Lee Attacks - Manassas and Antietam - American Civil War DOCUMENTARY

Comments · 674

• KI

  @KingsandGenerals · 1 year ago · pinned

  🎥 Join our YouTube members and patrons to unlock more than 200+ exclusive videos: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMmaBzfCCwZ2KqaBJjkj0fw/join">youtube.com/channel/UCMmaBzfCCwZ2KqaBJjkj0fw/join</a> or patron: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals">https://www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals</a>

  36

• JO

  @JohnnyElRed · 1 year ago

  It seems Union military leadership at the start of the war, was the greatest advantage the Confederacy had.

  1.3K

• AD

  @AdmRose · 1 year ago

  “As diplomatic as a brick to the face.”<br><br>That line made me giggle.

  624

• KE

  @KevinTheID · 1 year ago (edited)

  Every time I reflect on McClellan&apos;s leadership, I&apos;m always left puzzled by his reticence to attack the enemy and gross overestimation of Confederate defenses. On the one hand, you want a commander who doesn&apos;t just blindly attack in the face of all common sense (i.e. Burnside&apos;s ludicrous attacks on Marye&apos;s Heights during the Battle of Fredericksburg) but McClellan was somehow simultaneously defeatist and overconfident.<br><br>He was a great training officer and knew military tactics - he definitely could have dealt a serious blow to Lee at Antietam for instance - but it almost feels like he didn&apos;t trust the training he personally instilled in his own troops and thus underestimated their abilities while overestimating Lee&apos;s (even when he possessed every advantage an officer could ask for). Seems apparent that he let the moniker and vanity of &quot;Little Napoleon&quot; go to his head and thus wanted to amass the largest army anyone had ever seen while using his delusions as justification to do so. He took his enemy too seriously but didn&apos;t take himself seriously enough. <br><br>Like I said, he&apos;s a puzzling man to dissect.

  362

• EL

  @ElBandito · 1 year ago

  McClellen reminds me of how I play strategy games. I really hate losing men, even if the potential gain is high. As a result, I try to maneuver a lot, and lose the opportunity.

  560

• TH

  @TheReaperEagle · 1 year ago

  The Writer Here: As always, I&apos;ll answer any questions about the episode in this thread.<br><br>Some details that didn&apos;t make the final script:<br>1) Halleck wasn&apos;t a great general but was a <i>very</i> skilled administrator. He became general-in-chief by coordinating other generals effectively, which proved to be more important than anything else.<br><br>2) Lee&apos;s army was the <i>best</i> supplied Confederate field army. Think about that for a second.<br><br>3) Stuart encouraged flamboyance and chivalry in his cavalry corps. This was a calculated move to use morale and bravado to make up for their dwindling numbers. It was far harder to maintain cavalry than infantry.<br><br>4) Grant wasn&apos;t chosen over Pope because of Shiloh. While this would prove to be a mistake, it did make sense at the time.<br><br>5) The Confederates were outraged that Pope was deliberately stripping the countryside. The fact that they&apos;d done so out West already didn&apos;t matter. Those were <i>western</i> states, <b>this</b> was Virginia. Said depredation campaign was designed to destroy everything of military value but not harm the populace. Hungry people create more disruption than dead ones.<br><br>6) McClellan was dragging his feet about sending reinforcements to Pope. Given how badly he used the troops he <i>did</i> have, I don&apos;t think it made much of a difference. That doesn&apos;t excuse the deliberate sabotage. <br><br>7) Pope had a habit of writing grandiose orders that could be interpreted multiple ways, which directly caused all the confusion.<br><br>8) Following Cedar Mountain, Jackson made a point of giving his subordinates highly detailed, specific orders. He always learned from his mistakes. This made them more effective, but there would be consequences down the line.<br><br>9) The biggest innovation in battlefield medicine in this era was people like Barton showing up to tend the wounded. This was rare beforehand. It seems shamefully obvious in retrospect.<br><br>10) Many of Jackson&apos;s men would say that the meal they had at Manassas was the largest of the entire war.<br><br>11) No one knows why Pope was so target fixated on Jackson. There were <i>plenty</i> of warnings prior to Longstreet&apos;s attack. Nor is it clear how he was so uninformed about where his own troops were. Just...terrible generalship by any standard.<br><br>12) Longstreet was in Throughfare Gap before dawn on the 29th, was skirmishing with Buford by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNUA2vEklIQ&amp;t=495">08:15</a>, and in position by noon. It&apos;s a tremendous feat of marching logistics.<br><br>13) Sigel&apos;s troops were mostly German immigrants who&apos;d signed up to fight under Sigel since he was also a German immigrant.<br><br>14) Pope didn&apos;t know anything was wrong until troops started routing past his headquarters.<br><br>15) Porter&apos;s court martial happened after Antietam. He&apos;d be dismissed for insubordination, but that was a politically motivated decision and he&apos;d be vindicated and his dismissal overturned after the war. <br><br>16) The Republicans lost their majority in the midterms but maintained a plurality of seats in Congress.<br><br>17) Davis didn&apos;t know about Lee&apos;s plans until after he was moving. This was not an accident.<br><br>18) Hooker always maintained that if he had been able to stay on the field, he could have broken Lee&apos;s line at Antietam. Historians now think he was right.<br><br>19) Porter was at least partially to blame for McClellan holding troops back, as he said &quot;Remember, General, I command the last reverse of the last army of the republic.&quot;

  371

• GR

  @gregorferry3249 · 1 year ago

  &quot;Having gloriously fled an inferior foe for the safety of James River&quot;. Wonderful! Your script is magnificent!

  122

• SN

  @snake1kl · 1 year ago

  If Napoleon was in charge of McClellan&apos;s forces he would have ended the war in one or two battles

  178

• MY

  @Myrkin · 1 year ago

  Nothing is more frustrating than your teammate snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

  83

• BA

  @barbiquearea · 1 year ago

  President Lincoln remarked about General McClellan&apos;s endless requests for more reinforcements, that sending General McClellan more reinforcements &quot;was like shoveling flies across a barn.&quot;

  108

• CH

  @chadlewisdchc2973 · 1 year ago

  McClellan truly wanted to be remembered for his enormous victories against overwhelming odds, odds that never existed cuz they were all in his head

  83

• JA

  @jacobhamilton7106 · 1 year ago

  I just want to point out before more comments pop up concerning it, but the Confederate flag used in this video is indeed the Stars and Bars original flag of the South used up until 1863. They&apos;re not rewriting history, they&apos;re being historically accurate.

  119