Character Analysis Rough Draft. The Confederacy. Robert E. Lee’s second in command and, since the death of “Stonewall” Jackson, his most important ally. General James Longstreet, at forty-two years of age, is a crude and depressed man who has gone through an abundance of hardship in his life. He is aware of the new kinds of warfare, and he knows that military tactics will have to change as new technology is produced. This is a concept that Lee seems to be blind to, as he and Longstreet seem to disagree on everything that deals with the actions of the Confederate armies. Longstreet, although very stubborn, has a great respect and admiration for Lee, and ultimately he leans to his commander’s choices, but not without a good deal of quarrling and arguing first. All three of his children were killed by a fever in the same week during the winter before the Battle of Gettysburg. This loss has sunk …show more content…
Longstreet firmly believes that this move would make the "big-wigs" from Washington force George Meade, the commander of the Union forces, to attack the Confederate army. And if the Confederates could dig into higher and more secure ground, then they could crush the Union's forces with ease. The disagreement between Longstreet and Lee regarding this strategy, however, is what forms the main conflict between the two characters. Lee is continuously irritated by Longstreet’s stubbornness, and Longstreet is saddened by Lee’s opposition to his defensive tactics. It seems as though Lee is not quite listening to Longstreet, partly due to a lack of trust. This absence of trust may be from the recent death of General "Stonewall" Jackson, who was a very close friend of Lee. It seems as though Lee and Longstreet do not have the same chemistry as Jackson and Lee
Nevertheless, an attitude they show is their cause for engaging in the war. On page 110, Lee describes, “With every step of a soldier, with every tick of the clock, the army was gaining safety, closer to victory, closer to the dream of independence.” His words reveal that their reason for coming was to gain their long overdue independence. Without a cause worth fighting for on each side, the war would have no fuel or reason to continue. In like manner, another attitude of the South was their admiration for their commander general. On page 251, Longstreet proclaims, “Colonel, let me explain something. The secret of General Lee is that men love him and follow him with faith in him. That’s one secret.” I believe this clarifies that the bond of brotherhood and respect for each other in this army would allow for these soldiers to follow their leader blindly. The overwhelming amount of faith and trust among the Army of the Northern Virginia is inspiring. The Confederates prove in these appearances that they do indeed have an important cause that they are willing to die
Lee, where they ride off planning the retreat. Longstreet believes the war can not be won
“Their differing perceptions of the nature of war form the backbone of the difficult relationship between these two men.” Lee, an older soldier, values much of an offensive warfare approach, while Longstreet values a defensive warfare approach. Both men consistently argue about the best option for the Confederacy. However, “no matter how much he might disagree, Longstreet defers to Lee’s decisions.” In an argument as to who was right, none of the developed tactics provide clear evidence as to what was going to work, especially with a military of lesser men, considering the war in 1863. Although General Lee’s tactics did not work during the Battle of Gettysburg, there is no evidence that General Longstreet’s defensive strategy would have worked significantly better. Therefore, neither of the generals exceeded the other when it comes to military strategies, which rather debunks Shaara’s depiction of Longstreet’s advanced knowledge of modern warfare. Despite of the importance of the Battle of Gettysburg, often marked as the turning point of the war, General Longstreet should not obey an order that results in a significant loss of men that would be extremely difficult to replace at this time. Already limited by the amount of men still able to fight, pushing additional forces in an open battle would just nearly deplete the confederate soldiers completely, and
Lee had supreme confidence in his army, and believed that it could accomplish whatever he asked of it. This confidence sometimes led him to ask too much, such as in the case of Picket’s charge during the battle of Gettysburg. In Lee’s mind he was first and foremost a Christian, and a gentleman. These facts, although not bad, certainly caused Lee to be less aggressive, and to fight the war in a very old-fashioned manner. This was not so with Grant, who seemed to believe in a more modern type of total warfare. Perhaps because this war, as many contend, was the first modern war, it was impossible for the South, and it’s leaders to adapt to the situation.
One of the best commanders in the Confederate army was Lee still; the Union stood at a better standpoint during the battle. “Perhaps the most significant lesson from July 3, 1863, concerns the method of decision-making. Though he may not have seen it as such, Lee’s decision to attack was at best a close call.” (Gompert 2006, pg.7). The battle of Gettysburg did not happen intentionally, planned however Lee did an astounding job and his best to defeat the Union army. Ultimately Robert E. Lee was responsible for the South’s loss
Therefore, neither of the generals exceeded the other when it comes to military strategies, which rather debunks Shaara’s depiction of Longstreet’s advanced knowledge of modern warfare. Despite of the importance of the Battle of Gettysburg, often marked as the turning point of the war, General Longstreet should not obey an order that results in a significant loss of men that would be extremely difficult to replace at this time. Already limited by the amount of men still able to fight, pushing additional forces in an open battle would just nearly deplete the confederate soldiers completely. Since this battle was one that went on until a majority of ones sided were depleted, the south should have played it safe against the Unions nearly surplus supply of
...tt of the Confederates led a charge straight at the Union’s middle in the famous “Pickett’s Charge” across an open field. The attack failed and the Confederates pulled back to the other side to await a counter-attack but it never came. On July 4, 1863 Lee retreated back to Virginia. Over the course of three days the Union lost 23,000 men and the Confederates lost 28,000 men.
