Ulysses S. Grant, a consideration

One of the tenets of the Lost Cause was that Grant was just a butcher, without skill. Lee himself aided this line. After the war, asked who was his most formidable adversary, he replied “George McClellan”. I presume this was said with a smile, since he was rarely surprised by McClellan.

Three Confederate field armies surrendered when cornered during the war: in 1862 the Army of Central Kentucky, 12,000+ strong, in 1863 the Army of Mississippi, 29,000 and in 1865 the Army of Northern Virginia, 26,000+. All three surrendered to forces led by Grant.

 

While the losses in his Overland Campaign were ghastly, it should be noted that the Confederates mobilized more troops for that campaign than usually thought and suffered higher losses than usually thought. The Overland Campaign reminds me of two adversaries dueling with chainsaws.

 

Was Grant a butcher? Well, he certainly ordered costly frontal attacks. Lee did the same at Gaines Mill and Malvern Hill (both 1862) and Gettysburg (1863) without being accused of being a butcher.

 

Amphibious operations are among the most complex in warfare. Often when they go wrong, at the root are problems between the commanders of the navy and the army. Examples include the Ottoman siege of Malta (1565), the British siege of Cartagena (1741) and the disastrous Continental Penobscot expedition (1779).

 

Grant’s Civil War career began with amphibious landings. His first at Belmont in 1861 had early success, followed by a hasty retreat from the hornet’s nest he had stirred up. But his coordination with Commodore Walke of the Navy was excellent. It was one of the few offensive moves made by Federal forces that year.

 

In 1862 he cracked open the Kentucky defense line of Albert Sidney Johnston at Forts Henry and Donelson, capturing his first field army in the process. He worked hand in glove with his Navy counterpart, Flag Officer Foote. 

 

He cooperated well with Acting Flag Officer Davis in his first operations against Vicksburg. These failed, due mainly to extremely defensible terrain and stiff Confederate opposition.

 

Army-Navy coordination was spectacular in the 1863 Vicksburg Campaign. The Navy ran 7 gunboats and 9 transports past the fortress of Vicksburg, losing two transports. Grant’s army was ferried across the Mississippi where Grant won five battles with superior numbers at each one, keeping two Confederate armies apart, badly defeating one and chasing it into Vicksburg. Had the Confederate forces combined they would have outnumbered him. After a lengthy siege, the city surrendered, along with the second field army that Grant bagged. This campaign compares with anything Napoleon performed. Of course, Grant’s aggressive skills showed up best when contrasted with the caution of Joe Johnston and the inept stumbling of Pemberton. Napoleon also faced some less than stellar opponents.

 

Grant didn’t have further chances to cooperate with the Navy during his Chattanooga Campaign: Navy boats couldn’t sail upriver past Muscle Shoals. Likewise with his Overland Campaign. Often ignored is his passing of the James River. Lee had stalemated Grant after the Battle of Cold Harbor. Federal forces were hemmed in against the James, with the only option to batter against increasingly strong Confederate fortifications. Or so it seemed. Grant had what is likely the longest pontoon bridge in history (2,170 feet) thrown across the James while he kept Lee busy with various feints. Then his army crossed the James, leaving Lee to realize what had happened after they were all gone, with any chance to strike while they were crossing long gone. His coup at Petersburg then failed when corps commanders on the spot failed to take the town when it was only defended by a small force. Even so, Lee was now tied down to a long, sanguinary siege, giving up one of the Army of Northern Virginia’s strong suits, mobility. While Lee’s army was pinned, Sherman’s western armies would capture Atlanta, Savannah, Charleston and march into North Carolina. The western Federal army moved into the eastern theater of war, effectively bringing the war to an end.

 

Grant’s  last campaign at Appomattox would be too far inland for Navy support, as he captured his last and toughest field army. In this campaign Lee lost some 30,000 troops at Saylor’s Creek and other battles, mostly prisoners or deserters, before the final surrender, against some 10,000 Union losses.

 

My take is Lee was extremely aggressive and skilled. He was willing to abide by a level of violence that made most of his Yankee opponents flinch, except for Burnside who was clumsy and suffered losses to little effect. Even Meade who was fairly skilled didn’t have the stomach to push offensive war against Lee. Lee finally met his match against the extremely aggressive and skillful Grant.

 

Was Grant perfect? Not by a long shot. He and his troops were nearly captured at Belmont. His over-confidence flirted with disaster at Fort Donelson and Shiloh. He stubbornly refused to ask for early ceasefires after failed attacks at Vicksburg and Cold Harbor, condemning hundreds of Union wounded between the lines. And for all the amity he displayed with Naval officers, he had more than his share of feuds with other army officers. Thomas, Rosecrans, Granger and others ran afoul of Grant. But he did win many of the most notable Union victories and crafted the grand strategy that shut the door on the Confederacy. Well worth his four stars. I would even suggest that his presidency wasn’t the abject failure it has been called. But that’s for another time, if I ever get around to it. Perhaps I’ll stick to military history though.

 

PS: Alfred Young’s “Lee’s Army During the Overland Campaign: a Numerical Study” is an exhaustive analysis of troops raised and lost in that campaign. Just as Grant scoured the north for rear area troops, so did Lee scrounge the south for troops that had been in cushy jobs. If you are looking for thumbnail histories of units in the Army of Northern Virginia in 1863 and 1864, this is your book. You can then rate brigades with ease, green, seasoned or crack. It is amazing how quickly prisoners were exchanged before it broke down. Most troops captured at Gettysburg were back in the ranks when the Overland Campaign started.