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Since threads seem to be the new hotness here on the Whale site, I'm going to make one about two of my favorite things: current events and Civil War history. Specifically, let's talk about renaming military bases, and the dudes who used to have this honor.
10:56 AM - Jun 02, 2023
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But first, some background. When the US Military needed to make bases in southern states in and around WWI, they knew they needed support from the locals in order to acquire land. To that end, they promised to make the bases named after Confederate generals from the region
10:57 AM - Jun 02, 2023
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So they chose 9 CSA generals - Benning, Bragg, Gordon, Hill, Hood, Lee, Pickett, Polk, and Rucker, and eventually all of them had a base named after them. As the US Military grew in size and speciality, these bases grew along with them, eventually becoming some of the biggest in the country
10:58 AM - Jun 02, 2023
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But, naturally, this didn't always work for everyone. These bases were exclusively in the south, and many people said "hey man, maybe don't name the bases after actual traitors." This all came to a head in 2020, and the DoD finally started the process to change these names
11:00 AM - Jun 02, 2023
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(By the by, you can read the entire report online, the semi-finalists and finalists for the renaming of the bases, and who (and in one case "what") they chose to replace those names with. If you've got the time, it's interesting and thorough in the way only the DoD can be.
11:03 AM - Jun 02, 2023
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Naturally, because everything is *extremely* stupid nowadays, people are up in arms over these changes. "Ft. Bragg must ALWAYS be Ft. Bragg" and such. But that asks a really important question - namely... who were these guys, and should we consider the merits of the case?
11:04 AM - Jun 02, 2023
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BAH GOD, THAT'S HOULIHAN'S MUSIC! Folks, the US Civil War is what brought me to history, and by god, it's going to be the last thing I remember in this world. So, to that end, let's talk about these dudes, what they did, (and in many cases) didn't accomplish, and whether or not they deserve this:
11:05 AM - Jun 02, 2023
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Henry Benning: Born to a wealthy plantation family in Georgia, Benning was an ardent racist and anti-abolitionist, who raised a volunteer regiment at the outbreak of the war, and was nearly court-martialed for resisting the Conscription Act. While he has a good day at Antietam...
11:14 AM - Jun 02, 2023
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He lost a significant chunk of his men at Gettysburg, and nearly had his unit wiped out at one of the only Confederate victories in the West, the Battle of Chickamauga. Nothing like turning a W into an L. Speaking of Chickamauga...
11:16 AM - Jun 02, 2023
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Braxton Bragg: Arguably the worst battlefield commander on either side during the war! Bragg was seen as impetuous and hard to control by his superiors, and overly harsh, and punitive by his subordinates. He also, for lack of a better term, sucked at his job. How badly did he suck at this?
11:17 AM - Jun 02, 2023
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Bragg lost EVERY. BATTLE. HE. FOUGHT. IN. EXCEPT. FOR. ONE. - the aforementioned Chickamauga. Bragg time and time again put his soldiers in terrible positions, was indecisive, and couldn't command his way out of a paper bag. Solid choice that one!
11:19 AM - Jun 02, 2023
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John B. Gordon: Another scion of a wealthy plantation family, Gordon had zero military experience prior to the war. But people thought he was good, so viola, Generaliship. Gordon holds one mark of distinction: he got shot... like... a lot. At Antietam, he was wounded 5 times
11:25 AM - Jun 02, 2023
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It should be said, wounded 5 times defending one of the *worst* positions in the entire war - The Sunken Road. Gordon was also an incredible post-war fabulist. While he was largely on the fringes of many later battles, to hear Gordon tell it, he single handedly fought entire Union armies
11:27 AM - Jun 02, 2023
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A.P. Hill - Oh Ambrose. Hill might be the most fail-upward general ever. For the first year of the war, Hill was basically on the flanks doing... nothing, and yet still found himself as a major general. At Antietam he brought soldiers in just in time to prevent the Confederates from losing, but...
11:31 AM - Jun 02, 2023
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Took some of the worst losses when he put his men in a thickly wooded swamp at Fredericksburg. He then started a public feud with his superior Longstreet, got promoted AGAIN, his men started Gettysburg, (where he lost more men than any other Corps commander,) took L after L during Overland Campaign
11:36 AM - Jun 02, 2023
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And finally, AP Hill got got at the Siege of Petersburg in April of 1865, when he tried to get the *Union* soldiers to surrender to *him.* The entire Confederacy would surrender 2 weeks later. What a guy.
11:37 AM - Jun 02, 2023
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John Bell Hood: Almost kicked out of West Point for too many demerits, Hood joins the Confederates at the outbreak of the war, commanding Texans personally. That desire to lead from the front will get him promoted, and also shot... like... a lot.
