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Tag Archives: Gideon Welles
Halleck: The Art of Pretending to Say Something or Nothing
I came across a dispatch from Henry Halleck to U.S. Grant the other day that serves as a nearly perfect Halleckism. By early April 1863, Grant was undertaking yet another of his attempts at Vicksburg, this time up the Yazoo … Continue reading
Posted in Campaigns, Leadership--Federal
Tagged Gideon Welles, Henry Halleck, Vicksburg Campaign, Yazoo River
8 Comments
What If. . .Vicksburg Had Fallen in July ’62?
In his memoirs, Admiral David D. Porter recollected a November 1861 meeting with President Lincoln and navy secretary Gideon Welles in which—he says—he suggested the plan to seize New Orleans from the sea. Lincoln liked the idea and added: “while … Continue reading
Posted in Campaigns, Leadership--Federal, Navies, Western Theater
Tagged Andrew H. Foote, Battle of Memphis, Battle of Plum Point, Charles H. Davis, David D. Porter, Gen. Henry Halleck, General William T. Sherman, Gideon Welles, Gustavus Fox, Mississippi River Squadron, Siege of Corinth, USS Hartford, Vicksburg Campaign, West Gulf Blockading Squadron, Western Gunboat Flotilla, What if?, What-If-2022
15 Comments
The Battle of Memphis and Its Fallen Federal Leader
One of the most consequential battles of the war—and one of the shortest—took place on June 6, 1862: the battle of Memphis. Federals suffered only a single casualty, Col. Charles Ellet, Jr., the man most responsible for the victory in … Continue reading
Posted in 160th Anniversary, Battles, Civilian, Leadership--Federal, Navies
Tagged Battle of Memphis, Charles Ellet, Edwin Stanton, Fallen Leaders, Flag Officer Charles H. Davis, Gen. M. Jeff Thompson, George Gorham, Gideon Welles, Henry Halleck, Laurel Hill Cemetery, Memphis, Mississippi River, Montgomery Meigs, Philadelphia, Queen of the West, ram fleet
8 Comments
The Most Frightened Man and the Ironclads
One hundred and sixty years ago yesterday, March 8, 1862, a frustrated commander in chief convened another council of war to prod Major General George B. McClellan into action. McClellan proposed to transport the Army of the Potomac down the … Continue reading
Question of the Week: 11/8-11/14/2021
Henry Halleck was so worried about sullying his reputation as “Old Brains” that he utterly failed to rise to the occasion when he became general in chief of the army. He became, I think, the ultimate “CYA” man. Secretary of … Continue reading
Posted in Personalities, Question of the Week
Tagged Gideon Welles, Henry Halleck, Old Brains, Question of the Week
11 Comments
Fallen Leaders: Admiral Andrew H. Foote – Another Farragut?
February 6, 1862, midday: Advance cavalry elements of Brig. Gen. U. S. Grant’s 17,000-man force broke from the woods fronting the Confederate fort they intended to attack and were startled to observe the Stars and Stripes flying from the flagpole. … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership--Federal, Navies, Western Theater
Tagged Admiral David G. Farragut, Andrew H. Foote, Battle of Fort Donelson, Battle of Fort Henry, Battle of Island Number 10, David D. Porter, Fallen Leaders, Fallen-Leaders-21, Gideon Welles, ironclads, John Pope, Mississippi River Squadron, Mortars, Samuel F. DuPont, Ulysses Grant, USS Carondelet, USS Essex, Western Gunboat Flotilla
6 Comments
Seven “Persons of Importance”
In the early morning hours of May 17, 1865, off the far southwestern cape of mainland Florida, pickets stationed there by Union General John Newton intercepted a small vessel bound for Cuba. That promontory, jutting out into the Gulf of … Continue reading
Posted in Civilian, Leadership--Confederate, Leadership--Federal, Navies, Politics
Tagged 2nd Florida Cavalry USA, Cape Sable, Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Everglades National Park, Florida, Gideon Welles, John Breckenridge, John Newton, Judah P. Benjamin, Thomas A Harris, US Navy
8 Comments
The Emergency Ironclads
In late summer 1861, the United States Navy initiated a crash program to build their first ironclad warships, leading directly to the titanic clash between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia (ex USS Merrimack) in Hampton Roads on March … Continue reading
Posted in Navies
Tagged Civil War Strategy, CSS Virginia, Gideon Welles, International affairs, ironclads, naval strategy, USS Monitor
6 Comments
The Superlatives of New Orleans 1862
Today at 3 AM, a Federal fleet under Flag Officer David G. Farragut began to run Forts Jackson and St. Philip, located south of New Orleans. He passed the forts with minimal damage, and in a running fight his ships … Continue reading
The Mississippi River Squadron and the “Great Artery of America” (Part 1)
Emerging Civil War welcomes back guest author Kristen M. Pawlak On June 10, 1862, mere months before the Army of the Tennessee launched its initial operations against the Confederate fortress at Vicksburg, Mississippi, newly-promoted Major General William T. Sherman penned … Continue reading
