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A Critical Look at Ulysses S Grant
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<blockquote data-quote="Tolkien R.R.J" data-source="post: 73979371" data-attributes="member: 411644"><p><strong>Petersburg's missed Chance</strong></p><p></p><p>Grant was able to cross the James before Lee properly reacted and thought the capture of Petersburg would be easy. However Beauregard gave stiff resistance and denied Grant what should have been the capture of the city instead leading to the long siege. Grant had placed no one in control of the attack on the city and no concentrated effort was made when the chance was there. He was to slow in later sending Burnside and putting Meade in charge, this gave time for the confederates to react and reinforce Peterburg.</p><p></p><p>“<em>For this leaderlessness, Grant bears the responsibility...the crossing of the James River seems to have absorbed all the energy of Grant and his staff. They apperd to have assumed that the occupation of the city would be assured by a successful crossing and gave no thought the what action would appropriate if they encountered serious opposition” Grant also bears the responsibility for Butlers failure to interfere with Lee's progress towards Petersburg”</em></p><p><em>-John Horn The Petersburg Campaign</em></p><p></p><p>Grant conducted or ordered multiple failed assaults on Petersburg before it was taken. Grant approved the battle of the creator which he later called “A stupendous failure.” Grant selected commander James Ledlie by drawing names from a hat. For political reasons Grant would not allow fresh black troops to lead the assault as Butlers plan called for. This change to Butlers plans may have decided the outcome of the failed attack.</p><p></p><p>“<em>Grant and mead, who had caused the disaster by their interference with Burnsides plan.”</em></p><p><em>-John Horn The Petersburg Campaign</em></p><p></p><p>“<em>Grant was lucky [Lincoln] could have seen the episode as evidence of incompaitance lunatic enough to put McClellan and all of Grants predecessors in Virginia to shame”</em></p><p><em>-Thomas J Rowland George B Mcclellan and Civil war History in the Shadow of grant and Sherman</em></p><p></p><p>It took a total of 9 assaults to finally break the lines at Petersburg over many months. “Grants tactical control ended in failure the crater, second deep bottom” “disaster that constituted grants second offensive Wilson raid , Samaria church, battle of reams station all failed with heavy losses.” Grant was only able to break the lines after the south had all but given up hope after the re-election of Lincoln. Between Jan-April 2 1865 Lee lost 40% of his army to desertion, transfers, and combat losses. Grant not only started with a 2-1 advantage, he was able to bring in constant reinforcements while Lee was not. Because of Lee's reduced army “Lee could not protect Richmond and take the offensive elsewhere.” Grant did not have to fear for a major counter offensive from Lee. During the entire Peterburg campaign Grant suffered around 60,000 causalities to Lee's 40,000.</p><p></p><p><strong>Diversion in the valley</strong></p><p></p><p>Lee sent Jubal Early's corps to the valley on June 16th to distract from the fight around Richmond and gather much needed food for his army. Grant would not believe that Lee had done so until July 8th. Early had near crossed into Maryland. Grant had thought Lee would send men to Atlanta instead. Since Grant was slow to reinforce the valley this allowed Early to have great success clearing out the valley and even come to the outskirts of D.C skirmishing with the garrison. Early also burnt a town to the ground in Maryland, won a battle on northern soil, and captured a Pennsylvania town. This led to panic and loss of morale across the north. Many thought that Grant had failed in all his objectives so far and Richmond would not fall. This led many in the north to call for a peace and an end to the war.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Appomattox</strong></p><p></p><p>“<em>By then, many of the southern defenders had given up any hope for for an independent nation...Sheer exhaustion and the lack of proper food was tacking a major toll on the condition of the southern troops ”</em></p><p><em>-Chris M Calkins The Appomattox Campaign</em></p><p></p><p>The Appomattox campaign was well fought by Grant and Sheridan to keep the pressure on Lee's army and cut of his lines to North Carolina. However it was clear by this time Lee's army was low on food, morale, men and equipment. An analogy that has been given was “Grant was a 200 pound, fully equipped boxer, who fought a half starved, bare handed man half his weight.” Lee originally had the step on Grant but the trains meant to supply his army with food and clothing, Instead were weapons and ammo due to a mix up. Lee had to forage the area for a day allowing Grant and Sheridan to catch up the lost time and leading to the eventual surrender of his starved and fatigued army.</p><p></p><p>“<em>Their [Grants]1864-5 campaigns were won because their forces were larger and better equipped than those of the enemy. </em></p><p><em>-Alan Farmer is head of history at St Martin’s College, Lancaster.</em></p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Did Grant win the war for the Union?</strong></p><p></p><p>Grant is often credited for defeating Lee and winning the war. However it was really Sherman who won the war for the union when he captured Atlanta. With the re-election of Lincoln the war was already won by the north. The best hope the south had was for Lincoln to lose the election and instead for peace democrats win. Atlanta ensured union victory. Grants failures to either destroy Lee or capture Richmond up until the election, had almost cost Lincoln re-election. His constant overconfidence [he thought the war was near over before shiloh] against Lee led to heavy losses that turned the north against the war and his slow reaction to Early in the valley also pushed the north towards peace. Grant almost <strong>cost</strong> the north the war. Grant underestimated his opponents in the east, showed himself unimaginative in attack to often, and showed himself vulnerable to small scale counter attacks when Lee could muster the power.</p><p></p><p><strong><strong>Major Battles and Causalities of Union Generals vs Lee</strong> </strong></p><p></p><p>Union commander/ Battle/Union Losses/ Lee loses/ Union causality per </p><p>Pope- Second Manasas 13,879 Lee 8,353 1.65 per </p><p>Hooker- Chancellorsville 17,100 Lee 12,151 1.43 per </p><p>Burnside- Fredricksburg 13,353 Lee 4,576 2.95 per </p><p>Grant- Wilderness 18,400 Lee 11,400 1.61 per </p><p>Grant- Spotsylvania 18,000 Lee 12,000 1.5 per </p><p>Grant- Cold Harbor 12,737 Lee 4,594 2.8 per </p><p></p><p>Grant- Total 49,100 Lee 27,900 1.75 per </p><p>Meade- Gettysburg 23,049 Lee 28,063 .82 </p><p>Meade- Total [Above] 72,049 Lee 55,963 1.29 </p><p>McClellan - Total 28,250 Lee 30,449 .92 per </p><p></p><p><strong>References</strong></p><p>-Great Campaigns Jackson's Valley Campaign David G Martin Combined Books PA 1994</p><p><strong>-</strong>Great Campaigns The Peninsula Campaign David G Martin Combined Books PA 1992</p><p><strong>-</strong>Great Campaigns The Shiloh Campaign David G Martin Combined Books PA 1996</p><p>-Great Campaigns The Second Bull Run Campaighn David G Martin Combined Books PA 1997</p><p>-Great Campaigns The Antietam Campaign John Cannon Combined Books PA</p><p>-Great Campaigns The Chancellorsville campaign David G Martin Combined Books PA 1991</p><p>-Great Campaigns the Atlanta campaign John Cannan Combined Books PA 1991</p><p>-Great Campaigns The Wilderness campaign John cannon Combined Books PA -Great Campaigns The Spotsylvania John Cannan Campaign Combined Books PA</p><p>-Great Campaigns The Petersburg Campaign John Horn Combined Books PA</p><p>-Great Campaigns The Appomattox Campaign Chris M Calkins Combined Books PA</p><p>-The Shenandoah in Flames The Valley Campaign of 1864 Thomas A Lewis Time Life Books Alexandria, Virginia</p><p>-Battles for Atlanta Sherman Moves East Ronald H Bailey Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia 1985</p><p>-Rebel Resurgent Frederiscksburg to Chancellorsville Willliam K Goolrick Time life Books, Alexandria, Virginia William K Goolrick 1985</p><p>-Receding Tide Vicksburg and Gettysburg the Campaigns That changed the civil war Edwin C Bearess and J Parker Hills National Geographic D.C 2010</p><p><strong>-</strong>Thomas J Rowland George B Mcclellan and Civil war History in the Shadow of grant and Sherman Kent State University Press 1998</p><p>-Six Armies in Tennessee the Chickamagua and Chattanooga Campaigns Steven E Woodworth University of Nebraska press 1998</p><p>John J Hennessy The first battle of Manassas Stackpole Books 2015</p><p>-Such Troops as these The Genius and Leadership of confederate General Stonewall Jackson Bevin Alexander Berkeley Caliber 2014</p><p>-How the South Could Have Won the Civil War: The Fatal Errors That Led to Confederate Defeat Bevin Alexander 2008 Crown Forum</p><p>-Personal Memoirs of U.S Grant Da Capo Press 2001</p><p>-The North Anna campaign <a href="http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/northanna/north-anna-history-articles/northannarhea.