Thread: You Command Team - Offense

Originally Posted by Jimbo

AR, I enjoy your posts especially on the topic of the ACW. I am curious as to your reasons for picking Meade for a Corp command over some other more known commanders, such as Jackson or even as a corp commander over Hancock.

Thank you, this amateur in ACW history is looking forward to your response.

Jimbo, thanks for the kind words.

In my book I believe Meade was the finest battlefield commander in the Army of the Potomac. He has been given short shrift until the most recent scholarship. He performed marvelously as a division commander at South Mountain and his was the only Federal force which broke through the Confederate positions at Fredericksburg. He did very well at Gettysburg given his assumption of command literally 2 days before the battle and used his forces well. He reacted to near disasters (Sickles move of the III Corps, Devils Den and Roundtops) by moving reinforcements to key locations and knowing exactly where he could accept risk. While Warren may have been the savior of the Round Tops it was Meade's use of his staff which got the units flowing in. He kept his head and adjusted his forces accordingly. And unlike previous commanders he integrated his cavalry into his operational scheme for 3 July. In the end, he was the first to beat Lee. For the rest of the war he performed very credibly as an Army commander. I just need to keep Sheridan away from him!

Hancock, while very much deserving of the sobriquet The Superb was an excellent corps commander. But I have room for only 3 corps commanders so he gets a division. I believe Sherman and Thomas were better at the corps level in moree difficult circumstances that Hancock.

Jackson does not get a command because I don't think he would work within the comamnd structure as I envision it. He worked well in independent command but soemtimes suffered when having to work within the confines of an overall force. Plus I believe he would not do well under a commander like Grant. Lee was more Napoleonic (i.e., frame the overall campaign objectives and get the forces to the fight and then unleash his corps commanders) and Thomas thrived within that framework. And I actually think Longstreet was a better corps commander thank Jackson.

Hence my reasoning.

Did Reynolds not live long enough to gain acclaim as a commander? I thought he was held in high regard by the Confederates.

Originally Posted by Chogy

Did Reynolds not live long enough to gain acclaim as a commander? I thought he was held in high regard by the Confederates.

Oh, Reynolds was an excellent corps commander and could have made this list if it was longer. But he died before his time and I thought others had a greater body of work.

I mean imagine the AOP in 1864 with Reynolds instead of Warren!
Its kind of like Horatio Wright as VI Corps commander...a good, steady hand who ws spectacular at Cedar Creek and at the Petersburg Breakthrough...but was an even commander the rest of the time.