Civil War/history buffs

[rchawk]

A very good biography is G. Moxley Sorrel's "Recollections of a Confederate Staff Officer." Sorrel spent the greater part of the war as Chief of Staff to Gen. James Longstreet.

Lots of good stuff, I liked this paragraph Sorrel wrote about George Pickett.

"Pickett became very friendly, was a good fellow, a good brigadier. He had been in Longstreet's old Army regiment, and the latter was exceedingly fond of him. Taking Longstreet's orders in emergencies, I could always see how he looked after Pickett, and made us give him things very fully; indeed, sometimes stay with him to make sure he did not go astray."

As you may know, Pickett graduated last in his class of 1846 at West Point. As a young officer he received two brevet promotions for gallantry in action in the Mexican War. As a division commander, probably not the sharpest tack in the box.

 

[INXS83]

Then came Gettysburg.

 

[CarolinaHawkeye]

Originally posted by rchawk:


As you may know, Pickett graduated last in his class of 1846 at West Point. As a young officer he received two brevet promotions for gallantry in action in the Mexican War. As a division commander, probably not the sharpest tack in the box.

May explain Pickett's charge.

 

[rchawk]

Many Civil War generals offer solid proof of the Peter Principle. Pickett was a fine brigade commander but wasn't the man to lead a division. Sticking with the Confederates for examples, John Bell Hood was an excellent division commander who had no business leading an army and attacking Sherman. A.P. Hill, great division commander who was over his head commanding a corps. There is a problem when the generals above them get killed or fired and you are scrambling for experienced officers as replacements.

 

[JupiterHawk]

There was a great, great thread on the main board about HD civil war pictures. Essentially pictures were able to be developed or rescanned. Unfortunately the thread cycled through (damn you rivals!).

One of the pictures I remember was of Robert E Lee at his house in Richmond shortly after the war. If you look at the brick left to him, you will see that a union soldier carved the word devil. Unfortunately the pic I found was converted to color but you can still the brick. It's two bricks above the door knob on the left. (Sorry for the hijack). If you want to put a quarter into the machine - I bet these thread would go three pages on that board - those southern dudes love their civil war history. For some I should say "history".

Edit - to expand photo you need to click three times.


This post was edited on 3/25 4:52 AM by JupiterHawk