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What do you think was the strangest decision made by an officer during the civil war?
John Pemberton's decision to defend Vicksburg rather than uniting with Joe Johnston's forces in the interior. I doubt the outcome would have been altered in the Western Theater, but Grant would have been tied down to defending the area rather than besieging 22,000 Confederates. Meanwhile the rebels could have held out quite a bit longer in Mississippi with the Army of Tennessee at its full strength.
John Pemberton's decision to defend Vicksburg rather than uniting with Joe Johnston's forces in the interior.? I doubt the outcome would have been altered in the Western Theater, but Grant would have been tied down to defending the area rather than besieging 22,000 Confederates.? Meanwhile the rebels could have held out quite a bit longer in Mississippi with the Army of Tennessee at its full strength.
Thats a good one. Also think about the fact that Grant would not have had his glorious victory and maybe would not have been propelled to the eastern theater. at least not when he was.
Burnside's decision to attack Fredericksburg after having lost the element of surprise after the pontoon boats failed to arrive on schedule. Instead of attacking the lightly defended Marye's Heights he was sending men to their slaughter against heavily defended positions, and continued to do so even after it became obvious that it was futile. But let's not forget Hooker's parking his butt at Chancellorsville when he was on Lee's open flank or McClellan's using siege tactics at Yorktown, ore Pickett's Charge. There are several others that I could mention but the point is that the Civil War, all warfare throughout history, has more than its share of head-scratchers.
Grant's experiments that led to the slaughter at the Battle of the Crater was, I guess, the trade off for the luck he enjoyed at Vicksburg.
The Battle of the Crater might have been successful except for the fact that the general responsible for attacking after the mine explosion was drunk and his corps commander, Burnside I believe, was never known for being particularly an active take-charge kind of guy. Besides which, Vicksburg was as much a product of a willingness to try new approaches and new tactics and having competent subordinates in Sherman and McPherson whose judgement he was willing to trust as it was to bad decision-making on the part of Pemberton. And let's not forget Joe Johnston's decision to sit on his ass and let Pemberton do all the work.
