12 Of The Worst Generals Of The American Civil War

Which of these generals did the worst job?

It all depends. Hooker was a great corps commander but failed when given overall command of the army of the potomac.

Bragg tops the list...and they named the Fort that houses the US Army's Special Operations Forces and 82d Airborne Division

The thing is that we always had bad commanders in every war we fought. The main difference however is that back then if the president saw that a general was not doing a good job. He would simply fire him and pick someone who was better suited to the task. Nowadays politicians have become spineless and they very rarely choose generals based on capability and more so on them being “yes man”. It happened in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

McClellan was a Democrat. He didn’t want to beat his buddies.

A Civil War general caught aping a Napoleon pose in a photo is a major red flag.

little Mac was a Southern sympathizing Vatican Democrat.

Poor scholarship in this video

Nathaniel Banks. Is he here?

To be fair, Ledlie wasn't completely responsible for what happened at the crater. The whole episode was a clusterfuck on many levels. The idea itself was brilliant; so brilliant in fact, that 50 years later, in the first year of World War I, British troops sometimes used it successfully to dislodge Germans from their trenches. But it requires men who were trained in post-detonation maneuvers and know how to move around the crater without knowing its exact diameter. The Union had such a regiment ready to go, but they were black. The Union, although it did employ some black regiments in the later years of the war, was hesitant to use them in actual combat and here was no exception. Credit actually goes to General Burnside because he was the only general in the Army of the Potomac at the time who supported its use. Even General Grant decided to use an untrained white regiment instead of the trained black regiment which was ready to go. Ledlie happened to be in command of the white regiment and he was the epitaph on the tombstone.

R.E.Lee

William H Christian posthumously promoted to brigadier general after the war, abandoned his brigade in combat at Antietam. Clearly suffering from ptsd and the shame which followed him for the rest of his life, his wife eventually sent him to an insane asylum.

Although, there wasn't any great strategy from Grant he was very successful because of his willingness to sacrifice thousands of men. Sherman more than any other General was a consummated professional who recognized the tactical situation and deployed his men perfectly splitting the south in half and defeating the Confederacy.

Anyone of these guys would be better than what we have now.

Bragg was the worst. After Chickamauga one of his soldiers was brought to him and reported that the Union army was in retreat. Bragg snapped and asked him how he would know what a retreat looked like. The soldier replied “I should know. I’ve been in your army for almost two years.”

Pope might have been obnoxious and boastful who was in over his head at Second Bull Run--but he doesn't belong on this list. He handled things well at Island Number 10 and did fine at Corinth. While he squabbled with the McClellan circle, he got along well with Sherman, Grant and Halleck. He also put down the largest Native American uprising in U.S. history in 1862-1863. Also, the Department of Virginia was not his last Civil War command. He led the Department of the Missouri at the end of 1864 and 1865. Pope may have been no match for Lee and the ANV in its prime but there were far worse commanders in the war. I mean.....you included two of his three corps commanders--Banks and Sigel--on this list. That wasn't his call and they had too much influence to be removed.

Hood was the worst, for sure.

Joe Hooker. He was leaning against a front porch post. A shell hit there & knocked him off the porch. He was dazed. He had his aides help him onto his horse. He had to dismount and lay down. Alcohol Hooker recalled later on revived him. His aides said that the last thing Hooker needed was more alcohol. Hooker refused to relinquish command at this point at the battle.

This is a pretty inaccurate video for the most part.

And 6 of them are McClellan!!

Your analysis of Butler is way off. He was very effective in whatever assignment he was given. His conduct in New Orleans was exactly what was needed at the time. In addition to his military successes he struck the perfect note in political matters. The slave economy had to be destroyed or the nation would be lost. Anything other than complete defeat of the south both in arms and politics would have resulted in the south eventually becoming a virtual colony of European nations. Benjamin Butler understood all this and acted accordingly. George McClellan had two insurmountable failings. First, he wasn't committed to using force of arms to end the rebellion, preferring some form of compromise. Second, he was wedded to the idea that opponents could be defeated by maneuver thereby avoiding great battles. Butler understood the times. McClellan did not.

Were there any good generals during the war? Robert E Lee shines only because the Union generals were all bad.

Maclellan doesn't get credit for what he did for the army of the Potomac. What he did for training and discipline for the army prior to the Peninsula campaign and what followed cannot be overestimated.

McClellan is getting a well-deserved rehabilitation in recent years. His tactics were sound, and his plan for Richmond was the same plan that Grant followed--although McClellan would have had a whole lot less deaths on his own side.

