The Leadership of Ulysses S. Covert The Leadership of Ulysses S.
A General Who Will Fight. Press of Kentucky, The development and growth of leadership skills is the focus of Harry S. The author argues that leadership skills are not always innate, but can develop and evolve through experience. In the introduction, Laver defines analytical determination as a common denominator among most successful military leaders and describes two schools of thought used to conclude whether Grant displayed analytical determination or sheer stubbornness.
In his first battle, Grant moved against the Confederate outpost at Belmont, Kentucky, and while he racked up a victory, he displayed little authority or understanding of the broader strategic objectives of the fight. Instead, as the narrative flows forward to Vicksburg and Chattanooga, one will find much that is familiar, and much more that is uncritical. Rosecrans, or George H. Thomas will find much to complain about. More problematic is Laver's treatment of Grant's assumption of overall command in He passes over Grant's original plan of campaign submitted in January without understanding what it revealed about Grant's thinking; he asserts that Project MUSE promotes the creation and dissemination of essential humanities and social science resources through collaboration with libraries, publishers, and scholars worldwide.
Forged from a partnership between a university press and a library, Project MUSE is a trusted part of the academic and scholarly community it serves. Built on the Johns Hopkins University Campus. This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website.
Ulysses S. Grant and the American Civil War
Without cookies your experience may not be seamless. The Journal of the Civil War Era. Laver review Brooks D. In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Pemberton, unable to combine forces with the army of Joseph E. Johnston , which was hovering in central Mississippi, finally surrendered Vicksburg on July 4, The surrender of Vicksburg and the defeat of Confederate general Robert E.
Lee at Gettysburg were stinging defeats for the Confederacy, now split in two by the Union's domination of the Mississippi River. Vicksburg marked the second surrender of a Confederate army the other being Buckner's surrender to Grant the year before. During the Vicksburg siege, Grant dismissed McClernand for publishing to the press a congratulatory order that seemed to claim it was McClernand's corps that was winning the campaign.
The Journal of the Civil War Era
McClernand appealed the dismissal to his personal friend, President Lincoln, but to no avail. Grant had ended the rivalry on his own terms. The Union army had captured considerable Confederate artillery, small arms, and ammunition. Total casualties, killed or wounded, for the final operation against Vicksburg that started on March 29, were 10, for the Union and 9, for the Confederacy. Although the victory at Vicksburg was a tremendous advance in the Union War effort, Grant's reputation did not escape criticism.
During the initial campaign in December , Grant became upset and angry over speculators and traders who inundated his department and violated rules about trading cotton in a militarized zone. As a result, Grant issued his notorious General Order No. When protests erupted from Jews and non-Jews alike, President Lincoln rescinded the order on January 4, ; however, the episode tarnished Grant's reputation. In addition, Grant was accused by Maj.
Hamilton and William J. Kountz for being a "drunkard" and "gloriously drunk" in February and March, McClernand was alleged to have promoted and secretly spread this rumor in the Union Army. Both McClernand and Hamilton were seeking promotion in the army at the time of these allegations.
Cincinnati Commercial editor Murat Halstead railed that, "Our whole Army of the Mississippi is being wasted by a foolish, drunken, stupid Grant". Lincoln sent Charles A. Dana to keep a watchful eye. Rawlins , Grant's friend, got him to take a pledge not to touch alcohol. During the Vicksburg campaign Grant had received numerous reports from General Sherman and others that "highly visible" Jewish merchants were trading gold for cotton and were routinely violating trade regulations in Grant's war district.
When his own father, Jesse Grant , arrived at his headquarters with two prominent Jewish merchants requesting special permits to trade in cotton Grant became angry and ordered his father and his partners to leave on the next train going north. Because of the generalized wording of the order allegations of antisemitism were soon levied at Grant.
The Jews, as a class, violating every regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department, and also Department orders, are hereby expelled from the Department comprising areas of Tennessee , Mississippi , and Kentucky. The New York Times denounced the order as "humiliating" and a "revival of the spirit of the medieval ages.
Grant, who immediately relieved Rosecrans from duty, personally went to Chattanooga to take control of the situation, taking 20, troops commanded by Maj.
- Author Corner;
- Ulysses S. Grant and the American Civil War - Wikipedia.
- Pamela (Italian Edition).
Sherman from the Army of the Tennessee. Joseph Hooker was ordered to Chattanooga, taking 15, troops from the Army of the Potomac. Rations were running severely low for the Cumberland army and supply relief was necessary for a Union counter offensive. When Grant arrived at Chattanooga at the Union camp, he was informed of their plight and implemented a system known as the "Cracker Line," devised by Maj.
Thomas 's chief engineer, William F. After Union army seized Brown's Ferry, Hooker's troops and supplies were sent into the city, helping to feed the starving men and animals and to prepare for an assault on the Confederate forces surrounding the city. Thomas took a minor high ground known as Orchard Knob while Maj. Sherman took strategic positions for an attack on Bragg's right flank on Missionary Ridge. On November 24, in heavy fog, Hooker captured Lookout Mountain and positioned his troops to attack Bragg's left flank at Rossville. On November 25, Grant ordered Thomas's Army of the Cumberland to make a diversionary attack only to take the "rifle pits" on Missionary Ridge.
However, after the soldiers took the rifle pits, they proceeded on their own initiative without orders to make a successful frontal assault straight up Missionary Ridge. Bragg's army, routed and defeated, was in complete disarray from the frontal assault and forced to retreat to South Chickamauga Creek. Although the valiant frontal assault was successful, Grant was initially upset because he did not give direct orders for the men to take Missionary Ridge; however, he was satisfied with their results. The victory at Missionary Ridge eliminated the last Confederate control of Tennessee and opened the door to an invasion of the Deep South, leading to Sherman's Atlanta Campaign of Casualties after the battle were 5, for the Union and 6, for Confederate armies, respectively.
