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Date Posted: 14:43:26 10/31/05 Mon
Author: What about that Stonewall
Subject: Re: Lee
In reply to: Celebaelin 's message, "Lee" on 07:38:09 10/31/05 Mon

While we are debating 19th century generals, I might as well throw Thomas Jonathan Jackson’s hat into the ring. While he was given the nickname Stonewall for his stand at First Manassas (known to you Yanks as First Bull Run), it was his Shenandoah Valley campaign in the spring of 1862 that surely (ok, on this board there is no such thing as surely) will go down as a masterpiece of military action. By the use of rapid maneuver, he was able to piecemeal defeat superior Union forces at Front Royal, Winchester, Cross Keys and Port Republic. He , at least temporarily, kept the breadbasket of Virginia in the hands of the Confederacy. If you have read my Napoleon posts, you are aware that I hold skillful maneuver in extremely high regard. For some reason, the mastery on the operational level seems to me to be the true test of military skill. Whether it is Napoleon, Jackson, or the blitzkrieg employed by the Germans in WW II, I think the great innovations seem to manifest themselves at the operational scale. Maybe that is why I consider Napoleon to be such a brilliant (initially – especially see the Second Italian campaign in 1800) military mind.
Of course, one cannot forget Jackson’s last great maneuver – the flanking movement at Chancellorsville. I have seen in previous posts where this action was written of as pure luck and only succeeded due to incompetent Union generals (for which there was hardly a shortage of) but in my studies of warfare, there is almost always a point in time where a different course of action, a more timely reaction, a bit of good luck or the absence of bad luck would of changed the course of battle. If but pigs had wings…
I think I have kept my reputation as a trouble maker intact so know I will slink off to watch the fireworks.

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