Lee or Longstreet?

bendizoid

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I just read a little about the battle of Chickamaoga and read how Longstreet turned the battle around with concentrated firepower (a little timing luck) and a deep column attack. Apparently, Longstreet considered himself the best Southern General. What say you?
 

RRschultze

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I just read a little about the battle of Chickamaoga and read how Longstreet turned the battle around with concentrated firepower (a little timing luck) and a deep column attack. Apparently, Longstreet considered himself the best Southern General. What say you?
He was good,but his actions at Gettysburg tarnished his reputation a bit. Jackson obviously springs to mind as being a good general and Albert Sydney Johnston who got shot at Shiloh was good but died too early in the war. If you want the worst confederate general in my opinion it's a toss up between Polk and Bragg, although Bragg was an excellent strategist and logistics guy. My two cents worth!
 

bendizoid

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Interesting, Albert Sydney Johnson was a General in three different armies, Texas,US and CSA.
 

RRschultze

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Interesting, Albert Sydney Johnson was a General in three different armies, Texas,US and CSA.
I'm sure there would have been a few generals in the same boat early in the war, after graduating from West Point together and various states ceding to either the union and south. I read somewhere that Lee almost fought for the union, however his love for Virginia drew him to fight for the confederacy. Another excellent officer was Cleburne, shone at Stones River
 

bendizoid

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Yeah, the US offered Lee to command the Army of the Potomac ! They seized his land and built Arlington Cemetery there but Lee didn't mind, he thought it fitting.
 

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John Bell Hood was better than both of them at field command, but Mosby was probably the most effective unit commander of the period.
 

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Longstreet seemed to always be late to the fight and seemed to benefit from throwing fresh troops into the chaos of a battle. His foray into independent command was abysmal IMHO. Nathan Bedford Forrest gets my vote.
 

aiabx

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Virginia-born George Thomas. He prevented Chickimauga from being a rout, won at Chattanooga, and crushed Hood's army.
Also, he didn't break his oath in order to defend slavery, which is something that counts for me.
 
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