"Most commanders understood that dealing with mistakes came with the responsibilities of their position. Yet, knowing so did not always help to avoid them. Those officers who were able to keep cool heads and think clearly despite the mounting pressures caused by missteps, who could quickly process the dizzying array of distractions that seemed to continuously pop up, and then mitigate the level of damage caused by gaffes (self-induced or otherwise), were more often than not those who succeeded on the battlefield and advanced in rank. However, some of those at even the highest levels in the Union and Confederate armies erred, too.
For this month's CVBT History Wire, we will continue to our look at blunders on central Virginia's battlefields by examining an example each from the Battle of the Wilderness and the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House.
As the armies prepared for what would become the Overland Campaign, many soldiers on both sides wrote about their expectations in their letters and diaries. Some men, like the 126th New York's Pvt. Eugene Holton, were hopeful that the spring 1864 campaign would be the beginning of the end of the war. He wrote: "Our time is drawing to a close. We have been to the top run[g] of the lad[d]er & are now going down the other side. Every day draws us one step near[er] the end. . . . I suppose you folks at home think that the Rebs are nearly whip[p]ed, but I tell you what, they can fight yet & so can we & will until they lay down their arms & I hope that will be soon." Pvt. John Linneken, a nineteen-year-old soldier in the 20th Maine Infantry, had similar thoughts. Writing to his sister Hattie, he explained: "We have not moved yet, but I think there will be a move soon, and the soldiers all think that Gen. U. S. Grant will do something when he makes a strike. The men seem to be in good spirits, and all think this war will close next fall, and I hope it will," he penned. Lt. Col. Walter Taylor, who served on Gen. Robert E. Lee's staff, wrote to his sweetheart that, "I am very hopeful, feeling confident that with God's help, we will defeat their last great effort & make this the last year of serious fighting."…"
link
Armand
adds artillery to his soft-plastic Union forces.
