"Training, Tactics, and Leadership in the Confederate..." Topic
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Tango01 | 03 Aug 2019 9:32 p.m. PST |
… Army of Tennessee. " In this book, Andrew Haughton postulates that deficiencies in training, tactics, and leadership led to the Army of the Tennessee's abysmal battlefield performance. Both the Union and Confederate armies utilized William J. Hardee's outdated 1855 treatise, Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics (hereafter cited as Tactics), when the war broke out in 1861. Yet, the Union armies in the West, realizing the theoretical limitations of the manual, tweaked its proscriptions and achieved tactical evolution. The Army of Tennessee, meanwhile, continuously adhered to antebellum military doctrine and focused on strategy thereby allowing their tactics to stagnate. This, ultimately, led to the army's poor battlefield performance and eventual defeat in 1865. Haughton utilizes "new military history" techniques in order to establish the context surrounding the army's creation. According to Haughton, both the North and the South believed that the latter contained a unique martial culture. The author, however, stresses that this constituted a perceived reality. Thus, the South entered the war believing in an artificial martial superiority that did not translate into combat reality (Haughton 26-37). Subsequent to Haughton's dabbling in new military history, the author establishes antebellum military theory and experience. Hardee's Tactics constituted the primary tactical manual in 1861. With its theories rooted in Napoleonic doctrine, the manual attempted to incorporate the new light infantry tactics that the French currently employed in North Africa. Hardee, however, designed the manual to supplement Winfield Scott's tactical treatise published during the 1830s. Ergo, American tactical doctrine on the eve of the Civil War was outdated. Yet, Hardee alone did not create the base of the antebellum military experience. Many southern officers relied upon the training that they received at the United States Military Academy and their wartime experiences in Mexico. Tactical training at West Point, however, remained a small part of the overall curriculum. In addition, the Mexican War shared more commonalities with the earlier Napoleonic Wars than it did with the future transitional American Civil War. As such, the Confederate Army of Tennessee, much like its northern counterparts marched to war in 1861 strictly adhering to what was soon to become outdated tactical principles…# Main page link Amicalement Armand |
Russ Haynes | 03 Aug 2019 10:11 p.m. PST |
I believe it still comes down to leadership. Union leadership in the west continually outshown that of the Confederate armies. Even when troops came west under Longstreet, the Army of Tennessee had extreme difficulties coordinating its battle plans at Chickaumauga. This lack of coordination coupled with offensive tactics (Shiloh, Murfreesboro, Atlanta), led to high casualties and very little lasting battlefield success. Johnston's time in command showed the advantage defensive tactics could bring to the battlefield but better union leadership and the overall advantage in men and material made this defensive success a mute point. The same eventually was true in the east although better confederate leadership in the east led to a more difficult time for union forces. |
Tango01 | 04 Aug 2019 4:07 p.m. PST |
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