GDG- Lee's Management

[John Baniszewski]

[SNIP]


He may have decided to sit on a stump and very sedately experience the

battle at Gettysburg, but he surely did not at Spotsylvania and the 

mule shoe...  

Health problems sound inexcusable to me.  If that was the case, pass the torch or go back home.  I would enjoy your take on it or any other knowledgeable member. 

[UNSNIP]

Your point about Spotsylvania is well taken.  In fact, I would say that, notwithstanding Lee’s own description of his “style”, Gettysburg Days 1-3 were an anomaly as far as Lee's personal involvement in commanding and controlling a battle.  If you study Lee at Antietam, he resembles Meade at Gettysburg – always on the move, always watching, directing the use of reserves and the shifting of troops. It is also interesting to see the change in Lee the evening of July 3, as described by Brown in “Retreat from Gettysburg”.  He portrays Lee as being very hands-on, to the point of micromanaging – choosing retreat routes, establishing time tables, etc. and then following up his verbal orders the following morning with written orders.  Perhaps that night he felt physically better, but more likely, he pushed himself to the absolute limit because he recognized the urgency of pulling off a good retreat. I just finished reading the book of Meade’s Letters, and I noticed how frequently
 Meade wrote to his wife about how good he felt physically, and on number of occasions telling her how his good health was such an asset in doing his job well. Another example of physical health playing an important role in a battle is Jackson’s performance during the Seven Days, immediately following his Valley campaign.  The contrast there is also dramatic – the speedy Jackson of the Valley became the slow Jackson of the Seven Days.  An explanation was the absolute physical exhaustion of the Valley campaign, and the lack of time for him to recover before the start of the Seven Days. I would never consider a health problem to be “inexcusable”, ever since the day I woke up feeling absolutely horrible, but tried to get ready for work anyway because of an important deadline I was facing, passed out in the shower, and was diagnosed as having pneumonia (I did miss work). In my opinion at Gettysburg, Lee was up against a very good general who was not quite Lee’s equal, but one
 who did an outstanding job during the three days of the battle, and during those same three days Lee was hobbled by health problems. 

John Baniszewski

 		
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