Nor did he get humiliated in the Peninsular Campaign--by that time Lincoln was micromanaging the army by telegraph

According to one of Lee's relatives, Robert E. Lee was once asked who he thought was the best general of the Union, and he responded, "McClellan, by all odds." Other statements from Lee indicated that McClellan had done everything possible, and that his firing was a relief for the Confederate Army, and would give them more time to recover from the losses suffered at Sharpsburg.

Maybe most importantly, McClellan made his reputation in the Mexican War by being the guy to deal with civilians. Crimes against civilians were way down on his watch, and concurrently resistance BY civilians was also way down. This made him the perfect choice for a war which was supposedly about re-uniting a nation and achieving national integration.

And this, I'm convinced, is why he was eventually fired. When Lincoln became aware (as McClellan already knew) that the war wasn't g0oing to be won in a few months, he resorted to terrorism--and McClellan, with his constant whining about not murdering and looting and raping civilians, was really harshing his buzz.

After the war R.E. Lee was asked who his toughest opponant was and he said without hesitation - George McClellan. Just how bad could he have been and although somewhat timid does he make the 12 worst list? Burnside wasn't horrible as a Corps commander and neither was John Bell Hood. Sigel was up and down. Bragg was pretty bad as an Army commander. Banks was terrible. Pickett was a average Division commander and not responsible for the charge on the 3rd day at Gettysburg. He doesn't belong on this list. Pope was pretty bad and the last too are nobodies.

I don't think Burnside deserves the hate that he gets, Burnside was a great Corp commander, and he knew that which is why Burnside turned down Army command for as long as he did, and I don't think he should get as much blame for what happened during the battle of the Crater many of the initial plans that he worked on were changed leading to the disaster of the battle.

General jubal early was a general during the civil war. He is related to me.

The problem with a Confederate General executing POWs from the Union Army who had once peen part of the Confederacy as traitors, the same could be said of everyone in the Confederate Army. In fact, after the Civil War this became a real problem. Everyone who had been a part of the Confederate armed forces was, legally speaking, guilty of treason.
Lincoln was very wise to issue a general pardon for everyone.

Interesting video, but lose the music!

If I had to pick one from both sides, I'd go McClellan and Bragg.

Benjamin Butler did not take Petersburg due to a lot of his underlings not following orders. Ambrose Burnside's plan was good but the boats were late. At the Carter, the troops that were trained for this battle were replaced at the last minute. Both he and Hood were put in places way over their head.

What about Dan Sickles? He murdered his own men through his reckless stupidity! This wasn't well researched. Another lazy, half hearted attempt from someone who doesn't want to br bothered with genuine research 😎

OK except for the music.

Hood was a very competent division commander who should never have been promoted above that.

Add in Douglas MacArthur.
As he was a terrible general before he was born.

Rosecrans

Whoa! This is one of the worst 'simplifications' and 'distortionss' videos that I have ever seen on the You Tube. Grossly distorted and biased, this video is worthless as 'history'

What the heck was that background music?

John Bell Hood was actually an excellent brigade and division commander, he just was not suited to army command and did not have an accurate assessment of the situation in 1864 when he took command of the Army of Tennessee

I'm surprised you didn't qualify General Pope with Robert E. Lee's comment about his leadership style. Assuming command of the Army of the Potomac, General Pope stated that his headquarters "would be in the saddle." When Robert E. Lee heard of this, he stated, "His headquarters is where his hindquarters should be." Talk about having your head up your rear!!

Battle of the crater wasn't Burnside fault. The platoon trained wasn't used, so he had to use one that didn't practice for the battle.

Fredericksburg wasn't mentioned surprisingly, but that was the fault of pontoon bridges not being put up in time.

Robert E Lee would disagree with you about McClellan. He thought McClellan was the best general the Union had.

My favorite story about Braxton Bragg was, when he was given command of the defensives of Wilmington, NC, one of the Richmond papers announced his command of the area ending the headline with GOODBYE WILMINGTON.

Fort Hood is now Fort Cavazios. About time. FT MCCLELLAN IS A STATE OF ALABAMA NATIONAL GUARD BASE. AND FORT BRAGG IS NOW FORT LIBERTY IN NORTH CAROLINA. ALL WERE HORRIBLE GENERALS. WHY THEY NAMED BASES AFTER THEM IS BEYOND NORMALCY

The Confederate General from Arkansas. Albert Pike. His statue was removed from Washington's DC. Thank god. Yet it wasn't there because he was a Confederate but because he wrote a lot about Freemasonry

Thanks

One of the funniest facts about the Civil War is that McClellan gets dismissed, he tries to become president instead of Lincoln and lost the election miserably

Pemberton ? Polk? why pickett? he attack for a order , a brutal order . some general are up with division and down with corps command or highter . Early lose his corps , ewell at gettysburg must know wahat make in second and third days

A politician becoming a general is often a bad thing, a general becoming a politician usually works better.