GDG- BMI

[Richard M Kadas]

Tim,
  It seems that you're correct in questioning how many of us armchair generals would have done better or as well as Meade in adapting to a new command and making use of resources that he may have heard of but had never before commanded. Even this evaliation ignores that he had to depend on an untried resource to govern critical decisions in the panic caused by the Confederacy's invasion of the North's heartland. When Meade uses Sharpe's evaluation of ANV combat strength and capability on the PM of 2 July, he had been in command of the AoP less than a week. He was staking both his army's and perhaps the nation's survival on the quality of the BMI. In retrospect it may look like a no brainer but Meade must quite reasonably have had a few private doubts.
  Dick
  .

Tim Gennett <k9wx at iquest.net> wrote:
  Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:


Sure, no problem with that. I only mean to point out that, beyond Patrick 
and perhaps Butterfield, NONE of the senior commanders of the AoP recognized 
the value of the BMI intelligence. The work the BMI was doing was top notch 
but revolutionary and ground breaking, and such things can be slow to gain 
widespread acceptance or understanding. Against that, I can be a bit 
critical of Meade for not "getting it" sooner, but I am compelled to temper 
that criticism in recognizing the reality of the situation.

Stated another way, would I have "gotten it" under the same circumstances? 
Doubtful.

Regards, Tim


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Ryan" 

To: "GDG" 
Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 09:44
Subject: RE: GDG- BMI


> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:
>
>
> Tim,
>
> It all depends on where we, the long distance observers, believe the 
> burden
> should lie for recognizing and accepting the intelligence that the BMI
> produced. In my opinion, that burden belongs on the AoP commanders. 

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