"The Velociraptor of the Civil War" Topic
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Tango01 | 04 May 2014 10:54 p.m. PST |
"Gordon brought up a popular view of Grant is that he was a slow-moving general who didn't like to maneuver, would charge wildly and sacrifice huge numbers of men. He said that popular view reminded him of the view of dinosaurs when he was a kid, of a slow, lumbering brontosaurus. But, he said, Steven Spielberg showed us a different kind of dinosaur in the movie, Juraissic Park. He showed us the Velociraptor, which was fast, liked to use flank attacks, used maneuver, and was very good at fighting. Gordon said that after studying Grant during the Overland Campaign he's come to think of Grant as the "Velociraptor of the Civil War." He was a general who could maneuver, who tried to apply thoughtful measures of force and to maneuver to reach a successful conclusion. Grant was also a general who stopped thinking in terms of individual battles and began thinking in terms of overall campaigns. He might win some, he might lose some, but what's important is how it all comes out at the end. Lee also has a reputation. He has the reputation of being able to outfox all his adversaries. Many writers described Lee as a general who could outthink his opponent, who could almost mystically guess what his opponent's next move was going to be and move to match it, thereby using his much smaller force to hold off larger concentrations of enemy troops. What we see in the Overland Campaign is that Lee did do a spectacular job. He held off an army double the size of his masterfully, but at the same time he missed a lot of major opportunities and on several occasions he made guesses about what Grant was going to do and Grant did something completely different. On a few occasions, Lee's misapprehension of Grant and what Grant's next move might be almost brought the Army of Northern Virginia to destruction. These two men, then, were pretty evenly matched. They each had some problems they had to deal with, but each of them got up in the morning, looked in the mirror, and saw his opponent on the other side
" Full article here link Amicalement Armand |
StoneMtnMinis | 05 May 2014 7:54 a.m. PST |
Good find. I agree with the opinion that Grant was a much better general than he is traditionally viewed. He understood the value of maneuver over frontal attacks, however the tool he was given (AOP) was more ponderous and slower than the armies in the West. And this didn't change until he brought in Corp commanders who understood the value of speed. |
Tango01 | 05 May 2014 10:11 a.m. PST |
Glad you enjoyed it my friend. Agree with you!. Amicalement Armand |
Frederick | 05 May 2014 3:16 p.m. PST |
I agree – Grant gets bad press; he was a general who fought to win with the army he had, not the army he wanted to have! |
138SquadronRAF | 06 May 2014 5:22 p.m. PST |
He has the reputation of being able to outfox all his adversaries. Many writers described Lee as a general who could outthink his opponent, who could almost mystically guess what his opponent's next move was going to be and move to match it, thereby using his much smaller force to hold off larger concentrations of enemy troops. Well he was out thought by Joe Hooker during the initial stages of the Chancellorsville campaign. I agree with the opinion that Grant was a much better general than he is traditionally viewed. He understood the value of maneuver over frontal attacks, however the tool he was given (AOP) was more ponderous and slower than the armies in the West. And this didn't change until he brought in Corp commanders who understood the value of speed. General JFC Fuller the military thoerist and historian certainly rated Grant more highly than Bobby Lee: link |
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