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/" target="_blank">North Anna Campaign</a> --The Confederate war Gary Gallagher Harvard University press 1999 -A History of the south the Confederate States of America E Merton Coulter Louisiana State Press 1950</p><p>-James V Murfin Battlefields of the Civil war -Battle Tactics of the Civil war Paddy Griffith Yale university Press 1989 -The Rifel Musket in Civil war Combat Reality and Myth Earl J Hess University of Kansas Press 2008</p><p>-The Civil war Ken Burns PBS documentary</p><p>-The Ultimate Civil war Series 2012</p><p>-America's Civil war Magazine <a href="http://www.historynet.com/americas-civil-war" target="_blank">http://www.historynet.com/americas-civil-war</a></p><p>-Civil war Trust <a href="http://www.civilwar.org/" target="_blank">Home</a></p><p>-Rutland Free Library</p><p><strong>-</strong>Gary Gallagher the American civil war great courses in modern history lecture series Teaching company 2000</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tolkien R.R.J, post: 73979371, member: 411644"] [B]Petersburg's missed Chance[/B] Grant was able to cross the James before Lee properly reacted and thought the capture of Petersburg would be easy. However Beauregard gave stiff resistance and denied Grant what should have been the capture of the city instead leading to the long siege. Grant had placed no one in control of the attack on the city and no concentrated effort was made when the chance was there. He was to slow in later sending Burnside and putting Meade in charge, this gave time for the confederates to react and reinforce Peterburg. “[I]For this leaderlessness, Grant bears the responsibility...the crossing of the James River seems to have absorbed all the energy of Grant and his staff. They apperd to have assumed that the occupation of the city would be assured by a successful crossing and gave no thought the what action would appropriate if they encountered serious opposition” Grant also bears the responsibility for Butlers failure to interfere with Lee's progress towards Petersburg” -John Horn The Petersburg Campaign[/I] Grant conducted or ordered multiple failed assaults on Petersburg before it was taken. Grant approved the battle of the creator which he later called “A stupendous failure.” Grant selected commander James Ledlie by drawing names from a hat. For political reasons Grant would not allow fresh black troops to lead the assault as Butlers plan called for. This change to Butlers plans may have decided the outcome of the failed attack. “[I]Grant and mead, who had caused the disaster by their interference with Burnsides plan.” -John Horn The Petersburg Campaign[/I] “[I]Grant was lucky [Lincoln] could have seen the episode as evidence of incompaitance lunatic enough to put McClellan and all of Grants predecessors in Virginia to shame” -Thomas J Rowland George B Mcclellan and Civil war History in the Shadow of grant and Sherman[/I] It took a total of 9 assaults to finally break the lines at Petersburg over many months. “Grants tactical control ended in failure the crater, second deep bottom” “disaster that constituted grants second offensive Wilson raid , Samaria church, battle of reams station all failed with heavy losses.” Grant was only able to break the lines after the south had all but given up hope after the re-election of Lincoln. Between Jan-April 2 1865 Lee lost 40% of his army to desertion, transfers, and combat losses. Grant not only started with a 2-1 advantage, he was able to bring in constant reinforcements while Lee was not. Because of Lee's reduced army “Lee could not protect Richmond and take the offensive elsewhere.” Grant did not have to fear for a major counter offensive from Lee. During the entire Peterburg campaign Grant suffered around 60,000 causalities to Lee's 40,000. [B]Diversion in the valley[/B] Lee sent Jubal Early's corps to the valley on June 16th to distract from the fight around Richmond and gather much needed food for his army. Grant would not believe that Lee had done so until July 8th. Early had near crossed into Maryland. Grant had thought Lee would send men to Atlanta instead. Since Grant was slow to reinforce the valley this allowed Early to have great success clearing out the valley and even come to the outskirts of D.C skirmishing with the garrison. Early also burnt a town to the ground in Maryland, won a battle on northern soil, and captured a Pennsylvania town. This led to panic and loss of morale across the north. Many thought that Grant had failed in all his objectives so far and Richmond would not fall. This led many in the north to call for a peace and an end to the war. [B]Appomattox[/B] “[I]By then, many of the southern defenders had given up any hope for for an independent nation...Sheer exhaustion and the lack of proper food was tacking a major toll on the condition of the southern troops ” -Chris M Calkins The Appomattox Campaign[/I] The Appomattox campaign was well fought by Grant and Sheridan to keep the pressure on Lee's army and cut of his lines to North Carolina. However it was clear by this time Lee's army was low on food, morale, men and equipment. An analogy that has been given was “Grant was a 200 pound, fully equipped boxer, who fought a half starved, bare handed man half his weight.” Lee originally had the step on Grant but the trains meant to supply his army with food and clothing, Instead were weapons and ammo due to a mix up. Lee had to forage the area for a day allowing Grant and Sheridan to catch up the lost time and leading to the eventual surrender of his starved and fatigued army. “[I]Their [Grants]1864-5 campaigns were won because their forces were larger and better equipped than those of the enemy. -Alan Farmer is head of history at St Martin’s College, Lancaster.