Author: Ned B.
-
Lincoln’s Search for Generals
I follow discussions at other blogs and on online civil war forums and again and again I have seen debate about the choices Lincoln made in picking generals. I believe that the usual view of why some so-called ‘political’ generals were chosen is incomplete or misguided. While there was a political element to all the […]
-
How a phantom Longstreet spooked Shields
When reading about the the Valley Campaign of 1862 I have chuckled at how Gen. James Shields over-reacted to a non-existent threat. Yet recently I wondered if there was something more to it. I haven’t been able to find answers to all my questions, but what I have learned seems interesting. On June 7th, 1862 […]
-
How Sherman Won Lookout Mountain
Yes, you read the title right. I am going to put forth an alternative argument about the capture of Lookout Mountain. While the dramatic story of Hooker’s advance around the face of the mountain might be well known, I think the cause and effect is not. On the morning of November 23rd the Confederates had […]
-
“You have let me sleep in peace for the first time.”
Recently the NY Times had a blog post by Richard Slotkin titled Washington in Disarray the focus of which was on the crisis in Washington at the beginning of September 1862 and President Lincoln’s decision to keep Gen. George McClellan in charge of the army. There is an element to the story that I feel […]
-
Echoing Bad History
The other day Dimitri Rotov had a blog post comparing a quote from James M. McPherson’s new book with similar quotes from other books. What bothers Dimitri is that McPherson isn’t original; what also ticks me off is that McPherson mimics bad history. The quotes in question link the Red River Campaign of 1864 to […]
-
Red River 2.0: Canby tries to revive the campaign
Books about the 1864 Red River campaign typically end in late May, when U.S. forces reached the Mississippi. But there was a final act. The following is the epilogue missing from existing campaign books… Since the beginning of the campaign, Gen. Grant had felt uneasy about Gen. Banks and about the fractured command structure along […]