From Miller’s Vicksburg I principally took away that
Maj. Gen. Henry Wager “Old Brains” Halleck failed to provide troops to assist
the Navy in capturing Vicksburg before the Confederates could man and fortify
that city. “Old Brains” thus set back
the Union war effort a year in the West.
I already knew that Halleck helped set back the Federal war
effort two years in the East. Historians
are fond of quoting General Robert Edward Lee’s reported remark that once the
Federals reached James River, it was only a matter of time (till Richmond fell). But the Federals had reached James River by
July 1862, and they did not return for another two years because Halleck
ordered them back to Washington in response to the threat Lee posed to the
city. One must sympathize a little with “Old
Brains” because Maj. Gen. George Brinton McClellan was not the man to advance
from Harrison’s Landing and a suitable replacement for him could not be found. The Unionists may have had to cross the James
to Bermuda Hundred or City Point to find a rail network capable of supporting
another advance on Richmond.
The Northerners faced a situation similar to July 1862 in
August 1864. Lee was gradually shifting
his forces northward to threaten Washington as in August 1862, but this time he
faced Lt. Gen. Ulysses Simpson Grant, not Halleck. Grant on August 14, 1864 launched his fourth
offensive at Petersburg with a thrust toward Richmond which ended Lee’s shift
northward and forced him to recall a cavalry division en route to
northern Virginia. The Federals were on
James River to stay.
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