"Who's Staff would you have liked to be on?" Topic

Just a thought that came to me in an idle moment. If you had been around at the time which General's staff would you like to have been a member of?

OK some times a dangerous and uncomfortable job but if you lived through it all plenty of material for a book or two after the war!

Now Grant, Lee and Meade, well maybe too obvious but if you stick to Corps commanders on either side, or maybe Divisional ones you get to meet the great and the good while seeing history made first hand. You might even get to be involved in a little yourself!

I've given it some thought and both my Union and Confederate choices are a little crazy.

For the Union it would have to be Sheridan. You get to see plenty of the war, go on some wild rides with some real lively people and be present a major events. Of course you have to stay on the right side of Little Phil but as he is never wrong that's not going to be hard. Is it? :o)

For the Confederacy not so sure.

Jackson, I would have to shoot on religious grounds (he was, I'm not). Lee like I said, too obvious, although The Peninsular would be interesting. Some of the Divisional commanders might be good, in fact more so than their seniors.

Bragg appeals. Yes honestly, I mean you couldn't get bored around HQ could you. The infighting, the tantrums, the tense conferences, the insubordination.

Or on the same theme how about Hood out West. That would be pretty mind boggling too!

Come on then men! Lets hear it! Whose your Boss?

As you can see I've already broken the rule and gone to Army command so if Grant, Lee etc is you choice, fine, just tell us why!

Union: McClellan,Blunt, Herron
Confederates: Lee, Cleburne, Hindman

Union: Thomas, Rosecrans, & Hooker (for a good time)

Reb: Cleburne

Union: Grant from Fort Donelson, Shiloh, to Vicksburg

CSA: Joe Johnston during the Atlanta Campaign

Bragg. So that he might suffer an "unfortunate" accident and become a casualty of war.

Stuart--dashing, daring, and colorful! Last of the true cavalier-types. Not to mention surrounded by some of the most interesting figures in the Army of Northern Virginia.

Thomas Union
Stuart Confederate

Someone stationed well to the rear, say in Washington, St. Louis or Cincinnati.

Another vote for Stuart, except for the saddle sores.

For the USA: Kearny, Richardson, Hays, Custer, & Hancock. For the CSA: JEB Stuart & Lee John Miller

I'm going to go for Sherman and Forrest, both for their ferocity. Never a dull moment, I'm sure.

The Union Commander in Chief. So I could tell him that that play was no good.

Don,

Sounds like Montgomery Meigs is your man!

How's your eye for detail?

Hooker, because I know how good his plan at Chancellorsville was, and maybe I could buck up his courage at the crucial moment and get him to keep moving his troops east till they were clear of the Wilderness.

That of someone who knew how to spell "whose".

Serving on someone's staff wouldn't just be a chance to observe or influence history. It would be a job. I would prefer to serve on the staff of someone I could work with. Unfortunately much of what is written about ACW staff service seems to come from sycophants so we don't get an objective picture. My preference would probably be McClellan at the army level and Longstreet below that.

Alpheus Williams. First Winchester, Cedar Mountain, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Resaca, New Hope Church, Kolb Farm, Peachtree Creek, March to the Sea, Carolina Campaign. They saw it all.

Trajanus: "just tell us why" The five Union Generals are favorites of mine due to their common practice of leading from the front. Before the war ended it cost three of them their lives and one of them a pretty severe wound. I admire leaders who are not averse to sharing the dangers they expect their subordinates to endure. Not only that, they appear, through the distance of the many years, to be "mans' men". Stuart because I picture him as one of the "romantic warriors", a George Patton kind of guy. Robert E. Lee because I think of him as the ultimate professional soldier, what a West Point man should be, politics notwithstanding. I won't have access to a computer for a few days so if anyone cares to comment on my trivial ramblings please don't be offended if I don't get back to you right away. John Miller

Custer, Sherman, Sheridan.

General Longstreet the best Corps Commander in the war.

That of someone who knew how to spell "whose".

Oh I know how to spell it. Not the same as remembering to use it in the proper context, instead of "Who's" though is it?

Meigs? No, I had enough paper-shuffling in the USAF. Maybe Grant -- he wrote his own orders and dispatches, so I wouldn't have had to. And for much of the war he had a handy river boat for his headquarter.

Would have loved to have followed Nathan Bedford Forrest on his activities in Tennessee and Kentuky. That would have been very exciting. Fighting with Joe Wheeler would also have been interesting.

McClellan's. I once told a re-enactor friend of mine that I wasn't much interested in re-enacting the battles. But when they made a re-enactment unit of the General Staff for the Army of the Potomac I'm all for the champagne and oyster picnics with the faire femmes (north or south)on the Potomac

Cleburne, Hancock

Fighting with Joe Wheeler would also have been interesting.

And you could plunder everyone, Union and secessionists alike!

Point for Sobieski.

Federal Army: Sedgewick or Sickles when they were Corps Commanders.

Confederate: Hood or Mahone as brigade commanders.

CSA – Bragg to see if he was as bad as some make out.
USA – Sickles