"Favorite Historical Eccentric?" Topic

Gideon Welles, Lincoln's Secretary of the Navy, was known for his unusual wig.

He bought the wig when his hair was brown, but continued to wear it when his full beard was snow white. (Yankee thrift?) He also pushed the wig back when working at his desk, and it ended up crooked at other times.

Who is your favorite eccentric figure from the annals of military history?

Geoffrey Spicer-Simson. How can you not love a guy who managed to drag two gunboats to Lake Tanganyika and then appeared on the bridge of one wearing a dress?

Pickett

Lee – given the option to fight a defensive war on his own ground against a vastly superior enemy, despite the succesful example of the American War of Independence, goes all out offensive for a win instead.

Gotta love that. Mad, or what?

Pat

I'd vote for Spicer-Simpson as well. A nice read about these exploits is: Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure: The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika by Giles Foden.

Jim

First person I thought of was Spicer-Simpson when I saw the title.
I guess I have to just say "Me, too!" on this one.

Cochrane. He was an advocate of a steam-powered navy ahead of the curve (not to mention aerial bombardment and chemical warfare) but had the political acumen of, well, something with very little political acumen!

Shawn.

Geoffrey Pyke, creator of golfing spies and pykrete/Habakkuk, and a lot more ideas, some of which even worked.

John The OFM.

Sorry, but he's older than me…

Eric

Orde Wingate.
"Wingate proved a short-lived protegé: closer acquaintance caused Churchill to realise that he was too mad for high command."
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Got to be Georgie Patton. War-lover, devote Christian, barracks foul-mouthed, reincarnated people, poet and historian. An incredible package of oddities or things that just don't go together.

Military: Jack Churchill.

General History: I've always rather liked Nikolai Tesla.

Frederick Burnaby:
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I will have to second John the OFM.

Rupert and his dog ….

… 21st Regt.

Got to be Georgie Patton. War-lover, devote Christian, barracks foul-mouthed, reincarnated people, poet and historian

… you forgot 'ing in the Rhine'

But some might say that's just rude.

Emperor Norton

Norton I, Emperor of These United States and Protector of Mexico

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"Old Blue Light" aka Jackson. I can just picture him sitting on a fence as his troops march by sucking a lemon with one arm stuck up in the air.

Murat….Did anybody dress any better?
Custer maybe……He was once described as a circus performer.
In both cases the clothes made the man…..or at least covered them.
They say Patton was a bit eccentric as well.

Theodore Roosevelt-There's a scene in 'The Wind and the Lion' where he is target shooting…and the targets were portraits of European heads of state…I'm hoping that is true.

Jackson

Or maybe Fredrick Townsend Ward (the Devil Soldier)

I'll support his Highness, Norton as well

I was fascinated when I read about Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, aka "The Mad Baron", but that may be a little beyond eccentric. I would not want to meet him, but fascinating, nonetheless.

William Walker

Mad King Ludwig of course….

Louis XIV wasn't exactly well balanced either. I heard he liked an audience to applaud for him when he finished his duties in the loo.

Peter the Great and Catherine the Great have their interesting points as well.

If you are talking military commanders, Patton definitely belongs on the list. I would bet that our Russian gaming friends have a few WWII generals that weren't on an even keel either :o)

Blucher has to be on the list!

elephant impregnated/garlic and gin medicated/Boney hating/pont de jena blowing/wenching and hard drinking septugenarian!

Braxton Bragg. He put himself up on charges, which has to make him the ultimate disciplinarian. He also did a lot to help the Union cause during the Civil War. The reality behind Jubilation T. Cornpone. I hope he never discovered how ridiculous he was, and I wonder why there is a fort named after him. Oddly enough, it is the center of the airborne army.

Mad Jack Churchill. Anyone who fights in WWII with a longbow and sword has to be high on any list of military eccentrics.

Dan Sickles.

When attending Princeton at 16 he got the college president's teen daughter pregnant.

As a congressman, he shot Francis Scott Key's son six times in the groin in public in D.C. for having an affair with his wife, even though he was sleeping with almost every married woman in D.C. While being held in jail he was regularly visited by the good women of D.C. Stanton got him off with the first use of Temporary Insanity after which he went on with his philandering and his wife died of mortification.

He advanced his corps at Gettysburg and while it got wrecked it absorbed the Confederate blow and saved the Union position. In the process he lost a leg which he saved and sent to the Army medical museum.

Grant appointed him ambassador to Spain where he promptly entered into a not so secret affair with the queen leading him to be declared personna non grata.

On election night 1876, returning from a play he stopped by Republican HQs which was almost vacant on the assumption the Democrat had won. He examined the returns and ordered Florida be wired to "hold their returns." This advice threw the election into the House and led to a Republican victory.

Oh yes, even though he was a former Whig and good Republican from NYC he was a member of Tamany Hall, the most corrupt and powerful political organization of the era.

And that's only half of his story.

Bob Coggins

Most decidedly Spicer-Simson, madder than most but he got the job done in style.

If you are emphsising the "eccentric" bit then Lord Erskine, Wellington thought him quite odd (and that was amongst Peninsular British Generals, who were a pretty odd lot to start with). If I remember the quote properly he stated (while complaining to Horse Guards about Erskine) "a certain maddeness accompanies everything he does"

Frederick William I, Frederick the Great's Father. A much better king and a person who built Prussia from a third rate to a 2nd rate power so that Frederick the Great could move it to the first rank.

His IMperial Majesty, Norton I

and Stonewall Jackson. Imbalanced arm. What a kook.