While running the New Orleans district Butler became hated by the local population as a symbol of Yankee oppression.  And, he became the center of endless rumors about corruption and smuggling.  One theory is he was ordered from the job at New Orleans and given command of the Army of the James to attack the Confederates South of Richmond, near Bermuda Hundred,  so as to break up the leadership of the cotton smuggling in Lousiana.  As a ambitious man Butler would naturally accquire enemys so what the truth is in the smuggling accusations is I dont know.

Butlers Army of the James had a similar stratigic mission as the pair of Union Corps Early defeated in the Shenadoah in the spring of 1864.  While Meades Army of the Potomac pinned Lees Army of Northern Virginia Butler and the other group (led by Sigel?) were to close towards Richmond.  Early more or less destroyed the Union corps in the Shenadoah and Butler never moved leaving Grants strategy crippled.  Only Meade was able to execute his part of the plan, pinnning Lee in the bloody battles of 1864.

I just finished a three day weekend tour of the 1864 Bermuda Hundred Campaign and the Petersburg Campaign of 1864. The guided tour was through Pamplin Historical Park.....I highly recommend these tours if you are interested.

I thought I knew all about this but I was sorely mistaken. And my biggest surprise is that I came away with a lot more respect for Ben Butler than I had in the past.

Here?s why.

Grant gave Butler 3 missions

1. Establish a secure supply base south of Richmond based on the James River.

2. Destroy/Disrupt the Richmond ? Petersburg Railway.

3. Cooperate with the Army of the Potomac against Richmond.


So after touring 7 battle sites and discussing several points, the group consensus was Butler had earned a C-/C grade. Here?s why:

1. Butler did a great job in securing and establishing City Point. This became critical for successful operations for the remainder of the war.
Whatever else you might say about that crook, "Beast" Butler was an excellent organizer logistician and engineer. He could out-McClellan McClellan.
2. His early attacks against the rail line, while tenuous, did little to disrupt the line. But eventually he did tear up the line so it was shut down for about 2 weeks. But Civil War era rail lines were about impossible to totally destroy.
You have to carry off the rails destroy the roadbed and burn all the rolling stock. Tough to do when you don't have cavalry to control the countryside through patrolling while your infantry does this. Butler didn't .

3. Butler was waiting on hearing from Grant and Meade?and they were not getting down to him. The AOP was operating in and around Spotsylvania?a little too far to cooperate with.

This was the same problem Pope and McClellan had. They also hated each other's guts. Oddly enough,  outside his own soldiers  who he went out of his way to protect as much as he could, and Congress' Radicals; EVERYBODY hated Butler's guts.

What is often overlooked is that this was the first time Butler had ever commanded troops in the field. He had no experience or training. He was also saddled with 2 abysmal corps commanders. CF ?Baldy? Smith was always scheming to take command of the Army and Quincy A. Gilmore, while a great engineer, was lousy infantry commander. And all three commanders loathed each other.
The Red River fiasco?

"Baldy" Smith was so incompetent, that Grant who showed an oddball talent for working with some of the worst commanders of the war and still get good results out of them [Burnside at Cold Harbor] could do nothing with Baldy; so he palmed that louse off on Butler.

Gilmore should have deputied under Meigs-heck Butler should have run Army Ordnance [Butler was quite a good amateur technologist], while Smith should have been sent out West to count Lakota and hopefully get a haircut in the process.  The Army of the James could have used a non-entity like MCClernard and a deputy like Buell and accomplished more than those three.

The Union Army showed an appalling aptitude for putting the wrong man into the wrong job at times

The Army of the James was really an ad hoc organization. And very much like Burnside?s Ninth Corps, the soldiers were good?..it was just the commanders did not measure up to them.
That is an understatement!
What Butler was was a brilliant administrator. As our guide stated, Butler was the best mayor New Orleans ever had! He was also ambitious and wanted to be president. In that very political of wars, he had to be handled with kid gloves.
Don't forget that Butler was also probably the biggest criminal commanding a Union Army. If there was a black market way to take Richmond, "Beast" Butler would find it.

"The Union Army showed an appalling aptitude for putting the wrong man into the wrong job at times"

 

Cronyism and politics?

I just finished a three day weekend tour of the 1864 Bermuda Hundred Campaign and the Petersburg Campaign of 1864. The guided tour was through Pamplin Historical Park.....I highly recommend these tours if you are interested.



