Lincoln as Commander in Chief

[Liz Rosenthal]

(03-04-2013 10:43 AM)L Verge Wrote:  Had Gen. Scott not trained any of his regular line officers to follow in his footsteps?

During the secession crisis, through the time of Lincoln's first inauguration, and in the period immediately after the firing on Fort Sumter, military personnel, including many of the most talented officers, bled the U.S. Army almost dry when they left their U.S. posts to lead the rebels. Lee, of course, was one of them.

It happened that most of the military talent was of Southern origin. This was due to a difference in culture between North and South. One of the few paths upward in the South, apart from being a planter, was the path of military service. The South was a much more militarized society in general than was the North. In the North, there were many more economic opportunities. There was much more economic development, and greater use and construction of railroads. Most American manufacturing resided in the North. Most immigrants settled in the North because that's where the economic opportunities were.

An interesting book to read on the subject of the military nature of Southern society is The Militant South: 1800-1861 by John Hope Franklin. Another very good one, which addresses the suppression of free speech in the South, and which certainly was not helpful in the struggle against slavery and probably helped fan the flames of the South's militarization, is The Freedom of Thought Struggle in the Old South by Clement Eaton.