Don't Count Your Eggs Before They Hatch, Or Else You Get Scrambbled Eggs

The Army of Tennesse is the Confederate version of the Army of the Potomac. Its' men deserved better then to be led by men who were too slow and to timid to give victories. By then end of the first day of the Battle of Stones River, Bragg, thier commander, proclaimed a mighty victory to Richmond. He was sure that God had handed them a mighty victory. Boasts do not win battles. And his opponent knew it. General Rosecrans, Braggs' opponent, knew that he was not whipped. He soldified his battered line, and stregthened it. When Bragg came at him again on New Years Eve, it was no whipped opponent or cleaning up operation. Rosecrans was clearly willing to stay and fight. Bragg did meet with some success. But, in the end, he was outfought. He fell back to Chattannoga. As a famous historian once said, "The Battle can be described as a staring match, and Bragg blinked first.

The Miserable Creatant Gets Thrashed by the Gentleman

If there is one man who I despise in the Civil War, it is John Pope. He was not a man to be placed in the top spot of command: controlling an army. Pope got his position for the lamest excuse ever; for capturing a single island. Not a good enough excuse in my book. Pope had little military vision as he went into Second Bull Run. He would end up suffering 16,000 losses for his inability to plan. He refused to leave an adequeat force to defend his left flank, and went so far as to pull a division from that duty to help in his attack. Lee, on the other hand, knew what he was doing. Alot of his strategy was based on the fact that Pope was arrogant, and wouldn't bother with anything else once he saw his target. Pope was like a horse with blinders on. Well, for all my dislike, Pope was one of the first man in the Union Army who knew that it was aggression, not timidness, that would win the day. But, in the end, he suffered a humiliating setback.

Hornet's Nest: Enough Glory to Go Around

Well, so anyways, we all know how Prentiss saved the day at Shiloh. That he boldly took his stand at the Sunken Road and how troops rallied around him. And how he was the Hero of Shiloh.

Blarney.

I'm not saying that Prentiss wasn't a hero or anything. But, what about William Wallace? His division was already filed in place in the Peach Orchard and Hornet's Nest before Prentiss' retreating command took up position. Prentiss formed up by Wallace when he saw how formidable a position Wallace had. As a matter of fact, Wallace had more troops in the battle then Prentiss.

Notice how 2,000 men were captured out of Prentiss' Division? Prentiss only had 3,000 men fighting in the sunken lane. Most of them weren't even his own. He had only 500 out of 5,100 men that didn't rout to the Tennesse.

But, it was Prentiss that got the 'hold at all cost' order from Grant. And, Wallace was mortally wounded during the battle, adding himself to the 24,000 dead and wounded of Shiloh. There was no way Wallace could have set the records straight. Not only that, Grant makes mention of only Prentiss, although, had he known the truth, Grant (true to his personality) would have been more fair.

So, in the end, Prentiss got glory, by stealing it from Wallace.

The Sacrifice at Antietam

By the time the sun set on September 12, 1862, over 26,000 men were dead or wounded. It was the bloodiest day of the Civil War, but, the battle's losses could have actual meant something. 26,000 men died and thier sacrifice was nothing. Why? McClellan. Bruce Catton describes a situation where McClellan learned that his troops had broken the enemy flank, and all that was needed was 5,000 men to win victory. McClellan, exhilerating with joy, ordered 5,000 men to move forward. Then, suddenly, he countermanded his orders and, the one time he was about to win a decisive victory, he choked. Why? No one can truely explain what happened, except, perhaps, McClellan was reverting to his former, pesstimistic self. Where was this break that was so crucial? The left flank of Lee's Army, commanded by Jackson. He was wrecked by the massive attacks of the I Corps, under Joe Hooker. Many people say that Hooker had more men. This is false. The average size of the six Union Corps that day would have been only 11,000 men. Hooker had no more then that many men. Now, let us devide the 40,000 present before AP Hills arrival. Jackson would have had over 20,000 men at his disposal. Not only that, but thousands of men were shifted to help Jackson. Which means, Hooker was facing anywhere between 2-1 or 3-1 disadvantage. And, unlike Longstreet, who had to string his men out on two fronts, Jackson had all his forces consentrated in one general vacinity. The XII Corps was knocked out before it could do much harm to the Rebs when Mansfield took a bullet to the stomach. So, it can't be used as a factor on the field. So, in essence, the Yanks fought better. Outnumbered, they drove back a much larger force, they won the fight for Miller's Cornfield. Jackson was saved by several factors. 1: Hooker got wounded in the foot. 2: Hood threw his fresh men into the meatgrinder against a wornout foe. 3: The XI Corps was knocked out too early. 4: McClellan refused to feed in his reserves.

The Bonnie Blue Flag: NC Fights at the Mule Shoe

Ok, scratch what I said on my last post. Obvisously, I didn't post alot. But, here I go.

