Chattanooga

Joseph A. Rose vs. Dr. Brooks D. Simpson: What Really Happened on Orchard Knob and at Missionary Ridge?

 in Battles / Chattanooga / Favoritism / Generalship / Grant / Grant biographies / Historiography / Reliability / Tactics  tagged Chattanooga / Grant by

Joseph A. Rose vs. Dr. Brooks D. Simpson: What Really Happened on Orchard Knob and at Missionary Ridge? One of the Civil War’s most intriguing controversies concerns the “miraculous” charge up Missionary Ridge during the Battle of Chattanooga on November 25, 1863 and whether Major-General Ulysses S. Grant intended the soldiers to ascend, as he claimed. The Confederate defenders dug in at the bottom of the ridge, the top, and […]

An expanded review of Chernow’s Grant biography

 in Battles / Chattanooga / Generalship / Grant / Grant biographies / Grant's Memoirs / Historiography / Presidency / Reliability / Shiloh by

[So much is wrong with Chernow’s biography. This expanded review adds further examples of his mistakes and partisanship.] There is no doubt that Ron Chernow tells a beautiful story in his recent biography of Ulysses S. Grant. He is especially compelling in discussing the fight for Black civil rights during Reconstruction. But throughout, the author takes a highly partisan view of his subject in controversy after controversy when the evidence […]

A critique of the History Channel’s Ulysses S. Grant miniseries 1 comment

 in Appomattox / Battles / Belmont / Chattanooga / Drinking / Generalship / Grant / Grant's Memoirs / Henry & Donelson / Historiography / Hooker / Horace / Lee / Lew Wallace / Lincoln / Longstreet / Meade / Petersburg / Porter / Presidency / Reliability / Sheridan / Sherman / Shiloh / Thomas / Vicksburg / Wilderness by

First, I’ll stipulate that Ulysses S. Grant had many good qualities as a person, a general, and even as a president. The History Channel’s recent three-part miniseries on Grant, however, contained a surprising number of egregious mistakes and strained arguments, especially given the prominent “talking heads” involved. Even though the long list of executive producers starred Grant biographer Ron Chernow, little comprehension of the American Civil War was shown. It […]

The Civil War’s Most Persistent Myth

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A forthcoming book posits that the “Civil War’s Most Persistent Myth” involves the existence or non-existence of Black Confederate soldiers. Yet, the Amazon description admits that it “largely originated in the 1970s.” Many myths concerning that conflict have persisted well beyond fifty years. I would nominate a far older and much more egregious example of distorted history. General Ulysses S. Grant has acquired a sterling reputation as an officer and […]

More on Horace Porter’s unreliability 1 comment

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Horace Porter is a prime source of anecdotes that make General U.S. Grant look good. As I showed in my book, Grant Under Fire, and in an earlier article on this blog, the former staff member’s “reverential Campaigning with Grant contained innumerable, implausible justifications and apologies for his chief. It parrots many of the inaccuracies from Grant’s Personal Memoirs.” In another major discrepancy, Porter’s hagiographical volume relates how Grant, upon his October 1863 arrival in […]

Undeniably Serendipitous Grant by Maurice D’Aoust

 in Battles / Belmont / Chattanooga / Generalship / Grant / Henry & Donelson / Lew Wallace / Shiloh / Strategy / Vicksburg / Wilderness by

Serendipitous: Having an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident. Synonym—Lucky A weary Napoleon Bonaparte listened patiently as the speaker continued extolling a friend’s military prowess. Finally, unable to contain himself any longer, the Emperor abruptly cut in and asked: “Fine, he is brilliant, but is he lucky?” Taken from Napoleonic lore, the story may have some basis in truth for, though he would have been the first to acknowledge […]

Sherman’s 200,000 in Kentucky & bad historiography 2 comments

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After Brigadier-General William T. Sherman took over command of the Department of the Cumberland from General Robert Anderson (of Fort Sumter fame) in 1861, he began to get nervous about his army’s dispositions in Kentucky. Sherman believed that the enemy had superior numbers (or easily could have with a rapid concentration, by utilizing the railroad system). In reality, his Federals outnumbered the Confederates on his front by two to one. […]

Errors in U.S. Grant Biographies (Part One: Missionary Ridge) 2 comments

 in Chattanooga / Generalship / Grant / Grant biographies / Grant's Memoirs / Hooker / Reliability / Sheridan / Sherman / Tactics / Thomas by

Although the standard version of Ulysses S. Grant’s war-time history portrays him to be a military genius and a reliable chronicler of the American Civil War, his biographers have exaggerated, distorted, or omitted certain, salient facts. One of the most stark examples of this practice is from the Chattanooga campaign, which featured many of the most famous Union generals: Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, George H. Thomas, Joseph Hooker, […]

Bruce Catton’s reliability, Ulysses Grant, and the Battle of Chattanooga 6 comments

 in Chattanooga / Grant / Grant biographies / Historiography / Hooker / Nashville / Sherman / Shiloh / Thomas by

Although Bruce Catton’s books are far better than many others written about the American Civil War, they cannot be said to be free from substantial mistakes. Starting at the bottom of page 295 in the 1956 edition of This Hallowed Ground, Catton outlined General Ulysses Grant’s plan for the battle at Chattanooga: “Grant proposed to hit the two ends of the Confederate line at once. Hooker would strike at Lookout […]

Did General Joe Hooker disrespect Ulysses S. Grant? 2 comments

 in Chattanooga / Favoritism / Grant / Grant biographies / Grant Under Fire / Hancock / Historiography / Rosecrans / Shiloh / Thomas by

Yesterday, I helped confirm one of the many smaller points that Grant Under Fire makes. General Joe Hooker is often criticized for trying it on with his superior, Ulysses S. Grant, on November 21, 1863 at Stevenson, Ala., while the latter was on his way to Chattanooga, Tenn. When Hooker sent a staff officer and wagon to take Grant from the railroad station to Hooker’s headquarters, Grant responded: “If Gen. […]

Albert D. Richardson’s problematic biography of Ulysses S. Grant 1 comment

 in Chattanooga / Grant biographies / Historiography / Shiloh / Thomas  tagged Historians by

Albert Deane Richardson’s biography, A Personal History of Ulysses S. Grant, originally published in 1868, provided numerous familiar anecdotes about a great and good Grant. The book was republished in 1885 with certain corrections. A scenario in the 1868 edition (pp. 253-54) started with Sherman chasing away the Rebels at Shiloh with some well-aimed artillery: ‘That’s the last of them,’ said Grant. ‘They will not make another stand.’ Then he […]