After the Confederate defeat at Chattanooga, President Lincoln promoted Grant to a special regular army rank, General-in-chief Lieutenant General , authorized by Congress on March 2, This rank had previously been awarded two other times, a full rank to George Washington and a Brevet rank to Winfield Scott. President Lincoln was reluctant to award the promotion, until informed that Grant was not seeking to be a candidate in the Presidential Election of With the new rank, Grant moved his headquarters to the east and installed Maj.
Sherman as Commander of the Western Armies. President Lincoln and Grant met together in Washington and devised "total war" plans that struck at the heart of the Confederacy, including military, railroad, and economic infrastructures. No longer refugees, African Americans were now incorporated into the Union Army as trained soldiers, taking away the Confederacy's labor force.
The two primary objectives in the plans were to defeat Robert E. Lee's Army of Virginia and Joseph E. Johnston 's Army of Tennessee. They would attack the Confederacy from multiple directions: Averell would destroy railroad supply lines in West Virginia. Banks was to capture Mobile, Alabama. Grant would command all the Union army forces while in the field with Meade and the Army of the Potomac.
On April 12, Confederate forces under Maj. Grant retaliated by ordering Union prisoner exchanges canceled until Union black soldiers were treated equally with white soldiers. The Confederate government declined to treat Union black soldiers as equals to white soldiers. On May 4, , Grant began a series of battles with Robert E. The first battle between Lee and Grant took place after the Army of the Potomac crossed Rapidan River into an area of secondary growth trees and shrubs known as the Wilderness.
Lee was able to use this protective undergrowth to counter Grant's superior troop strength. Hill 's corps two miles; however, Lee was able to drive back the Union advance with Confederate General James Longstreet 's reserves. The difficult, bloody, and costly battles lasted two days, May 5 and 6, resulting in an advantage to neither side. Unlike Union generals who retreated after similar battles with Lee, Grant ignored any setbacks and continued to flank Lee's right moving southward.
The tremendous casualties for the Battle of the Wilderness were 17, for the Union and 11, for the Confederate armies, respectively. Although the Wilderness battle was costly for the Union, Grant decided to move south and continue the fight with Lee. As the Army of the Potomac moved southward from the Wilderness, Grant, on May 8, was forced into yet an even more desperate day battle at Spotsylvania. Anticipating Grant's right flank move, Lee was able to position his army at Spotsylvania Court House before Grant and his army could arrive.
The battle started on May Although Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was located in an exposed rough arc known as the "Mule Shoe", his army resisted multiple assaults from Grant's Army of the Potomac for the first six days of the battle. The fiercest fighting in the battle took place on a point known as "Bloody angle". Rifles refused to fire due to the troops gunpowder getting wet from rainy weather and they were forced into a bloody hand-to-hand struggle similar to battles fought in ancient times.
Both Confederates and Union soldiers were slaughtered and men were piled on top of each other in their attempt to control the point. By May 21, the fighting had finally stopped; Grant had lost 18, men with 3, having been killed in the prolonged battle. Many talented Confederate officers were killed in the battle with Lee's Army significantly damaged having a total of 10—13, casualties. The popular Union Maj. John Sedgwick of the VI corps was killed in the battle by a sharpshooter and replaced by Maj. During the fighting at Spotsylvania, Grant stated, "I will fight it on this line if it takes all summer.
"A General Who Will Fight: The Leadership of Ulysses S. Grant" by Harry S. Laver
Finding he could not break Lee's line of defense at Spotsylvania, Grant turned southward and moved to the North Ana River a dozen miles closer to Richmond. An attempt was made by Grant to get Lee to fight out in the open by sending an individual II Corps on the west bank of the Mattatopi River. Rather than take the bait, Lee anticipated a second right flank movement by Grant and retreated to the North Anna River in response to the Union V and VI corps, withdrawing from Spotsylvania.
During this time, many Confederate generals, including Lee, were incapacitated due to illness or injury. Lee, stricken with dysentery , was unable to take advantage of an opportunity to seize parts of the Army of the Potomac. After a series of inconclusive minor battles at North Anna on May 23 and 24, the Army of the Potomac withdrew 20 miles southeast to important crossroads at Cold Harbor. Grant's ordered assault on June 3 was disastrous and lopsided with 6, Union casualties to Lee's 1, After twelve days of fighting at Cold Harbor, total casualties were 12, for the Union and 2, for the Confederacy.
Lee , and on June 12 secretly crossed the James River on a pontoon bridge and attacked the railroad junction at Petersburg. For a brief time, Robert E. Lee had no idea where the Army of the Potomac was. Among northern antiwar elements after the utter Union defeat at Cold Harbor , Grant was castigated as the "Butcher" for having sustained high casualties without a substantial advantage over Robert E.
Grant, himself, who regretted the assault on June 3 at Cold Harbor as a bad mistake on his part, was determined to keep casualties minimal thereafter.
Grant's plan was to keep fighting and Lincoln supported him, as did the Republican party apparatus, speakers and newspapers across the North. Without a Union military victory, President Lincoln's presidential Campaign of against former general and Democratic contender George McClellan might have been at risk. Sherman was bogged down chasing Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston into a conclusive battle.
Benjamin Butler , who was supposed to attack Confederate railroads south of Richmond, was trapped in the Bermuda Hundred.