The time was 4:35 in the morning. It had rained all the night before, and a fog laid low upon the lands. Silently, nearly 20,000 Union troops poured towards the bulge in the Confederate line. A few sentries saw them, and fired a few rounds at the attacking mass, up jumped thier comrades, and swung their guns around. Almost all the guns failed to fire. The Union mass was up, and into the works, stabbing and clubbing.

The fighting for the Mule Shoe had begun, and the whole Confederate Army was in trouble. All thier artillary and 3,000 men in the Mule Shoe had been captured. The Union attack flaunted on its own success, looting as they went, but, they would soon renew the attack.

Lee at once plunged everyman he had to stop the hole. Among those sent to stop the yanks, was the 4th and 14th North Carolina. They helped push back the yanks until they were almost completely out of the bulge. But, another atack came at them.

Suddenly, nearly 800 voices rose. They were singing, The Bonnie Blue Flag as they poured volley after volley into the yanks. Although most would be shot down, this little band became famous for the use of thier voices, rousing and ralling the men as the sang the CSA Anthem.

Before the battle ended that day, 10,000 men would be killed, wounded or captured, most of them Confederates. By the end of the battle, 27,000 would become casualties.

Blame at Chancellorsville

Seeing as I didn't blog a while, I will make up by posting a few times today. The Battle of Chancellorsville has always held my facination. With losses of nearly 31,000, it was almost the bloodiest battle ever fought. We all recognize the rout of the XI Corps as one of the worst disasters to befall the hardluck Army of the Potomac. But, was it all that much of a suprise? No. 1. Hooker knew that Jackson was marching, and believed two things; he was either retreating, or about to fall upon his right. 2. He ordered Howard to entrench and face some regiments to the left. 3. Howard did not. He went so far as to lie to his commanding officer by telling him that they did. 4. General Devins, one of Howard's officers, knew that Jackson was about to fall on his flank, but did not report it to Howard. 5. Howard ordered his reserve Corps to help Sickles capture Jacksons' rearguard. 6. Nearly a mile gap was created by Sickles and Howard between the III and XI Corps. 7. Pickets were posted by the two regiments that were facing west, and they had enough time to alert the rest of the Corps. 8. Devins could have stopped the retreat from becoming a rout. He had several brigades that could have wheeled to face the enemy and be able to have enough time to rally the other units. Devins would not allow it. 9. Howard was not even present with his Corps until the rout was well underway. So much for Jackson being such a good general. The reason why he was so good was because he faced such a bad general. Then, Jackson lost the war for the South by riding out at night, and not telling his picket regiments that he was going to do so. They had no idea that Jackson was out riding.

In essence, Jackson lost the War for the South by getting himself killed, thus allowing such blunders at Gettysburg that allowed a northern victory.

Glory at Chickamuaga

Chickamauga is one of the bloodiest places of the Civil War. Nearly 34,000 died in the bloodiest battle in the Western Theater. And none lost more then the 19th US Infantry. For the two-day battle, the 1,600 Regulars fought on the extreme left of the Union line. They fought with such vigor and discipline that every attack thrown at them ended in disaster. Then, suddenly, the right rolled up like dominoes when Rosecrans made the blunder of creating a gap in his line to cover up a fake gap. They were ordered to hold back the advancing hordes along with Thomas. If they failed, the Union army would be destroyed. Obediantly they fought for several hours. Finally, word came that it was safe to fall back. So, orders were passed to get out as fast as possible. And all troops left; except for the 19th US. Somehow, they recieved no orders to fall back, and so ended up fighting the advancing hordes by themselves. They fought vailantly, by themselves, but, the fire cut down most of the troops as they fought, for fire came from all directions. WIthin twenty minutes, there was no choice left but to surrender, for there weren't anyway that they could escape. The whole regiment had been lost due to a simple overlook.

The Battle of Gettysburg

I find the Battle of Gettysburg to be one of the most violent turning points of history. So much rode upon this battle; independance, or the Union.

It seems intresting that the South came from the north to battle, and the North came from the south. That's what you call ironic.

Anyways, no man felt more upon thier shoulders the probably George Gordon Meade. He was still knew to the command, and had no way to get his command structure organized before Lee came north. Lincoln had his hopes for victory placed completely upon Meade, along with the rest of the North. Every decision he made, would either make or break him, and the Union would go with him if he lost. What a position to find yourself in when you are just made commander of a 90,000-man army.

Lee had alot to do too. The whole hopes of the Confederacy was on him. If he failed to win this battle, then the whole of the hopes of the Confederacy would be shattered. He could not leave the North without proving he had tried his best. And, for Lee, that would turn up to be the bloodiest decision he would have to make.

The battle cost 51,000 casualties, more then half of either armies men. The South downplayed thier losses from 28,000 to only 23,000, but, we know the real truth.

Most losers try to make things not look as bad as they are when they lose.