Greatest Union General

[12th Doctor]

Grant and Hancock are tied in my mind.  I put Hancock to make sure he got some representation.  John Reynolds would have been an excellent commander if he hadn't been killed at Gettysburg.  John Buford and John Sedgwick were also good.

[12th Doctor]

Also, Gen. Thomas, the "Rock of Chicamugua"

[12th Doctor]

Of course, Buford was less a "General" and more a "Soldier".  Kinda like Bradley in WWII.  Buford was the "GI General" of the Civil War.

Also, Sedgwick has probably the most embarrasing last words in history.  At Spottsylvania in 1964, Sedwick was examining the enemy trech lines (about 1/2 a mile away) from the Federal treanches.  When an aid commented that he should put get back down, for his own safety.  Sedwick turned to the aid and said "Son, they couldn't hit an elephant from this dis...".  Sedwick was then struck dead by a bullet to the head.

[12th Doctor]

Chamberlain, except I don't think he was a general.

Yeah, he was a Major General by the end of the war.

[12th Doctor]

McClellan was about as worthless as a dead dog.

[12th Doctor]

Another favorite Lincoln quote about McClellan.
"If you're not going to use the army, perhaps I could borrow it for a while?" -A.Lincoln

The thing that was said earlier about the Souths' resources being exhausted, I want to debate that. The south had thousands of tons of food and clothing in storage at warehouses in North Carolina and Atlanta, the problem was, the South had very very poor means of transporting the supplies to the armies. The Souths' railroads were so poor because years before the war the North was sucking the South dry of its tax money and using the money to build Northern infrastructure. One of the contributing factors for the war.

All true.

[12th Doctor]

McClellan was about as worthless as a dead dog.

No one but McClellan could wait 16 hours to attack Lee at Anteitem when he had Lee's battle plan!

Exactly.

[12th Doctor]

McClellan always assumed he was outnumbered.that's why he was overly cautious.

That's mainly because Lee and Johnston were able to trick McClellan into believing he had nearly 200,000 men on the Pennisula.  McClellan would see long lines of Confederate troops martching in the distance and assume the Confederates had great numbers.

In acctuality, the Confederates only had about 60,000 men.  They would march their soldiers in long circles to creat the impression of long marching lines.

McClellan was dumb enough to fall for it hook, line and sinker.

[12th Doctor]

Ironically, though McClellan was a terrible commander, he lost far fewer men during his time as commander of the Army of the Potomac than Grant did.  Of course, Grant fought about two dozen major battles, while McClellan only fought a few.

[12th Doctor]

Ironically, though McClellan was a terrible commander, he lost far fewer men during his time as commander of the Army of the Potomac than Grant did.  Of course, Grant fought about two dozen major battles, while McClellan only fought a few.

Grant lost more men because he used them. McClellan was afriad of using his army.

Which was my point.

[12th Doctor]

At Petersburg 7,000 men fell in 17 minutes. It was so bloody that an entire regiment from New York was wiped out, that is all except the flag bearer. The flag bearer, a 15-year old from a small New York town, marched toward some entrenched Confederates from Alabama. Amazed at his persitance the Confederates held their fire and told him to turn back. When the flag bearer, who was told by his captain to not look back, looked back he saw he was all alone.  He did not panick, he stood still, gave an about face, and marched off. The Confederates cheered until the Yankee was out of sight.

That was at Cold Harbor.

[12th Doctor]

And what exactly was Grant doing at Cold Harbor? Drunk in his tent I believe.

No, Grant gave up drinking for most of the war, after Shiloh.

[12th Doctor]

After Fort Donnelson General Henry "Old Brains" Halleck spread the rumor Grant was drinking. Lincoln then stated,"Tell me the name of his brand and i'll send a bottle of it to my other generals."

Another qoute from Lincoln about Grant was "I cannot spare this man.  He fights."