I knowe quite a few enlisted men who would say that a high ratio of Officers would not be an advatange.
A Glorious Union or America: the New Sparta
- Thread starter TheKnightIrish
- Start date
I knowe quite a few enlisted men who would say that a high ratio of Officers would not be an advatange.
First it depends on what reports Kearny gets. Ord and Sherman may convince Grant it is not politic to have a go at Hooker, Kearny's close friend and the man who has just negotiated Hardee's, Cleburne's, Churchill's and Johnson's surrenders.
Hooker no doubt will report directly to Kearny - Ord is Grant's creature, Thomas is too slow, McClernand's to blame. Or alternatively Magruder was already away and Hooker's primary objective was to obtain the surrender of the larger more threatening force.
Anyway General Phil Kearny is going to be busy. He is off to Ford's Theatre with the President to see the Booth boys in Julius Ceasar...
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Anyway General Phil Kearny is going to be busy. He is off to Ford's Theatre with the President to see the Booth boys and their father in Julius Ceasar...
A trip to the theatre that has been almost a year in the planning...A Three Part Act
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Four Marching With Prince John
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Four
Marching With Prince John
Marching With Prince John
From “The War Between the States” by Otis R. Mayhew
Sword & Musket 1992
“Magruder’s objective was not to fight. His objective was to get as many men as possible to the comparative safety of Texas. Many of the men under his command rightly believed it was an impossible task. The majority of men were infantry; the country through which they would pass had been in Union hands for some time; no one had any idea about how they might cross the Mississippi should any element of the command reach it; and as the last major force in the field east of the Mississippi the entire Union army could be in pursuit of them…
Magruder however did have some advantages: by swinging south of McClernand he would likely travel through southern Alabama and Mississippi, areas more sympathetic to the Confederate cause than the northern elements of those states; there were no major Union forces between him and the Mississippi yet which realistically engage him in battle – the country was littered with garrisons and light patrols; and in the beginning the Union high command could not believe he intended to march to the Mississippi. The perceived impossibility of the task made in inconceivable to many in the Union high command…”
From “Kearny the Magnificent” by Roger Galton
NorthWestern
“General Kearny was not surprised that a rebel splinter force ha broken off. It was inevitable given some of the rumors circulating about the intentions of the Radicals in Congress. Waging civilized warfare in the midst of an emotive election campaign was taxing the General’s patience…
Kearny did not want to be completely drawn from the subjugation of Georgia. General Grant was directed to remain in Georgia with the armies of General Thomas and Ord. They would process Hardee’s surrendered army and march on Savannah to secure the last major rebel port in the east…
General Hooker was given the opportunity to redeem the slur some had made against him for Magruder’s ‘escape’. With the Army of the Cumberland and McClernand’s Army of the Alabama placed under his command he would be given the task of rounding up Magruder’s band. Kearny’s greatest fear was that Magruder’s force would disperse with its arms throughout Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi and wage a partisan war against the Union…”
From “Fighting Joe Hooker” by Herbert Walter
Buffalo 1999
“General Hooker quickly realized that a standard pursuit by the armies under his command might achieve little except to drive Magruder on faster. He realized he needed cavalry. He had at his disposal General George Crook’s cavalry division attached to the Army of the Cumberland containing the brigades of Eugene Crittenden, Robert Minty and Edward McCook. Of those officers Hooker only considered Robert Minty talented, while McCook was “competent”. Crittenden was a “political necessity under which we must labor”…
Hooker petitioned Grant for elements of his cavalry. Grant refused. The small division of John Wynn Davidson would be needed to help secure Georgia. It was a petty attitude that was the hallmark of General Grant’s relationship with Hooker…
General Hooker also requested assistance from General Buford whose Potomac horsemen were in South Carolina and Georgia. John Buford however was being invalided north at this time. As General Pleasanton lobbied Kearny for the command, there was a delay in designating a senior commander, before Pleasanton was dispatched to Missouri and Gregg was placed in command (to the disgust of Percy Wyndham, B.F. Davis, and an overly ambitious George Custer). Hooker would begin his pursuit of Magruder without help from the Army of the Potomac for 3 weeks…”
From “I Rode With Prince John” by Colonel Ambrosio José Gonzales
Carlotta 1885
“With only two batteries of horse artillery there was no place in the artillery for me. Luckily I was assigned to General Magruder’s staff. He told me that if we survived to see Texas my language skills could prove very useful. At that point I spoke Spanish, French, Italian as well as English…