I thought I knew all about this but I was sorely mistaken. And my biggest surprise is that I came away with a lot more respect for Ben Butler than I had in the past.



Here?s why.



Grant gave Butler 3 missions



1. Establish a secure supply base south of Richmond based on the James River.



2. Destroy/Disrupt the Richmond ? Petersburg Railway.



3. Cooperate with the Army of the Potomac against Richmond.





So after touring 7 battle sites and discussing several points, the group consensus was Butler had earned a C-/C grade. Here?s why:



1. Butler did a great job in securing and establishing City Point. This became critical for successful operations for the remainder of the war.


Whatever else you might say about that crook, "Beast" Butler was an excellent organizer logistician and engineer. He could out-McClellan McClellan.
2. His early attacks against the rail line, while tenuous, did little to disrupt the line. But eventually he did tear up the line so it was shut down for about 2 weeks. But Civil War era rail lines were about impossible to totally destroy.
You have to carry off the rails destroy the roadbed and burn all the rolling stock. Tough to do when you don't have cavalry to control the countryside through patrolling while your infantry does this. Butler didn't .


3. Butler was waiting on hearing from Grant and Meade?and they were not getting down to him. The AOP was operating in and around Spotsylvania?a little too far to cooperate with.


This was the same problem Pope and McClellan had. They also hated each other's guts. Oddly enough,  outside his own soldiers  who he went out of his way to protect as much as he could, and Congress' Radicals; EVERYBODY hated Butler's guts.


What is often overlooked is that this was the first time Butler had ever commanded troops in the field. He had no experience or training. He was also saddled with 2 abysmal corps commanders. CF ?Baldy? Smith was always scheming to take command of the Army and Quincy A. Gilmore, while a great engineer, was lousy infantry commander. And all three commanders loathed each other.


The Red River fiasco?

"Baldy" Smith was so incompetent, that Grant who showed an oddball talent for working with some of the worst commanders of the war and still get good results out of them [Burnside at Cold Harbor] ???????  Burnside's IXth Corps actually performed better than most of the rest of the corps of the AOP at Cold Harbor.  link do nothing with Baldy; so he palmed that louse off on Butler.   Butler's XXIVth Corps came up fromt eh AOJ to assist.  These soldiers performed decently in part of what was a bad plan.  I may fault Baldy Smith for a lot of things but I don't blame him for the Union failure at Cold Harbor.  The Union faield at Cold Harbor because the men were worn out.  The best eladers and sodliers were buried in the Wilderness and around Spotsylvania or in the hospitals of Washington.

Gilmore should have deputied under Meigs-heck Butler should have run Army Ordnance [Butler was quite a good amateur technologist], while Smith should have been sent out West to count Lakota and hopefully get a haircut in the process.  The Army of the James could have used a non-entity like MCClernard and a deputy like Buell and accomplished more than those three.

The Union Army showed an appalling aptitude for putting the wrong man into the wrong job at times

The Army of the James was really an ad hoc organization. And very much like Burnside?s Ninth Corps, the soldiers were good?..it was just the commanders did not measure up to them.


That is an understatement!
What Butler was was a brilliant administrator. As our guide stated, Butler was the best mayor New Orleans ever had! He was also ambitious and wanted to be president. In that very political of wars, he had to be handled with kid gloves.

Don't forget that Butler was also probably the biggest criminal commanding a Union Army. If there was a black market way to take Richmond, "Beast" Butler would find it.

Remember that the Civil War was the ultimate in political wars.  Lincoln had to hold the nation and government together.  To do that he had to appease politicians on both sides of the aisle.  Since military succes usually allowed for political success, Lincoln had to appoint generals to ensure the support of the Democratic Party during the war.  Men like McClernand, Butler, Meagher and Segal brought the vital constituencies of the Democratic strongholds of Illinois, Massachussetts, Irish Immigrants and German Immigrants to the Union fold.  Each fought with varying degrees of ability but each also perfomred, in some cases, better than their "professional" counter parts (Banks, Gilmore, Smith, etc.)

So if it was cronyism and politics it was out of necessity.  And also remember there was no CGSC or War College for these guys to go to in order to learn how to be effective general officers.  They had to OJT.