GDG- ANV corps commanders

[Chet Diestel]

> Esteemed GDG Member Teej Contributes:
>
>> Esteemed GDG Member Chet Diestel  Contributes:
>
>>
  The  first, and most obvious, choice in the reorganization of the ANV that 
took place after Chancellorsville would seemed to have been Jeb  Stuart. 
After all, he led Jackson's command in the battle after that general's 
wounding and by all accounts did an excellent job.

      Well, it's hard to judge what kind of job Stuart would have done as an 
infantry corps commander based on one battle in a campaign that had already 
fallen apart. Personally, I think he would have been terrible in that job. 
Kind of hard to throw really cool parties right under the watchful eye of 
Lee, no? Seriously, I think Stuart enjoyed the free-wheeling style being a
> cavalry commander afforded him and I think Lee thought so too.

<Snip>

    I've never figured out if it was because Lee did not want to loose 
Stuart as his cavalry commander that he was passed over
 for one of the two corps vacancies, or was it because a non-Virginian, Wade 
Hampton, would have taken over?

A situation that would have taken place over Stuart's dead body which it 
eventually did. Stuart would have moved heaven and earth to get Fitz Lee the 
job as his replacement.

    I have never been one of those "If only Stonewall was there," folks but 
his death did have one major effect upon the ANV during the Gettysburg 
Campaign. The ANV, even if Jackson had lived, was going to be reorganized 
into three corps --- Ewell, it seems, was always the first in line to become 
a corps commander, which meant A.P. Hill got that level of command only 
because of Jackson's death necessitated another appointment.

    Hal Bridges wrote, "But Lee told Davis on October 2 [1862] that he 
needed only two corps commanders and therefore only two lieutenant generals. 
And after naming Longstreet and Jackson he remarked, 'Next to these two 
officers, I consider A.P. Hill the best commander with me. He fights his 
troops well, and takes good care of them.'"  So, if Lee had needed only one 
more corps commander would he have passed over Ewell in favor of A.P. Hill?

  Regards,
  Teej

   Lively parties aside, Stuart was an inspirational leader and an excellent 
administrator --- two vital necessities for a corps commander. He could get 
more out of troops that any ranking general in the ANV save Lee and 
Longstreet. I think he would have been an excellent corps commander with the 
same drive and daring as Jackson, which made a perfect counterbalance to the 
more set-piece fighter Longstreet.
  As to Jeb's dead body and command of the ANV cavalry, when the time came 
the command of the cavalry corps --- for it was a full corps by then ---  
went to the South Carolinian Wade Hampton and not to Lee's nephew and fellow 
Virginian Fitzhugh. Hampton was a good horsesoldier, excellent commander and 
never attended a fish bake on the eve of a battle as far as I know.
   As to Lee's comments in October 1862, times had changed by spring of 
1863 --- the two corps concept was too unwieldy and a third corps needed to 
be added. Whatever his fondness for A.P. Hill, had Jackson lived the new 
corps would have gone to Ewell who was senior in rank to Hill in both the 
Old Army and the Confederate Army (Major general Jan. 1862 to May 1862 for 
Hill.).
    It may seem strange to us today, but seniority was almost a religion to 
those who had served in the small regular army and could --- and at times, 
would --- be seen as a personal insult to be passed over by someone of 
junior seniority and led to more than one resignation. Indeed, seniority was 
a root cause of the contemptuous dislike Joseph E. Johnston held for 
Jefferson Davis born in the ranking of full generals he received given his 
ranking in the Old Army.
    With regards,
          Chet