No, Fredericksburg wasn’t so much bad intel as it was dumb on Burnside. It’s pretty basic stuff that most every officer knows. The faster you move, the less resistance you meet with! Burnside waited 3 days on bridging equipment to cross a fordable river, then another day for the men to sac the town. Lee had 4 days to dig in up to his eyeballs!😀 But seriously, after Mac was relieved following Antietam, I cannot recall ever reading about grossly inflated enemy numbers again. And it’s well known that Stanton and several others in the cabinet and congress hated Mac with a passion. I can easily see them deliberately doing this to prevent McClellan from ending the war before slavery could be made an issue! Reon
"Preserving the Constitution, fighting off the nibblers and chippers, even nibblers and chippers with good intentions, was once regarded by conservatives as the first duty of the citizen. It still is." � Wesley Pruden
Reynolds’s was offered command of AOTP before it was given to Meade. Meade was not popular with the men, Reynolds was very popular with them. He asked if he would have free rein to place the army as he saw fit to best defeat Robert E Lee. He was told he must comply with all instructions from Washington, and he turned it down flat. This opens up another question. Is it possible that Reynolds thought maybe the administration was deliberately preventing a complete northern victory? Reynolds’s was sorta outspoken about being against government interference with slavery. I’m thinking he was reading between the lines and identified the administration as deliberately trying make slavery an issue, and tried to stay out of it. Reon
Last edited by 7mmbuster; 02/20/24.
"Preserving the Constitution, fighting off the nibblers and chippers, even nibblers and chippers with good intentions, was once regarded by conservatives as the first duty of the citizen. It still is." � Wesley Pruden
Bill O'Reilly has some interesting observations on Stanton at the end of 'Killing Lincoln'.
Maybe I’ll have to read that. Not really a fan of O’Reilly. He give Lon Horuchi a pass on shooting Vicky Weaver, and he several times described semi auto .223s as “heavy weapons”. I think he pretends to be a conservative. But I would be interested on what he has to say about Ed Stanton. Maybe I’m reading more into this than i should, but I have always considered him to be a snake in the grass. I think Little Mac used that term too when he wrote to his wife Ellen! He chummed up to McClellan long enough to gain his trust, and then he betrayed him. Maybe today’s political climate has got me jaded. I don’t know. I can’t imagine why!😀 The democrats are clearly corrupt, and the Republicans bitch and investigate, but they do nothing about it, even with clear evidence. That tells me that they’re working together. And reading the political background of the Civil War has me thinking that a lot of what I read earlier and believed is in fact, BS! I’ve learned somewhat, to start reading between the lines. As “Monk” says, it’s a blessing, and a curse”! Reon
"Preserving the Constitution, fighting off the nibblers and chippers, even nibblers and chippers with good intentions, was once regarded by conservatives as the first duty of the citizen. It still is." � Wesley Pruden
My thoughts are that Reynolds was the best general the North had and he was not willing to play politics with his army. Even though Reynolds died early at Gettysburg, he played a pivotal role in the North winning the battle.
“Fighting Joe”? Pretty good general, considering… Aggressive enough, and he did steal a couple days march on Lee, which wasn’t easy to do! He had Lee dead to rights that first evening at Chancellorsville. He and Phil Kearny were pretty close, but Kearny was killed at Chantilly, covering the retreat of Pope after 2nd Bull Run. I honestly believe that if Kearny had been alive on 30 April, 1863, the North would have finished Bobby Lee! But Hooker choked. If Kearny had been there to steady him, who can say? He said he suddenly lost confidence in Joe Hooker, and pinned himself with his back to a River. I think if Jackson hadn’t been killed, he and Lee might have possibly removed the AOTP from the board! Probably not. Their flanks protected by a river, a line studded with artillery? Hooker may have choked, but the guys who commanded the troops had not! As it worked out, the Northern army got away, and ended up in Gettysburg under a new commander. And we’re still overlooking the emancipation proclamation, which I’m beginning to think was the endgame all along! Reln
"Preserving the Constitution, fighting off the nibblers and chippers, even nibblers and chippers with good intentions, was once regarded by conservatives as the first duty of the citizen. It still is." � Wesley Pruden
I read O'Reilly book "The Day Lincoln was Shot.". IIRC he said Lincoln was planning on being hard on the South after the war and Stanton was wanting to go easy. Yet Stanton was a driving force on Reconstruction and I believe it was Lincoln intent to not go hard.
Back in the ‘90s I got to watching O’Reilly on a friend’s recommendation. Back then he did a short thing every show about a ridiculous news item, I believe it was titled “Ridiculous”. One evening he commented on someone who had suggested the shooting of Vicky Weaver be investigated further, and the agents involved punished. Bill thought that was ridiculous. After (I think) Sandy Hook, several occasions he referred to defense rifles, caliber .223 as “heavy weapons” and should be registered and owners licensed to own them. After that, he has been on “ignore”.🤬 Reon
"Preserving the Constitution, fighting off the nibblers and chippers, even nibblers and chippers with good intentions, was once regarded by conservatives as the first duty of the citizen. It still is." � Wesley Pruden
Second resurrection of an old thread due to a video adding more information!😀 I don’t recall reading about Hooking creating the Bureau of Military Intelligence. It might be an oversight on my part, but I honestly didn’t know this until I saw this clip! This would explain the lack of Pinkerton intel later in the war. I don’t buy the major impact on Gettysburg, though. It was obvious on the evening of 2 July that Lee would be forced to attack or retreat. It wouldn’t take a tactical rocket scientist to figure that out!😀 And I still hang onto the theory that Stanton was using it to influence Little Mac’s decision making. The more I think on it, the more I think the republicans were delaying victory in order to make emancipation an issue. Reon
"Preserving the Constitution, fighting off the nibblers and chippers, even nibblers and chippers with good intentions, was once regarded by conservatives as the first duty of the citizen. It still is." � Wesley Pruden
Back in the ‘90s I got to watching O’Reilly on a friend’s recommendation. Back then he did a short thing every show about a ridiculous news item, I believe it was titled “Ridiculous”. One evening he commented on someone who had suggested the shooting of Vicky Weaver be investigated further, and the agents involved punished. Bill thought that was ridiculous. After (I think) Sandy Hook, several occasions he referred to defense rifles, caliber .223 as “heavy weapons” and should be registered and owners licensed to own them. After that, he has been on “ignore”.🤬 Reon
I stopped listening to anything O'Reilly said/wrote many years ago, long before his "assault rifles" nonsense. He's been anti-Second Amendment for a long, long time. A left liberal trying at times to wax conservative.
L.W.
"Always go straight forward, and if you meet the devil, cut him in two and go between the pieces." (William Sturgis, clipper ship captain, 1830s.)
