{"id":109,"date":"2013-07-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yule-tide.generalsemiotics.net\/index.php\/2013\/07\/13\/post-102-incapacity-amounting-to-almost-imbecility-or-the-worst-civil-war-general\/"},"modified":"2013-07-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T00:00:00","slug":"post-102-incapacity-amounting-to-almost-imbecility-or-the-worst-civil-war-general","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yule-tide.blog\/index.php\/2013\/07\/13\/post-102-incapacity-amounting-to-almost-imbecility-or-the-worst-civil-war-general\/","title":{"rendered":"Post-102: “Incapacity, Amounting to Almost Imbecility” (Or, the Worst Civil War General)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nI nominate Dixon Miles (1804-1862), U.S. Army, <\/span>for the title<\/p>\n

<\/span>“W<\/span>orst Commander of the U.S. Civil War”<\/em>.<\/span> Here’s why:
________________________________________________________<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

During the First Battle of Bull Run, [Dixon Miles’ Union] division was in reserve […] [Miles] was accused by Brig. Gen. Richardson of being drunk during the battle. A court of inquiry validated this<\/strong> accusation. [from Wiki]\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Being drunk during one major battle could actually be forgiven, really, if done once. What he did in 1862 clinches it.<\/div>\n

After an eight-month leave of absence, [Dixon Miles] was reassigned to what should have been a quieter post. In March 1862 he commanded a brigade that defended the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and, in September 1862 he was given command of the Federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nHarpers Ferry<\/span> (which, for some reason, does not have a possessive apostrophe in its official name) in 1862 was a very strategic town, west of Washington, and right in Robert E. Lee’s avenue of invasion during the Antietam campaign.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Dixon Miles bungled the defense, assigning soldiers to defend completely the wrong places. Stonewall Jackson was able to march in and quickly surround the city with almost no fighting. Jackson took the heights above the town. The Confederates began to bombard Harpers Ferry from those heights. Commander Dixon Miles was drunk again<\/em><\/strong> (his subordinates reported). He eagerly decided to surrender without further ado. However:\n<\/div>\n

Before the white flag could be raised, [Miles] was struck in the left leg by an exploding shell, mortally wounding him. Some of his men accused him of being drunk on duty again<\/strong>, and were so thoroughly disgusted by his inept defense that it was said to be difficult to find a man to carry him to the hospital<\/strong>. Miles died the next day and is buried in St. James Episcopal Church Cemetery in Monkton, Maryland. Some historians have concluded that Miles was struck by artillery deliberately fired by his own men<\/strong>, but there is no conclusive proof. <\/p>\n

<\/span>The resulting surrender of 12,419 men was the largest number of U.S. soldiers surrendered until the Battle of Corregidor in World War II. The court of inquiry into the surrender denounced Miles for “incapacity, amounting to almost imbecility.”<\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/span>\"Picture\"<\/a>Dixon Miles (1804-62)<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

In summary, Dixon Miles :
(1) commanded troops during two battles,
(2) was probably drunk <\/strong>at both battles;
(3) saw no action at one of his battles (Bull Run),
(4) bungled the defense of Harpers Ferry so bad that he surrendered 12,000 men without a fight<\/strong>;
(5) may have been killed by his own men,<\/strong> in anger over his drunken bumbling.<\/div>\n
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<\/span>\"Picture\"<\/a>T.J. “Stonewall” Jackson (1823-63)
(From here<\/a>)<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

\nStonewall Jackson<\/strong> has a mythical reputation as “invincible on the battlefield”. Looking great is easier if you face “imbecilic” (in the U.S. government’s words) opponents.<\/p>\n

Contrasting totally with Miles, Jackson was a teetotaler<\/span>.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Jackson was famously serious, stern Presbyterian; he was a fanatic driven by the desire to win, and he won just about all the battles he led, usually decisively and often lopsidedly (like Harpers Ferry).<\/span> The Confederate cause was obviously right<\/em>, Jackson’s men must’ve thought, if it produced men like Jackson; the Union cause was obviously wrong, the same men (and others) must’ve thought, if the Union cause produced such inept, indecisive generals.\n<\/div>\n

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People all react to their leaders. It’s true in the workplace, isn’t it. If a manager is inept, lazy, passive-aggressive, narrow-minded, secretive, selfish, corrupt, grudge-nursing, arrogant, threatening, and cares more about playing “office politics” than actually making the project successful, then — for God’s sake! — any subordinate would end up with low morale. (Note: That string of adjectives, sadly, describes some of my own managers at the language-institute at which I work, particularly the one I’ve elsewhere here called “Stringbean”. <\/p>\n

Note also that the wonjang<\/em> (director) here been seemingly-hungover during business hours, more than a few times. He is always a little surly, but on some days he’s a bit surlier and his hair is unkempt, and he hasn’t shaved, which leads the the wide suspicion of a hangover. I have no way to really confirm this, because he never graces me with the pleasure of conversation. In fact, after two years, I am sure he doesn’t even know my name.<\/p>\n

<\/span>This wonjang <\/em>would’ve gotten along well with Dixon Miles, anyway.\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I nominate Dixon Miles (1804-1862), U.S. Army, for the title “Worst Commander of the U.S. Civil War”. Here’s why:________________________________________________________ During the First Battle of Bull Run, [Dixon Miles’ Union] division was in reserve […] [Miles] was accused by Brig. Gen. Richardson of being drunk during the battle. A court of inquiry validated this accusation. [from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yule-tide.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yule-tide.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yule-tide.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yule-tide.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yule-tide.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yule-tide.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yule-tide.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yule-tide.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yule-tide.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}