"Drafting Your Ideal ACW Union Command" Topic

For me it is George "Pap" Thomas, "The Rock of Chickamauga," as my senior deputy commander along with Winfield Scott Hancock "the Supreme" and John "Black Jack" Logan as my other senior commanders, plus James Wilson for the cavalry and Henry Hunt for the artillery. Of course I'm showing my Western Theater biases here as well as my 'opinion' that Sherman and Sheridan were very overrated as senior commanders.

This list is a little different from my original contribution to the discussion but I've read a little more about Union operations during the later part of the war since May of 2020.

Now let the 'fur' start flying!

Jim

Custer? What's he doing in the list?

John the OFM, I thought that, then I remembered to ask which Custer?

George, Thomas or Boston?

Don't how George Armstrong (I presume) was added. He wasn't even in the suggestions from the original thread.

Jim

I'll start with Meade and Porter, but where's Bock, Amber, Stout, and Weiss?

Someone put in Custer (shocking, or am I confusing his latter failure with his civil war escapades), and didn't include Chamberlain? Eeek!

Have to agree that Custer would not be high on the list – Chamberlain would certainly be a better choice

Grant for sure, then Hancock, Sheridan and Sherman with Thomas – rock solid and utterly dependable – to round out the team; would have loved to include Reynolds but could only pick 5

Henry Hunt deserves more love.

"Henry Jackson Hunt was Chief of Artillery in the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War. Considered by his contemporaries the greatest artillery tactician and strategist of the war, he was a master of the science of gunnery and rewrote the manual on the organization and use of artillery in early modern armies. His courage and tactics affected the outcome of some of the most significant battles in the war, including Malvern Hill, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and most notably at Gettysburg, where his operational decisions contributed greatly to the defeat of Pickett's Charge."

George Armstrong Custer had a distinguish career during the Civil War.

"Custer's promotions and ranks including his six brevet [honorary] promotions which were all for gallant and meritorious services at five different battles and one campaign:

Second lieutenant, 2nd Cavalry: June 24, 1861
First lieutenant, 5th Cavalry: July 17, 1862
Captain staff, additional aide-de-camp: June 5, 1862
Brigadier general, U.S. Volunteers: June 29, 1863
Brevet major, July 3, 1863 (Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
Captain, 5th Cavalry: May 8, 1864
Brevet lieutenant colonel: May 11, 1864 (Battle of Yellow Tavern – Combat at Meadow)
Brevet colonel: September 19, 1864 (Battle of Winchester, Virginia)
Brevet major general, U.S. Volunteers: October 19, 1864 (Battle of Winchester and Fisher's Hill, Virginia)
Brevet brigadier general, U.S. Army, March 13, 1865 (Battle of Five Forks, Virginia)
Brevet major general, U.S. Army: March 13, 1865 (The campaign ending in the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia)
Major general, U.S. Volunteers: April 15, 1865"

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I didn't vote for him but I had to set the record straight. He was audacious and sometimes reckless but he served with distinction. He was brave to a fault. Amazing how he wasn't killed or wounded. His Michigan troopers loved him. But after the war those same characteristics did not serve him well. His 7th Cavalry troopers did not love him to say the least.

Custer was amply served by his luck. It was recognized that he was very lucky during the war, what was called 'Custer Luck'. His troops hated him and almost mutinied when he went to Texas at the end of active hostilities.

He came close to getting his command destroyed several times during the war and when his luck finally failed it was a massive disaster.

Being last in his West Point class, Custer's only route for advancement was to be a risk taker. When it works you get advanced and when it doesn't it's a disaster.