GDG- A Question for Eric

[Eric J. Wittenberg]

Bill,

I think there are a couple of reasons for it.

First, and foremost, I believe that Lee felt that Stuart was more  
valuable going back to the cavalry; Lee depended quite heavily upon  
Stuart as the eyes and ears of the army.  Placing him in permanent  
command of Jackson's Corps would deprive him of that.  I think that  
Marse Robert was well aware of the fact that his nephew, Fitz, could  
not carry Stuart's saddle, and Hampton was an outsider.  There was  
nobody else reliable to take command of the Confederate cavalry.

Second, Lee probably knew that Ewell was close to returning to duty,  
and until July 1, Ewell showed absolutely no evidence that he would  
not be a worthy successor to Jackson.  In fact, his taking of  
Winchester was brilliant.

Third, Stuart was junior to a number of the other divisional  
commanders, who would have been entitled to command of a corps by  
virtue of seniority.  AP Hill, as an example, ranked Stuart.

There were, accordingly, a bunch of reasons for it.

Eric

On Jan 11, 2007, at 8:19 PM, Bill Gower wrote:

> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:
>
>
>
>
> In your book, you mention that Stuart did a great job during
> Chancellorsville as the Commander of the Second Corps and that he  
> really
> wanted to be the permanent commander and was disappointed when he  
> wasn't.
> Why do you think Lee didn't put him in charge?  Was it because he  
> was more
> valuable as a cavalry commander or was it because Lee didn't think  
> that he
> could do the job?  I would think that at Gettysburg he would have  
> done a
> better job than either Hill or Ewell.
>
>
>
> Bill
>
>
>
>                     
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