Battle Analysis Fort McAllister: BG William Babcock Hazen

BG William Babcock Hazen, a proven combat leader, was able to earn, and sometimes required to demand, the respect of his subordinates. Officers during the Civil War were most often selected and promoted from within their own ranks and “an officer who stepped in to take command from outside the unit faced a far more difficult task.” Units were formed regionally and bonded by homeland associations. In three years (January 3, 1862 to May 23, 1865) Hazen, a native of Vermont, progressed from being appointed the 19th Ohio Brigade Commander to being the 2D Division Commander and finally, to being the XV Corps Commander despite always being viewed as an outsider by his Soldiers. He earned his rank and positions of responsibility not by gaining the popularity of his Soldiers, but by being known as a “consummate professional [S]oldier. A hard worker and strict disciplinarian, he drove himself and his men hard. As a perfectionist he easily found the weakness of others and would fearlessly expose them.” Hazen demonstrated a clear understanding of the eight elements of combat power 148 years before they were codified in Army Doctrine Reference Publication 3-0, Unified Land Operations, during the Battle for Fort McAllister.
Fort McAllister had effectively guarded the Great Ogeechee River, also known as “Savannah’s ‘back door’,” against five naval attacks during a nine month period. However, by December 10, 1864, MG William T. Sherman, Commander of the Army of the Mississippi, had marked it as an obstacle to sustaining his army by naval resupply. Major Henry Hitchcock, General Sherman’s aide de camp, estimated that there were 10 days of provisions for the men but no longer enough fodder for the support animals. Additionally,...

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...the anedotal Soldier and commander perspective to historical strategic analysis. Additionally, the maps provide both a clear overhead perspective and a definitive sequence of events that otherwise is hard to conceptualize from a narrative alone.
U.S. Army. Army Doctrine Reference Publication 3-0 Unified Land Operations. Washington D.C.: Headquarters, Department of the Army, 2012. ADRP 3-0 provides more complete doctininal definitions and expounds on the six warfighting functions as being part of the the eight elements of combat power.
Williams, Edward B. "City for the Taking: America's Civil War." In Book, Savannah Campaign Nov-Dec 1864 Staff Ride Reading, edited by Steven J. Rauch, 323. Fort Gordon, GA: US Army Signal Center Command History Office, 1992. Edward B. Williams provides one the significance of Fort McAllister falling into Federal possession.