General Magruder discussed with the staff many times that this was not an ordinary column on the march. If he deployed according to the ‘book’ the whole column would be swept up in days. General Magruder had to write his own book…
He kept only a handful of mounted scouts miles ahead of the main column to warn of Federal garrisons or patrols and to make contact with our friends to arrange supplies of food. No cavalry was kept in the rear; the General worked on the assumption that the Federals were never more than a day behind and no rest of delay would be tolerated…
What cavalry and mounted infantry we did have he sent out in all directions with instructions to ‘raise hell’. Railroad bridges were a primary target. They were also to threaten any Federal garrisons but not attack. Above all they were misled anyone the met with false tails of our force, its direction and intentions. Prisoners were not to be taken along, so they were told a tale and released a few miles down the road…
We must have seemed like the hordes of Genghis Khan if all the rumors were to be believed…
There were bands of men, mainly Alabamians to begin with, who wished to leave the column and make for their homes. General Magruder always generously consented there being little purpose in trying to compel men to march with us. His only condition was that they march noisily to some point away from our line of march before quietly dispersing. The General sought any opportunity to confuse and mislead our pursuers…”
Colonel Ambrosio José Gonzales
From “Fighting Joe Hooker” by Herbert Walter
Buffalo 1999
“Magruder had crossed into Alabama through the swampy territory near Eufaula. McClernand had followed what he believed was the main column towards Tuskegee. McClernand’s scouts had received intelligence that Magruder intended to reinvigorate the rebellion by an attack on the garrison at Montgomery. General Hooker was naturally skeptical…
Crook’s cavalry was dispersed throughout southern Alabama following obvious signs of troops on the march and cavalry columns. Telegraph warnings of impending attacks and raids came in from Dothan, Ozark and Enterprise. All proved to be the work of wraiths. Infantry trails would simply disappear. Cavalry hosts would turn out to be small bands of raiders who would disperse at Crook’s approach…
It was not long before General Hooker began to ignore the telegraph reports. “The reports we did receive we were meant to receive by Prince John. We began to look not towards the noise of alarms but towards the regions of silence” (Dan Butterfield)…
Duncan J. Jackson of the 14th Alabama was captured at his home in Inverness, Alabama by regiment from Robert Minty’s brigade having just left Magruder’s column. He provided two vital pieces of intelligence – Magruder was making for the Mississippi River with the intention of marching to Texas, and that although Magruder meant to break up the column to cross the Alabama River at several locations the rally point was Waynesboro, Mississippi…
With that intelligence General Hooker, making full use of the modern mechanisms of war, would conceive a plan to end Magruder’s quixotic march. General Hooker with the XIV corps of John Turchin (Lovell Rousseau was on leave as he campaigned for a congressional seat in Kentucky), the XXIII corps of Gordon Granger, and Crook’s cavalry would continue to drive Magruder’s column giving it no rest. General McClernand with Fitzjohn Porter’s XIX Corps (aka the Army of the Alabama) and Israel Richardson’s XXI Corps would be transported by rail from Montgomery to Pensacola and, with the assistance of Admiral Farragut to New Orleans. From New Orleans they would take the railroad to Brookhaven and Jackson, Mississippi. General Hooker’s intention was that when Magruder emerged in Mississippi a solid blue line of Union troops would stand between him and the Mississippi…”
General John McClernand's relationship with General Hooker in years to come, though initially beneficial, would ultimately bear the bitterest fruit for Joseph Hooker
From “I Rode With Prince John” by Colonel Ambrosio José Gonzales
Carlotta 1885
“Not everyone believed that the General would be successful and there were many instances of small bands breaking away from the columns to make their own way. Of the 10,000 men who began the march less than 6,000 divided into three main columns as we crossed the Alabama. There perhaps another 1,000 men off raiding or misleading the Federals under the General’s orders…
Among those who slipped away at this time were 12 officers and 3 clerks of the Government who accompanied us. With then went Secretary Mallory and Postmaster Reagan. They had not to my knowledge discussed their departure with Magruder though they had previously discussed making for the coast to find a fisherman or other boat to take them to Texas…
As we reached Waynesboro the most alarming rumors awaited us. The country was alive with news that assassins had struck in Washington. The situation was very confused. Lincoln was dead; Lincoln was injured; Phil Kearny was injured; Vice President Hamlin had been shot; he had shot his assassin; Seward was dead; Seward was alive. Contradictory reports arrived by telegraph with each minute but we could not linger to make sense of them…
A new resolution motivated the men. If the rumors were true we could expect no mercy from Federals now…”
From “Fighting Joe Hooker” by Herbert Walter
Buffalo 1999
“General Hooker succeeded where Grant had failed in establishing a cordial relationship with General McClernand. General Hooker placed the heavy responsibility of being the anvil to his hammer and General McClernand rose to the trust…
