Who is THIS man?!

[Gene C]

Congratulations Laurie. It is William Henry Halleck.

His nickname was "Old Brains". He started off the Civil War serving in the western theater, but was brought east due to his military reputation and knowledge.

He was considered a behind the scenes planner and a most timid doer.
He was a brilliant tactician and had strong administrative skills, but was weak in field command. He succeeded as an organizer, but failed utterly as a strategist. Ensuring that Northern armies were properly equipped, fed and reinforced, he did exceedingly well. Unfortunately, his time in Washington was defined by his inability to get along with or have his orders followed by nominally subordinate commanders.

Gideon Welles wrote that he “originates nothing, anticipates nothing… takes no responsibility, plans nothing, suggests nothing, is good for nothing.”

History has not been kind to him, partly because he soured his relationships with other leaders of the time and whose military promise, which he displayed so brilliantly on paper, never came to fruition in the field.

It probably doesn't help, but his photo on Wikipedia reminds me of Elmer Fudd in uniform.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Halleck

The original comment about him in post #21 came from "Lincoln and Episodes of the Civil War" by William Doster (which looks like an interesting book - page 180)
https://archive.org/stream/lincolnepisod...5/mode/2up