that establishes the context for the individual actions to be studied in the field. Part III consists of a suggested itinerary of sites to visit in order to obtain a concrete view of the campaign in its several phases. For each site, or “stand,” there is a set of travel directions, a discussion of the action that occurred there, and vignettes by participants in the campaign that further explain the action and which also allow the student to sense the human “face of battle.” Part IV provides practical information on conducting a Staff Ride in the Vicksburg area, including sources of assistance and logistical considerations. Appendix A outlines the order of battle for the significant actions in the campaign. Appendix B provides biographical sketches of key participants. Appendix C provides an overview of Medal of Honor conferral in the campaign. An annotated bibliography suggests sources for preliminary study.
Download or read book Politician in Uniform written by Richard L. Kiper and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 602 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Challenges of Command in the Civil War written by Richard J. Sommers and published by . This book was released on 2018-06-14 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dr. Richard Sommers’ Challenges of Command in the Civil War distills six decades of studying the Civil War into two succinct, thought-provoking volumes. This first installment focuses on “Civil War Generals and Generalship.” The subsequent volume will explore “Civil War Strategy, Operations, and Organization.” Each chapter is a free-standing essay that can be appreciated in its own right without reading the entire book. Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee stand out in Volume I as Dr. Sommers analyzes their generalship throughout the Civil War. Their exercise of command in the decisive Virginia Campaign from May 1864 to April 1865 receives particular attention—especially during the great Siege of Petersburg, about which the author has long ranked as the pioneering and pre-eminent historian. Five chapters evaluating Grant and Lee are followed by five more on “Civil War Generals and Generalship.” One of those essays, “American Cincinnatus,” explores twenty citizen-soldiers who commanded mobile army corps in the Union Army and explains why such officers were selected for senior command. Antietam, Gettysburg, and Petersburg are central to three essays on Northern corps and wing commanders. Both Federals and Confederates are featured in “Founding Fathers: Renowned Revolutionary War Relatives of Significant Civil War Soldiers and Statesmen.” The ground-breaking original research underlying that chapter identifies scores of connections between the “Greatest Generations” of the 18th and 19th Centuries—far more than just the well-known link of “Light Horse Harry” Lee to his son, Robert E. Lee. From original research in Chapter 10 to new ways of looking at familiar facts in Chapters 6-9 to distilled judgments from a lifetime of study in Chapters 1-5, Challenges of Command invites readers to think—and rethink—about the generalship of Grant, Lee, and senior commanders of the Civil War. This book is an essential part of every Civil War library.
Download or read book A General who Will Fight written by Harry S. Laver and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2013 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prior to his service in the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant exhibited few characteristics indicating that he would be an extraordinary leader. His performance as a cadet was mediocre, and he finished in the bottom half of his class at West Point. However, during his early service in the Civil War, most notably at the battles of Shiloh and Vicksburg, Grant proved that he possessed an uncommon drive. When it was most crucial, Grant demonstrated his integrity, determination, and tactical skill by taking control of the Union troops and leading his forces to victory. A General Who Will Fight is a detailed study of leadership that explores Grant's rise from undisciplined cadet to commanding general of the United States Army. Some experts have attributed Grant's success to superior manpower and technology, to the help he received from other Union armies, or even to a ruthless willingness to sacrifice his own men. Harry S. Laver, however, refutes these arguments and reveals that the only viable explanation for Grant's success lies in his leadership skill, professional competence, and unshakable resolve. Much more than a book on military strat-egy, this innovative volume examines the decision-making process that enabled Grant both to excel as an unquestioned commander and to win.
Download or read book From Capitol Hill and West Point written by Eric Dudley and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This thesis examines the relationships of Ulysses S. Grant and four of his subordinate generals. Ultimately, it is a command study of General Grant that analyzes how he managed his subordinates. The four individuals that this thesis examines are John Alexander McClernand, John Alexander Logan, James Birdseye McPherson, and Gouverneur Kemble Warren. These individuals provide an excellent balance between professional generals from West Point and volunteer generals with political backgrounds. The survey also balances the degrees of success experience by the four subordinates. The thesis traces each subordinate general during the Civil War, their relationship with Grant, and evaluates Grant's management of each individual. Finally, the thesis identifies certain characteristics that Grant sought in a subordinate general. Taken as a whole, the thesis provides several lessons on the politics of the Union Army's command structure during the Civil War, thoroughly covers the experiences of each individual subordinate while serving under Grant, and offers valuable insight on the overall generalship of Ulysses S. Grant. The thesis concludes that Grant was an effective manager of his subordinate generals and that his management also transcended his personal preference of West Point graduates. The thesis also identifies proper subordination, aggressive command style, the ability to effectively and efficiently carry out his orders, and trustworthiness as the qualities that Grant sought in his subordinates.