The rebel column under General William H.T. Walker was smashed by Fitzjohn Porter near Laurel, Mississippi. Generals McClernand and Porter had successfully concentrated their forces preventing any forward or lateral movement down the roads emanating from the town. Walker could either fight or retreat the way he had come. He fought and the outcome was inevitable. Almost 3,000 rebel troops were killed or captured at Laurel…”
From “I Rode With Prince John” by Colonel Ambrosio José Gonzales
Carlotta 1885
“The gallant Walker fought to buy time for the main column under Magruder and a secondary column under Camille Polignac to swing south of the Federal forces of McClernand. We did not get far…
With McClernand behind us, our scouts reported a large Federal force moving into Hattiesburg. General Magruder would not countenance a retrograde movement and so we resolved to attack this Federal force. The main column would assault the town while Polignac would seek to flank it to the east crossing the Leaf River to attack from the south east…”
From “Fighting Joe Hooker” by Herbert Walter
Buffalo 1999
“General Richardson’s later report to General Hooker was frank. He had not expected to be attacked by Magruder but would rather have to bring on a battle himself. Therefore Magruder’s attack initially caught G.P. Buell’s leading troops by surprise. However the Leaf and Bouie Rivers formed natural defensive barriers behind which Buell quickly organized his defenses. The lack of artillery on the rebel side also reduced the effectiveness of the attack. With the assistance of brigades from Hazen’s division, Buell went on the attack driving Magruder’s troops back up the road from Laurel…”
From “I Rode With Prince John” by Colonel Ambrosio José Gonzales
Carlotta 1885
“It was a terrible miscalculation. There were at least two Federal divisions at Hattiesburg and the main attack was promptly repulsed and put on the defensive…
General Polignac indicated the flank was open, but with the intention of having the remaining mounted troops and such lightly burdened infantry as could follow to bypass the Federal force, not to engage it. Magruder’s second, General Benjamin Helm, was adamant. General Magruder must join with General Polignac’s column and seek escape. General Helm volunteered to command the remains of the main column to try to hold up the Federal force. Indeed the commanders were unanimous that General Magruder must accompany General Polignac…”
From “The War Between the States” by Otis R. Mayhew
Sword & Musket 1992
“By the time Magruder reached McComb he had less than 500 men with him, all mounted. His supplies were gone, as was his artillery. There were Union troops all around. Infantry at Brookhaven, Woodville and Kentwood. Cavalry coming up fast from Tylertown. It was at this point that General Magruder ordered the column to disperse and for each man to make for the Mississippi as he may…”
From “I Rode With Prince John” by Colonel Ambrosio José Gonzales
Carlotta 1885
“General Magruder and 4 others were bound on horseback as the Federal cavalrymen flagged down a small steamer not far from St. Francisville. They had orders to convey the General to New Orleans as quickly as possible. It was a supply vessel with only a handful of troops aboard who were quickly overpowered…
It had been the general’s own idea to masquerade as Federal troops, and though being shot out of hand was the likely fate for us anyway he sought only volunteers to wear the Federal blue as that would guarantee a death as a spy if we were taken. Needless to say out of our party of 25 all volunteered. Indeed General Polignac made a fine impression as a dandified European Yankee officer though I am sure he would not consider that a compliment…”
General Benjamin Hardin Helm, captured at Hattiesburg, was President Lincoln's brother-in-law
From “The War Between the States” by Otis R. Mayhew
Sword & Musket 1992
“Of the approximately 9,000 men who marched out with General Magruder, many of whom had no intention of marching to the Mississippi, never mid Texas, it is hard to estimate the numbers who join Kirby Smith’s command there. Certainly the numbers were small. During the end of October and the month of November it is certain that at least 215 men (mainly officers or Texan enlisted men) reported to Smith from Magruder’s command. Those men included Generals Camille Polignac, Felix Huston Robertson and of course John Bankhead Magruder himself. Surprisingly the cabinet members, Texan John Reagan and Stephen Mallory also reached Texas, albeit after an extremely fraught journey by hopping along the coast in a large fishing vessel…
General Hooker had achieved a significant haul of prisoners nonetheless. He had captured Governor Brown of Georgia at Laurel; the President’s brother-in-law General Benjamin Hardin Helm had been taken at Hattiesburg; Secretary of War John C. Breckinridge had been captured with a small party by Robert Minty’s cavalry east of Natchez. Indeed another dozen former rebel generals now graced Northern prisons thanks to General Hooker’s operation to destroy Magruder’s column…
Now after the events in the newly reopened Ford’s Theatre during the opening performance of Julius Caesar the nation was crying out for the conspirators to face the same fate as Cassius and Brutus…and for the Radicals those conspirators included every last man bearing the title Confederate…”.
