Having watched Gettysburg, I read a little bit about General Reynolds, and how officers on both sides considered him a first-rate corps commander. He was actually offered the Army of the Potomac command by Lincoln a month before Gettysburg but declined. WI Reynolds survives the war? Does anyone believe he becomes the Union's top general instead of Grant? And what potential political butterflies will this have (would Reynolds run for President after a successful prosecution of the war)
WI General John Reynolds survives Gettysburg and the rest of the Civil War
- Thread starter dsp19
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(grinds teeth from having not written High Water updates for a long time...)
If the campaigns of 1863 play out pretty much as OTL, then I do not see Reynolds ascending any higher than corps commander. He could possibly run for office after the war (coming from a staunch Democratic family), but I'm not sure he has any more success than did Winfield Scott Hancock (Lost to Garfield in the 1880 Presidential election).
If I get my @$$ in gear with writing, Reynolds ends up as commander, Army of the Potomac.
If the campaigns of 1863 play out pretty much as OTL, then I do not see Reynolds ascending any higher than corps commander. He could possibly run for office after the war (coming from a staunch Democratic family), but I'm not sure he has any more success than did Winfield Scott Hancock (Lost to Garfield in the 1880 Presidential election).
If I get my @$$ in gear with writing, Reynolds ends up as commander, Army of the Potomac.
How would Reynolds displace Grant?
The best I could see him do is replace Meade, if for whatever reason Meade ever needed to be removed from command.
Possible POD, its Meade who is wounded or killed on the first day at Gettysburg.
Which corps commander takes over the Army of the Potomac?
Assuming its Reynolds the battle goes as in OTL but Reynolds launches a counterattack after the defeat of Pickett's charge which leads to the breaking of the Confederate army.
Reynolds is acclaimed the great hero and Grant remains in the West.
In 1864 Reynolds captures Richmond which together with Grant's further advances in Georgia brings the Civil War to an end.
Although Grant is regarded as a great hero he is superceded in the public / political / media opinion by Reynolds because it is Reynolds who achieved the twin peaks of defeating the previously unbeatable Lee and captures the Confederate capital.
Anaxagoras
Banned
The fact that Reynolds was a good corps commander is no guarantee he'd be a good army commander. The history of the Civil War is full of men who were outstanding leaders on the divisional level but mediocre or bad on the corps or army level. John Bell Hood is the biggest cautionary tale in that regard on the Southern side, with John Pope perhaps being the biggest one for the Northern side.
OTOH, everything I know about John Reynolds tells me that his personality and style of leadership was the kind you want in a good army commander.
OTOH, everything I know about John Reynolds tells me that his personality and style of leadership was the kind you want in a good army commander.
katchen
Banned
If the Civil War ends in 1864 does the US invade Mexico to chase France out of there? With Reynolds in the East, I could see Grant making short work of Maximillian and Admiral Farragut taking Guadalupe, Martinique and Cayenne. Maybe a Pacific squadron taking Tahiti and New Caledonia from France and ending the protectorate over Vietnam and Cambodia, restoring the Open Door. A good war mobilization is a terrible thing to waste. whether the US winds up keeping some or all of Mexico or not.
I know but its still easy to make Meade miss the battle.
He could be injured in a fall from his horse, fall ill, get shot by an outlier from Stuart's cavalry or even fall victim to friendly fire in the same way Jackson did a few weeks earlier.