Meanwhile, General Robert E. Lee was left without his eyes and ears while his Calvary, led by Jeb Stuart was off on a wild goose chase. General Lee got a little too cocky; he believed his army was invincible. He led his army, without Stuart and his Calvary, to the southern side of Cemetery Ridge where he believed it to be less well defended. On day two of the attack at Gettysburg, General Lee instructed to General Longstreet to attack, but this command was delayed for a few hours, giving the Union time to reinforce their numbers and strengthen their position. When Longstreet did finally attack, the battles were nastiest at Little Round Top, the Peach Orchard, the Wheat F...
“Their differing perceptions of the nature of war form the backbone of the difficult relationship between these two men.” Lee, an older soldier, values more of a strategic and offensive approach, while Longstreet values a defensive warfare approach. Both men consistently argue about which the best option for the confederacy, however, “no matter how much he might disagree, Longstreet defers to Lee’s decisions.” In an argument as of who was right, none of the developed tactics provide any clear evidence as to what was going to work, especially with a military of lesser men, considering the war in 1863. Although General Lee’s tactics did not work during the Battle of Gettysburg, there is no evidence that General Longstreet’s defensive strategy would have worked any better, therefore none can be seen as being right, which kind of debunks Shaara’s depiction of Longstreet’s advanced knowledge of modern warfare. Despite of the importance of the Battle of Gettysburg, often marked as the turning point of the war, General Longstreet should not obey an order that results in a significant loss of men that would be extremely hard to replace at this time. Already limited with the amount of men still able to fight, pushing more forces in an open battle would just nearly deplete the confederate soldiers completely, and because this battle was one that was fought until
When reforming immediately with the main force after their successful flank Jackson was stuck three times by friendly fire and was given medical attention resulting in the amputation of his left arm. When Lee heard this he said,(1)”Jackson has lost his left arm; I have lost my left arm.” Unfortunately he died from phenomena ten days later on May, 10th 1863. Since he was such an asset to the Confederacy this basically crippled their moral. This should be an example as how war can make or break whom it pleases.
Lee took the command of the whole confederate. Not only did Lee took command, but reporters started covering the battle, and started to allegate about the union that General Grant lacked of skill and promptly made Ulysses look bad. Over time after the war, it took Ulysses Grant to get the reputation of his people back on his feet, but many people still didn’t look at Grant as a symbol due to the many deaths that occurred on the war of Shiloh. Despite his reputation, after the battle, Grant devoted to train his untrained volunteered armada since they lacked skill, which was a cause on why many of the union died. In any case, after Shiloh, Grant realized that to restore the union to become stronger was with total conquest. Historian Edward L. Ayers alludes how the battle of Shiloh and Grants bouts changed the understanding of the American Civil War. He also explains how thousands of men with little training and no experience in war were thrown against one another in days of inexpressible suffering and waste for battle. And that Grant’s push of the confederates towards the Methodist church of Shiloh was just thanks to Buell’s assistance, because if he wasn’t there with the union, the Union would have lost the battle and even General Albert Sidney Johnston would still be alive for the next battle. The historian describes Grant as “[incompetent], and worse [of all
In the Irish detective novel In the Woods by Tana French, we confront the dilemma of discerning the good from the bad almost immediately after cracking open the covers—the narrator and main character, Robert Ryan, openly admits that he “…crave[s] truth. And [he] lie[s].” (French 4) But there is more to this discernment than the mere acceptance that our narrator embellishes the occasional truth; we must be ever vigilant for clues that hint at the verisimilitude of what the narrator is saying, and we must also consider its relation to Robert’s difference from the anticlimactic (essentially, falsehood) and the irrevocable (that which is unshakeable truth). That is, the fact that in distinguishing the good from the bad, we are forced to mentally
...as the turning point of the American Civil War. The battle proved to show the most casualties of any battle throughout the war and resulted in a crushing and demoralizing defeat of the Confederates. Coming off of his “perfect battle”, Lee’s overconfidence proved to be a downfall as his expectation for his men greatly exceeded the reality of his army. Added to this, his disorganization and lack of coordination led to numerous disjointed attacks that failed and in turn exhausted his men. Finally, Lee ultimately knew less about his opponent throughout the entire battle, which was a huge switch from previous meetings between the two sides. He was forced to fight arguably the most important battle of the Civil War with insufficient intelligence of the enemy, its positions and its intentions. All of these factors are what caused the Confederates to fail at Gettysburg.
Lee is very quick; he organized scattered confederate troops into the famed Army of Northern Virginia in just three weeks. Lee’s wisdom urged him to keep the Union as far away as possible from the armament producing center of Richmond and far away from the northern part of the state where farmers were harvesting crops. Lee knows that defeats of such decisive sports will weaken our will to continue the war, and he prevented this at all costs.
At the beginning of the Civil War, leaders in the North and South were tasked with selecting the best men possible to lead their troops. Both sides needed to find men of outstanding character in order to succeed in their war efforts. Robert E. Lee showed himself as exactly such a man. President Abraham Lincoln agreed and sought out Lee, an accomplished U.S. military veteran with 32 years of service, to lead the Union troops. Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, knew Lee lived in Virginia, a state that had succeeded from the Union. Davis wanted Lee to command the Confederate Army. Ultimately, Robert E. Lee, a man of great character who valued relationships as the crucial element in leadership, honored those around him and displayed