Snake Featherston
Banned
Agreed.
Thomas vs. Longstreet would be a more interesting intellectual contest than most, although my money is on the Virginian in THAT scenario.Longstreet could be mule stubborn in bad ways, as he showed after pissing Bragg off.
Thomas had the better understanding of initiative and ways to achieve it in spite of a bad situation and poor overall command than Longstreet did. Thomas at Mill Springs was in a similar situation to Longstreet at Knoxville and Thomas won, Longstreet gave Burnside the moment that kind-of sort-of redeemed his battlefield career.
Couldn't agree more.
What I don't get is why Jackson has the bloody halo of glory he does. I mean, okay, he won battles and was a martyr. Fine. I can see that being glorified. But how him being a bigger prick than Bragg is kinda forgotten disturbs me.
He was the first great Confederate hero in his own time. He was actually far more popular than Lee in Lee's own lifetime, and at least part of the Lost Cause tradition involved Jackson-bashing (something generally glossed over in the 21st Century distilled version). Jackson's flaws in other words were glossed over even at the time, so it's disturbing on levels far surpassing the disturbing elements of Bragg's Commissar-style approach to military discipline (which wound up building the CS army with the most staying power and overall hardiness, though Bragg was never decisive enough to use it in a battle situation with or without Polk adding to his problems).