Download or read book American Military History Volume 1 written by Army Center of Military History and published by . This book was released on 2016-06-05 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American Military History provides the United States Army-in particular, its young officers, NCOs, and cadets-with a comprehensive but brief account of its past. The Center of Military History first published this work in 1956 as a textbook for senior ROTC courses. Since then it has gone through a number of updates and revisions, but the primary intent has remained the same. Support for military history education has always been a principal mission of the Center, and this new edition of an invaluable history furthers that purpose. The history of an active organization tends to expand rapidly as the organization grows larger and more complex. The period since the Vietnam War, at which point the most recent edition ended, has been a significant one for the Army, a busy period of expanding roles and missions and of fundamental organizational changes. In particular, the explosion of missions and deployments since 11 September 2001 has necessitated the creation of additional, open-ended chapters in the story of the U.S. Army in action. This first volume covers the Army's history from its birth in 1775 to the eve of World War I. By 1917, the United States was already a world power. The Army had sent large expeditionary forces beyond the American hemisphere, and at the beginning of the new century Secretary of War Elihu Root had proposed changes and reforms that within a generation would shape the Army of the future. But world war-global war-was still to come. The second volume of this new edition will take up that story and extend it into the twenty-first century and the early years of the war on terrorism and includes an analysis of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq up to January 2009.
Download or read book Grant at Vicksburg written by Michael B. Ballard and published by Southern Illinois University Press. This book was released on 2013-04-17 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On May 22, 1863, after two failed attempts to take the city of Vicksburg by assault, Major General Ulysses S. Grant declared in a letter to the commander of the Union fleet on the Mississippi River that “the nature of the ground about Vicksburg is such that it can only be taken by a siege.” The 47-day siege of Vicksburg orchestrated by Grant resulted in the eventual surrender of the city and fulfilled a major strategic goal for the Union: command of the Mississippi River for the remainder of the war. In this revealing volume, Michael B. Ballard offers the first in-depth exploration of Grant’s thoughts and actions during this critical operation, providing a never-before-seen portrait of the general in the midst of one of his most notable achievements. After an overview of Grant’s early Civil War career from his first battle through the early stages of the attacks on Vicksburg, Ballard describes in detail how Grant conducted the siege, examining his military decisions, placement of troops, strategy and tactics, engineering objectives, and relationships with other officers. Grant’s worried obsession with a perceived danger of a rear attack by Joseph Johnston’s Confederate army, Ballard shows, affected his decision making, and shows how threats of Confederate action occupied more of Grant’s time than did the siege itself. In addition, Ballard soundly dispels a false story about Grant’s alleged drinking binge early in the siege that has been taken as truthful by many historians, examines how racism in Grant’s army impacted the lives of freed black people and slaves in the Vicksburg area, and explores Grant’s strained relationship with John McClernand, a politically appointed general from Illinois. The book concludes with the surrender of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863, the expulsion of Johnston and his army from the region, and demonstrates the impact of the siege on the outcome on the short and long-terms of Grant’s military career. By analyzing Grant’s personality during the siege and how he dealt with myriad issues as both a general and an administrator, Grant at Vicksburg offers a revealing rendering of the legendary general.
Download or read book Personal Memoirs of John H Brinton Major and Surgeon U S V 1861 1865 written by John Hill Brinton and published by . This book was released on 1914 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Always in the Middle of the Battle Edward Kiniry and the 1St Illinois Light Artillery Battery D written by David Edward Wall and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2010-08-05 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chapter One: Orphaned and Alone in Manhattan Edward was an orphan at age ten, and he was now living with relative guardians who treated him with disdain. They certainly did not need another mouth to feed. Chapter Two: Edward Joined McAllisters Battery and went camping. The one who attacks now will be victorious, and the enemy will have to be in a hurry if he gets ahead of me. Ulysses S. Giant Chapter Three: Shiloh, Nothing Would Ever Be the Same Again. On my fall visit to Shiloh in 2006, the leaves were changing their uniforms for those of bright new fall shades, browns, oranges and reds, some so red they were almost purple. This contrasted to the green leaves and blood red earth that appeared on the ground those two deadly days in April, 1862. Chapter Four: Vicksburg The President then laid out the concerns and questions he had held about Grants movements and plans for capturing the city and concluded: I now wish to make the Personal acknowledgment that you were right, and I was wrong. A. Lincoln Chapter Five: Chattanooga On, On I must go, to meet a soldiers fate .... William T. Sherman With the opening of the cracker line, the besieged army was eating better than the investing army. Chapter Six: Atlanta At this critical moment a subordinate officer pulled out a pocket handkerchief and tied it to a ramrod, and was in the act of raising it in a token of surrender. Captain Cooper struck it down with his sword, explaining Never! As long as there is a man left. They had kept track of the guns by the sound, having come to know it as it were, their voices. Chapter Seven: Railroads, Trains, Indians, Cow Chips, and Chaps One day as Mr. Murphy & myself was baleing hay we heard someone crossing the Creek, Mike said there were Indians and told me to go to the cabin and get the guns. I started when a big Indian said hold up. I stopped and by then there was another one between me and the cabin so it was all off.
Download or read book Every Day of the Civil War written by Bud Hannings and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-01-10 with total page 639 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the early seizure of government property during the latter part of 1860 to the final Confederate surrender in 1865, this book provides a day-to-day account of the U.S. Civil War. Although the book provides a daily chronicle of the combat, it is written in narrative form to give readers some continuity as they move from skirmish to skirmish. During the course of the saga, the book also chronicles the life spans of more than 600 Union and Confederate vessels, documenting when possible the time of each vessel's acquisition, commissioning, major engagements, and decommissioning. Seven appendices provide lists of prominent Union and Confederate officers, primary naval actions, and Medal of Honor recipients from 1863 to 1865.