11:52 AM - Jun 02, 2023
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Hood is severely wounded at Gettysburg, loses a leg at Chickamauga, and then, he "gets" to be the general in charge of the army that is supposed to stop Sherman's March to the Sea. Dear reader, he does not accomplish this, and abandons the city of Atlanta to its fate. Hood also lost a TON of men
11:55 AM - Jun 02, 2023
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George Pickett: Hey folks, you wanna know what happens when you send a man into combat in one of the most ill-advised attacks in military history, oh, and by the by, that man has never led soldiers in combat before? Folks, you get Pickett's Charge. Pickett was uhh... bad... at generaling?
11:56 AM - Jun 02, 2023
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Outside of losing HALF of his division at Gettysburg, he lost the other half at Five Forks, and despite his terrible battlefield record, he still absolutely hanged deserters. A thing which led him to flee to Canada after the war, and eventually return penniless to Virginia, dying at 50
11:58 AM - Jun 02, 2023
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Leonidas Polk: What do you get if you cross Braxton Bragg with no actual military knowledge? Folks, you get Leonidas Polk. A political general who happened to be a favorite of Jefferson Davis, Polk oversaw disaster after disaster for the Confederacy. All the while, clashing with literally everyone
12:01 PM - Jun 02, 2023
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Polk stumbled into success (like all of these dudes in the Western Theater) at Chickamauga, but that was to be short lived. He was sent to Mississippi to lose a bunch, and then finally was killed as Sherman began to move on Georgia in 1864. Stellar career, that one.
12:04 PM - Jun 02, 2023
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Edmund Rucker: One of the few men here not born into wealth, at the outbreak of the war, Rucker signed up as a Private in the Confederate Army. From there, he rose up the ranks, eventually becoming a Colonel in the Western Theater. As cavalry officers go, Rucker was definitely one of them!
12:09 PM - Jun 02, 2023
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Again, the lone bright spot being Chickamauga, Rucker was eventually captured during the Battle of Nashville, and spent almost the rest of the war in a POW camp. Definitely not the worst guy here... but boy howdy, talk about being an absolute *nothing* at the same time
12:11 PM - Jun 02, 2023
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Finally, saving this asshole for last - Robert E. Lee: Lee is every rich kid you've ever met in your life. Born into one of the wealthiest and most well known families in Virginia, Lee's familial estate at Arlington, is where (irrespective of his philosophical thoughts) he owned hundreds of slaves
12:20 PM - Jun 02, 2023
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Lee, by 1861, a well-respected Colonel in the US Army, resigns his commission, and instead decides to fight for the Confederacy. From there, he eventually becomes commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, and is the de-facto leader of all Confederate armies by 1865
12:21 PM - Jun 02, 2023
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For all the mythmaking around Lee, and all the ink spilled, one fundamental element remains: Lee - not anyone else - made the crucial errors that led to the Confederacy losing the war. Both invasions of the North were ill advised, and while Antietam could have been worse, Gettysburg is a disaster
12:23 PM - Jun 02, 2023
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A disaster, it needs to be said, Lee brought on himself. During the Gettysburg campaign, Lee broken so many military maxims all built on one thing: hubris. Lee had come to believe that simply by virtue of him being there, the southern armies would prevail. It is this idea that led to 30k casualties
12:25 PM - Jun 02, 2023
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Lee's insistence that the battle be fought at Gettysburg, ("the enemy is here, and I intend to whip him here") his refusal to listen to intelligence, his over-reliance on JEB Stuart, and his out and out misunderstanding of the northern population, doomed him from the start.
12:28 PM - Jun 02, 2023
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More importantly, Lee was gifted, again and again, one thing by the Union: terrible competition. From 1861-63, the Union army was led by a series of incompetent, fearful, or stupid generals, who time and time again, wasted the advantages given to them by the situation. That changes in 1863
12:29 PM - Jun 02, 2023
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Meade, and later Grant, understood the war, and knew how to fight it. Following Gettysburg, Lee is never able to rebuild his forces, (again, a battle he didn't have to pursue,) is on the downside of production, and faces Union leadership who is willing to pursue the war to its conclusion.
12:31 PM - Jun 02, 2023
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Even in Lee's victories, (most notably Cold Harbor,) he still took too many casualties, and from 1864 on, Lee was forever on the defensive, simply losing men and materials at an unsustainable rate. Lee's entire narrative as this brilliant tactical general comes from like 3 goddamn battles
12:34 PM - Jun 02, 2023
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So this is it? These are the people that we *must* honor? Come on people. By the way, read up on the people that they have replaced them with, (or in one case, the idea.) I promise you, they are far better than this motley collection of fools.
12:34 PM - Jun 02, 2023
