Meade v. Rosecrans: R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Currently I'm enjoying volume two of Dave Powell's history of the battle of Chickamauga.  A subordinate's obedience to an obviously detrimental order by Rosecrans, the Federal commander, opened a hole in the Union line just as the Confederates attacked that very point.  The Secessionist attack's success decided the battle in the South's favor.

The subordinate, a division commander, considered disobeying the order.  The rationale for disobedience in such circumstances was best stated by a disobedient subordinate of Frederick the Great.  Frederick’s subordinate, harangued for his disobedience, replied that while his head was at His Majesty’s disposal after the battle, during the battle he intended to use it in Frederick’s service. 

Rosecrans’ subordinate initially intended to disobey as Frederick’s had, but his corps commander told him he might well face a court-martial.  This opinion swayed the division commander, who obeyed the order with disastrous results.

As I’m reading about Chickamauga, I’m writing about Grant’s second offensive at Petersburg and Meade’s unsuccessful attempts on June 23 and 24 to prod Wright, the commander of VI Corps, to advance toward the Weldon Railroad.  Meade ordered Wright again and again to get going, without success.

What all this tells me is that while Meade had a terrible temper and was called “the Great Peppery” by his staffer Lyman, he was not really respected by his subordinates.  Grant’s observations on Griffin’s rude treatment of Meade bear this out.  Around the same time as Wright’s disobedience, Meade approached Grant privately about sacking Warren, who had repeatedly disobeyed Meade’s orders, but Meade did not press the issue though ill-feeling against Warren grew until Grant practically invited Sheridan to sack Warren, which Little Phil did not do until after Warren had won for him the battle of Five Forks.  The principal example of Meade proceeding against a subordinate was not really on the basis of disobedience, but on the basis of a personal insult—when Burnside was court-martialed for personally (verbally) attacking Meade during the battle of the Crater.

Rosecrans, on the other hand, was respected by his subordinates.  I am not familiar enough with the history of the Army of the Cumberland to know of an incident where he court-martialed a subordinate, but after the war he and his partisans conducted a vicious campaign to pin the blame for Chickamauga on the division commander who executed Rosecrans’ ill-considered order that caused the loss of the battle.