Gene Schmiel

Civil War Political Generals of the Blue and Grey Gene Schmiel

CIVIL WAR POLITICAL GENERALS WERE KEY TO THE SUCCESSES OF BOTH SIDESWhen the Civil War began, the North and the South took different approaches to creating their armies. In the Union, General-in-Chief Winfield Scott decided to create what would be called the "U. S. Volunteers." Having experienced difficulties in the Mexican War with volunteers at all levels, Scott did not want to repeat the experience. He reasoned that the war would not last long and that an additional 25,000 men added to the regular army would suffice to do all the fighting. Volunteers could guard the rivers and facilities, but little else. The Confederacy, having benefited from the resignation from the army of hundreds of officers and men, created a unified army from whole cloth. President Jefferson Davis used his military background and experience to form an army almost entirely of volunteers. No formal distinction was made between "regulars" and "volunteers," although the several private military academies of the South, e.g. VMI, as well as West Point, supplied a well-trained military leadership. But West Pointers would be given all major commands. By the end of the war, over 3 million men wore the two uniforms, the Blue and the Grey. Hundreds of those men were general officers, men who had responsibility for commanding thousands of men in combat. The great generals on both sides, Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Lee, Longstreet, Johnston, are well known. They were all West Point graduates and professional soldiers. There were also many near-great generals who were not professional soldiers. They were the so-called "Political Generals." But few other than Joshua Chamberlain, Patrick Cleburne, Nathan Bedford Forrest, and John Logan are well-remembered. That is partly due to the fact that few non-West Pointers ever had major commands. Also, the stereotypical image of bumbling "Political Generals" remains strong in Civil War circles. This book will introduce (or re-introduce) the reader to 50 of these "Political Generals," men who did not graduate from West Point. I have chosen 25 from each side and given the reader an introduction to their achievements, successes, and failures. After reading my short essays and following up with the "further reading" I have included with each item, the reader can then make up his own mind about these men., Further, I hope and trust you the reader will gain a fuller understanding of the nature and abilities of the more aptly-named "Citizen-Generals" in the American Civil War.