[/I] [B]Did Grant win the war for the Union?[/B] Grant is often credited for defeating Lee and winning the war. However it was really Sherman who won the war for the union when he captured Atlanta. With the re-election of Lincoln the war was already won by the north. The best hope the south had was for Lincoln to lose the election and instead for peace democrats win. Atlanta ensured union victory. Grants failures to either destroy Lee or capture Richmond up until the election, had almost cost Lincoln re-election. His constant overconfidence [he thought the war was near over before shiloh] against Lee led to heavy losses that turned the north against the war and his slow reaction to Early in the valley also pushed the north towards peace. Grant almost [B]cost[/B] the north the war. Grant underestimated his opponents in the east, showed himself unimaginative in attack to often, and showed himself vulnerable to small scale counter attacks when Lee could muster the power. [B][B]Major Battles and Causalities of Union Generals vs Lee[/B] [/B] Union commander/ Battle/Union Losses/ Lee loses/ Union causality per Pope- Second Manasas 13,879 Lee 8,353 1.65 per Hooker- Chancellorsville 17,100 Lee 12,151 1.43 per Burnside- Fredricksburg 13,353 Lee 4,576 2.95 per Grant- Wilderness 18,400 Lee 11,400 1.61 per Grant- Spotsylvania 18,000 Lee 12,000 1.5 per Grant- Cold Harbor 12,737 Lee 4,594 2.8 per Grant- Total 49,100 Lee 27,900 1.75 per Meade- Gettysburg 23,049 Lee 28,063 .82 Meade- Total [Above] 72,049 Lee 55,963 1.29 McClellan - Total 28,250 Lee 30,449 .92 per [B]References[/B] -Great Campaigns Jackson's Valley Campaign David G Martin Combined Books PA 1994 [B]-[/B]Great Campaigns The Peninsula Campaign David G Martin Combined Books PA 1992 [B]-[/B]Great Campaigns The Shiloh Campaign David G Martin Combined Books PA 1996 -Great Campaigns The Second Bull Run Campaighn David G Martin Combined Books PA 1997 -Great Campaigns The Antietam Campaign John Cannon Combined Books PA -Great Campaigns The Chancellorsville campaign David G Martin Combined Books PA 1991 -Great Campaigns the Atlanta campaign John Cannan Combined Books PA 1991 -Great Campaigns The Wilderness campaign John cannon Combined Books PA -Great Campaigns The Spotsylvania John Cannan Campaign Combined Books PA -Great Campaigns The Petersburg Campaign John Horn Combined Books PA -Great Campaigns The Appomattox Campaign Chris M Calkins Combined Books PA -The Shenandoah in Flames The Valley Campaign of 1864 Thomas A Lewis Time Life Books Alexandria, Virginia -Battles for Atlanta Sherman Moves East Ronald H Bailey Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia 1985 -Rebel Resurgent Frederiscksburg to Chancellorsville Willliam K Goolrick Time life Books, Alexandria, Virginia William K Goolrick 1985 -Receding Tide Vicksburg and Gettysburg the Campaigns That changed the civil war Edwin C Bearess and J Parker Hills National Geographic D.C 2010 [B]-[/B]Thomas J Rowland George B Mcclellan and Civil war History in the Shadow of grant and Sherman Kent State University Press 1998 -Six Armies in Tennessee the Chickamagua and Chattanooga Campaigns Steven E Woodworth University of Nebraska press 1998 John J Hennessy The first battle of Manassas Stackpole Books 2015 -Such Troops as these The Genius and Leadership of confederate General Stonewall Jackson Bevin Alexander Berkeley Caliber 2014 -How the South Could Have Won the Civil War: The Fatal Errors That Led to Confederate Defeat Bevin Alexander 2008 Crown Forum -Personal Memoirs of U.S Grant Da Capo Press 2001 -The North Anna campaign [URL="http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/northanna/north-anna-history-articles/northannarhea.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/"]North Anna Campaign[/URL] --The Confederate war Gary Gallagher Harvard University press 1999 -A History of the south the Confederate States of America E Merton Coulter Louisiana State Press 1950 -James V Murfin Battlefields of the Civil war -Battle Tactics of the Civil war Paddy Griffith Yale university Press 1989 -The Rifel Musket in Civil war Combat Reality and Myth Earl J Hess University of Kansas Press 2008 -The Civil war Ken Burns PBS documentary -The Ultimate Civil war Series 2012 -America's Civil war Magazine [URL]http://www.historynet.com/americas-civil-war[/URL] -Civil war Trust [URL="http://www.civilwar.org/"]Home[/URL] -Rutland Free Library [B]-[/B]Gary Gallagher the American civil war great courses in modern history lecture series Teaching company 2000 [/QUOTE]
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