Coming Up:
1. Lincoln, Kearny, the Cabinet and Congress clash on Reconstruction;
2. What to do about Texas?;
3. Julius Caesar at Ford's Theatre or John Wilkes Booth is a dangerous man in any TL; and
4. The 1864 Election in the shadow of a gunman...
1. Lincoln, Kearny, the Cabinet and Congress clash on Reconstruction;
2. What to do about Texas?;
3. Julius Caesar at Ford's Theatre or John Wilkes Booth is a dangerous man in any TL; and
4. The 1864 Election in the shadow of a gunman...
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Hooker and his partisans accusing someone else of having a petty attitude?
What do you think of the Joe Hooker of TTL?
GOOD: Loyal friend and partisan of Philip and Agnes (when few were); stalwart at the Battle of the Rappahannock; hero of the Battle of Rapidan; Victor (along with Hancock) at Grindstone Hill; Commander of the Right Wing of the Army of the Potomac at Ashland; Commander of the Army of the Cumberland; Riding to Grant's relief at the Battle of Four Armies; Victor at Resaca; Crossing the Chattahoochee; holding the line at Peachtree Creek; dispatching Rousseau to Thomas' aid promptly at Second Utoy
ARGUABLE: Hooker's piecemeal attacks on Fort Winder at the Storming of Richmond; Hooker at Chickamauga;
BAD: Bringing on the Battles of Yellow Tavern and Hungary Station in spite of his orders to the contrary; Jockeying with Grant for supreme commander in the west; not always being very forthcoming with Grant i.e. just plain ignoring him!
I assume Hooker's OTL politics haven't changed all that much? In which case, we can expect him to be one of the generals most prominently associated with the radicals. I'd have pegged Grant, among others, as a likely moderate in any case, so their antipathy is likely to continue, if not get stronger.
Unfortunately my attitude towards this Hooker is being affected by his biographer who appears to be a petty, mean and vindictive man writing a hagiography. It makes me want to see Hooker get his comeuppance which is petty of me I realize but I guess I was always a Grant stalwart. I was always sympathetic to the OTL Hooker but not so much here.
I must say that this is a tribute to your writing that you are able to capture such different tones so well that I am reacting differently to each of your historians.
I have some sympathy for Hooker. He's gets just a little less good with each promotion but he perceives his progress in reverse. World class division commander; excellent corps commander; good army commander. I understand he becomes president? I suspect the gap between his talent and his perception of his talent with finally bring him down.
If we're doing interesting characters etc:
I'm a John Peck and the Army of the James man! Though the Battle of the Blackwater and the death of General Hunter is still my favourite "oh shit" moment.
If we're doing interesting characters etc:
I'm a John Peck and the Army of the James man! Though the Battle of the Blackwater and the death of General Hunter is still my favourite "oh shit" moment.
I like that Lew Wallace has had a more visable redemption (im not a Grant fan). I like Rodman. I like John Reynolds and Buford being alive. Eugene Carr has some good moments like punching Osterhaus. There whole union hierarchy has been altered but its recognisable.
Battles well i enjoyed the Confederate ragnaroks - Pipe Creek and Four Armies.
Looking forward to Reconstruction. I cant see Lincoln surviving with his sainthood intact.
Battles well i enjoyed the Confederate ragnaroks - Pipe Creek and Four Armies.
Looking forward to Reconstruction. I cant see Lincoln surviving with his sainthood intact.
Hooker is ambitious first. His principles come in second. However his friendships with Phil Kearny, Dan Butterfield, Dan Sickles etc are genuine. He is also probably one of the leading modernists in the army - battlefield telegraphy; exploiting modern engineering and railroad transportation etc.
Poor old Herbert Walter is fighting against over a hundred years of negative press for Hooker by the time he writes in 1999. By then Hooker will need a balanced reassessment but he won't get it from Walter!
I'm glad you haven't forgotten about David Hunter because the nation hasn't! Robert Barnwell Rhett prepare to meet your maker damn you!
Good - I kept Rodman (big role) and Reynolds (minor role) alive as they have roles to play in the future. To a lesser extent Buford has as well. War Eagle (Carr) has a role to play in the expanded post-war army that I hope you will find interesting...
I should have another update for posting tomorrow...
Will you be also covering the development of the US Army after the conclusion of Civil War, such as wide implementation of repeater rifle and telegraph? Perhaps some border conflict with confederados in Mexico? *wink wink* *nudge nudge*
I have no quarrell with Hooker ITTL. He might be a glory hound, but he is at least competent, which is more than can be said of other historical figures of similar disposition.
I'm glad you haven't forgotten about David Hunter because the nation hasn't! Robert Barnwell Rhett prepare to meet your maker damn you!
A fitting end to that bloody fire-eater. Mr. Rhett definitely deserves long drop with a short stop.
I should have another update for posting tomorrow...
You better, good sir!