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re: The Top 10 Greatest Generals of All-Time - According to Mathematics

Posted on 8/8/20 at 10:22 pm to
Posted by doubleb
Baton Rouge
Member since Aug 2006
36618 posts
Posted on 8/8/20 at 10:22 pm to
quote:


Not as much room to maneuver in Virginia as there was in Tennessee and Mississippi. Virginia is ideal defensive terrain as the rivers flow east-west, unlike the Western Theater where they mainly flow north-south. He did about as well as you can against an entrenched foe with barriers such as the Rapidan and James Rivers to assist in defense.

The quality of the opposition was much better in the East. Lee and his cohorts were much better than Pemberton and Johnston. The Rebel troops were battle toughened.
But he was fortunate to come East after Gettysburg and after the Rebs were exhausting their resources.
Posted by RollTide1987
Augusta, GA
Member since Nov 2009
65147 posts
Posted on 8/9/20 at 8:51 am to
quote:

The quality of the opposition was much better in the East.


This is true. And the quality of the Army of the Potomac was lacking to a certain degree. While Lee was most definitely outnumbered by the Union army, many of the troops in the latter command were brand new, having never seen combat. Of the corps commanders that Meade had at his disposal, Hancock of the II Corps was not the same Hancock before his wounding at Gettysburg. This would become more and more obvious as the campaign dragged on. Warren of the V Corps was operating beyond his ability and should never have been given command of a corps to begin with. Sedgwick of the VI Corps was very popular among the troops but he lacked a killer instinct and would never take the initiative. He needed explicit orders to do something before he did it. And then Burnside of the IX Corps, though not originally attached to the Army of the Potomac due to his seniority of rank over Meade, was not a good commander of anything. And while Meade had made the right decision to consolidate his army into fewer corps, he definitely overcompensated as the corps he had in his army were now too big and unwieldy.

On the other side of the equation, Lee's leadership from the top down was battle hardened and had demonstrated an ability to command at a high level, though A.P. Hill was definitely struggling due to underlying health problems. Plus all 65,000 of Robert E. Lee's soldiers were battle hardened veterans and on the defensive. They had clear advantages over their Union counterparts (experience and defensive terrain being the most prevalent).

This post was edited on 8/9/20 at 8:55 am
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