From: tecump@sulu.ucsb.edu (Dominic J. Dal bello)
Newsgroups: alt.war.civil.usa
Subject: Re: Grant in the East (was Jackson at the Seven Days)
Date: 14 Dec 92 22:02:15 GMT

whale@leland.Stanford.EDU (Stephen Schmidt) writes:

>In article <tecump.724011417@sulu> tecump@sulu.ucsb.edu (Dominic J. Dal bello) writes:
>>
>>Grant was made overall Federal Commander.  He was not necessarily brought
>>east to fight there, although that may  have been assumed.  He did not have to
>>take the field.  Meade maintained command of the Army of the Potomac until
>>the end of the War, if in name only. 

>I have understood that the reason Grant had to take the field is because
>it was desired for 9th Corps to operate in conjunction with the Army of
>the Potomac and, since Burnside outranked Meade, in Grant's absence the
>joint command would have been under Burnside, which would have been rather
>grim. This in turn was the result of the Union's perverse desire not to
>promote anyone above major general (until Grant, and then only him) making
>it impossible to place one's most effective division and corps commanders
>in charge of operations. I think the fact that the Confederate Army did a
>much better job of promoting its proven generals to the high commands than
>the Union did is not always given the attention that it deserves, especially
>when you realize all the Union had to do to fix the problem is authorize
>4 or 5 full generals and 8 or 10 lieutenant generals, as the Confederacy
>did, and promote people like Sheridan, Hancock, Gibbon, and Barlow into
>these positions, and filling their shoes with the more promising colonels
>such as Upton and Chamberlain. This is essentially what Lee did in the ANV.


um, i dont think so, although politically correct.  when meade first
took over the Army of the Potomac, he was not the senior general.  Meade had
only been a division commander 6 months before, a corps commander at 
Chancellorsville, and then army com'd'r at G-burg.  There are several 
instances in which the "senior officer" did not command.  I.e., at
Chickamauga, Longstreet was senior to Bragg, but Bragg commanded the army.
it is interesting to not that the confederacy used "temporary" ranks 
sometimes for their army commanders.  

as for Grant taking the field, i think it was expected of him whether or
not the 9th Corps came along or not.  He was the savior to stop Lee.
Burnside had already proven himself
unable to command such a large force.  As a corps commander, he was fine
(Carolinas and eastern Tenn.), but in charge of an army was not - even
he realized it when he was offered the command in fall of 62 - he did not
feel he was up to it, but if he was called, he would go.  The command of
the army is appointed by the President, and Meade wouldve commanded 
anyway.

As for the position of Lieutenant General, the army had a long tradition
of having none, being so small.  Washington was the only full Lt.Gen prior
to Grant. Winfield Scott held the brevet rank of Lt. Gen.  There were only
3 generals in the Fed army prior to the War.
so, the position was held in very HIGH ESTEEM, only to be given to the 
"best".   besides, Lincoln couldve predated Meades commision.

you bring up a good point however that the structure of the Union army
was a little screwed up.  Ideally, every step upward you go in structure
should be held by a higher rank.  so:`

regiment	colonel
brigade		brigadier general
division	major general
corps 		lieutenant general
army		general.

the confederacy was pretty faithful to such a structure.  the union
of course maxed at maj.gen. and divisions were commanded by brigadiers,
and sometimes colonels.  etc.  
but IMHO, the confederacy had a high rank structure (a trivial point, yes)
for as casualties accumulated, the ranks of federal officers were more
appropriate to the numbers.  

an interesting bit of trivia:  
at Wilsons Creek, the Federals had 1 general (Lyon) who
was killed.  command of the army went to Major Schofield(?), not to any
of the colonels in command of the various regts.


sorry for long post.


dom
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