FJAG
Army.ca Legend
- Reaction score
- 11,478
- Points
- 1,160
An interesting article concerning the place in history of Gen Robert E Lee and his worship by white supremacists.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/the-myth-of-the-kindly-general-lee/529038/
While this article doesn't touch much on Lee's performance as a tactical or strategic leader, it's quite interesting actually when you study Lee's campaigns to see how many of his successes were not so much the result of any brilliant leadership on his part rather than simple fortune or the result of his opponents failures. A simple example is Lee's dispersion of his forces before Gettysburg, his failure to control Stuart's cavalry, his failure to push Ewell to take Cemetery Ridge while they had the advantage on the first day of the battle, his long delay in issuing orders for the battle on the second day and finally his ill-fated orders for Pickett to attack the union's strongest position on the third. But for a timely storm during the fourth day which allowed his army to flee the battlefield he would have been annihilated in Pennsylvania.
:cheers:
The strangest part about the continued personality cult of Robert E. Lee is how few of the qualities his admirers profess to see in him he actually possessed.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/the-myth-of-the-kindly-general-lee/529038/
While this article doesn't touch much on Lee's performance as a tactical or strategic leader, it's quite interesting actually when you study Lee's campaigns to see how many of his successes were not so much the result of any brilliant leadership on his part rather than simple fortune or the result of his opponents failures. A simple example is Lee's dispersion of his forces before Gettysburg, his failure to control Stuart's cavalry, his failure to push Ewell to take Cemetery Ridge while they had the advantage on the first day of the battle, his long delay in issuing orders for the battle on the second day and finally his ill-fated orders for Pickett to attack the union's strongest position on the third. But for a timely storm during the fourth day which allowed his army to flee the battlefield he would have been annihilated in Pennsylvania.
:cheers: