General Military Strategic, Doctrinal, Operational, and Leadership Concepts

1
General Military Strategic, Doctrinal,
Operational, and Leadership Concepts
2
Agenda

• Key Theorists
• Principles of War
• Facets of the Operational Art
• Forms of Maneuver
• METT-TC
• Strategy
• Strategic Leadership

3
Key Theorists

• Clausewitz
• Jomini

4
Clausewitz

• Carl von Clausewitz
• Prussian officer born in 1780
• Resigned his commission in 1812 and joined the
  Russian Army to fight Napoleon
• Ideas on war were heavily influenced by the mass
  popular warfare of the French Revolutionary
  period and Napoleons Prussian adversary Gerhard
  von Scharnhorst
• Died in 1831 and his wife published his On War in
  1832

5
Clausewitz

• War is neither an art nor a science
• It is a continuation of policy (or politics)
  by other means.
• A form of social intercourse
• War is like a wrestling match
• It is an act of force to compel our enemy to do
  our will.
• But it is not unilateral. It is a contest
  between two independent wills.

6
Clausewitz

• Used a trinitarian analysis consisting of (1)
  primordial violence, hatred, and enmity (2) the
  play of chance and probability and (3) wars
  element of subordination to rational policy
• Often loosely expressed as the people, the
  military, and the government
• Analyzed absolute war or war in theory, but
  then noted that factors such as poor
  intelligence, chance, friction, etc make war in
  practice different than war in the abstract
• Argued one should focus his military efforts
  against the enemys center of gravity
  (Schwerpunkt)
• Very important concept in American military
  doctrine

7
Jomini

• Antoine-Henri Jomini (1779-1869) was a Swiss
  military theorist who sought to interpret
  Napoleon
• Published the Summary of the Art of War in 1838
• Became the premier military-educational text of
  the mid-nineteenth century and greatly influenced
  Civil War generals.
• Many a Civil War general went into battle with a
  sword in one hand and Jominis Summary of the Art
  of War in the other (General J. D. Hittle)
• Product of the Enlightenment
• Very geometrical and scientific approach to war
• Stressed interior lines

8
Interior Lines
Interior Lines
Exterior Lines
9
Principles of War
10
Principles of War

• British military officer J. F. C. Fuller
  developed a list of principles based on the works
  of Clausewitz and Jomini for use by the British
  Army in World War I
• The US Army modified them and published its first
  list in 1921
• Objective
• Offensive
• Mass
• Economy of force
• Maneuver
• Unity of command
• Security
• Surprise
• Simplicity

11
Objective

• When undertaking any mission, commanders should
  have a clear understanding of the expected
  outcome and its impact. Commanders need to
  appreciate political ends and understand how the
  military conditions they achieve contribute to
  them.
• Ensure that all actions contribute to the goals
  of the higher headquarters.
• Example Pemberton is going to have difficulty
  determining if his objective is to defend
  Vicksburg or defeat Grants army

12
Offensive

• Offensive operations are essential to maintain
  the freedom of action necessary for success,
  exploit vulnerabilities, and react to rapidly
  changing situations and unexpected developments.
• Offensive actions are those taken to dictate the
  nature, scope, and tempo of an operation.
• Offensive action is key to achieving decisive
  results it is the essence of successful
  operations.
• Example Both Pemberton and Johnston are
  defensively minded generals. Grant is exactly
  the opposite.

13
Mass

• Commanders mass the effects of combat power in
  time and space to overwhelm enemies or gain
  control of the situation.
• Time applies the elements of combat power
  against multiple targets simultaneously
• Space concentrates the effects of different
  elements of combat power against a single target
• Example McPherson will fail to mass his forces
  at Raymond, instead piecemealing them into the
  battle as they arrive.

14
Economy of Force

• Commanders never leave any element without a
  purpose. When the time comes to execute, all
  elements should have tasks to perform.
• Economy of force requires accepting prudent risk
  in selected areas to achieve superiority in the
  decisive operation.
• Economy of force involves the discriminating
  employment and distribution of forces.
• Example Pemberton will leave two divisions
  guarding Vicksburg that could have been of better
  use to him at Champions Hill.

15
Maneuver

• As both an element of combat power and a
  principle of war, maneuver concentrates and
  disperses combat power to place and keep the
  enemy at a disadvantage. It includes the dynamic,
  flexible application of leadership, firepower,
  information, and protection as well.
• Achieves results that would otherwise be more
  costly
• Keeps enemies off balance by making them confront
  new problems and new dangers faster than they can
  deal with them.
• Example One of the main themes of this course
  is that the brilliance of Grants generalship is
  not the siege of Vicksburg itself, but the
  maneuver that makes it possible.

16
Unity of Command

• Unity of command means that a single commander
  directs and coordinates the actions of all forces
  toward a common objective.
• Develops the full combat power of a force
• Usually requires giving a single commander
  authority
• Example The Confederate departmental system will
  hinder unity of command (and effort) at
  Vicksburg. On the other hand, Grant and Porter
  will achieve great unity of effort in a joint
  operation.

17
Security

• Calculated risk is inherent in conflict. Security
  protects and preserves combat power.
• Does not involve excessive caution
• Measures taken by a command to protect itself
  from surprise, interference, sabotage, annoyance,
  and threat
• Example Threats to the Federal lines of
  communication from Van Dorn and Forrest will
  markedly influence Grants conduct of the
  campaign.

18
Surprise

• Surprise results from taking actions for which an
  enemy or adversary is unprepared.
• It is only necessary that the enemy become aware
  too late to react effectively.
• Contributions to surprise include speed,
  information superiority, and asymmetry.
• Example Grants preliminary efforts to take
  Vicksburg between Dec 1862 and Apr 1863 are all
  failures, but they do serve to keep Pemberton
  guessing as to the ultimate Federal intent.

19
Simplicity

• Plans and orders should be simple and direct.
  Simple plans executed on time are better than
  detailed plans executed late.
• Clear and concise plans cut down on
  misunderstandings
• Example The frontal assault is the simplest,
  but often the most costly, form of maneuver.
  Lawler successfully used the frontal attack at
  Big Black River.

20
Facets of the Operational Art
21
Facets of Operational Art

• Synergy
• Simultaneity and depth
• Anticipation
• Balance
• Leverage
• Timing and tempo
• Operational reach and approach

22
Facets of Operational Art (cont)

• Forces and functions
• Arranging operations
• Centers of gravity
• Direct versus indirect
• Decisive points
• Culmination
• Termination

23
Facets of Operational Art

• Synergy
• Seek combinations of forces and actions to
  achieve concentrations in various dimensions, all
  culminating in attaining the assigned
  objective(s) in the shortest time possible and
  with minimum casualties
• Example Grants efforts will combine pressure on
  Vicksburg from both land and naval forces.
• Simultaneity and depth
• Place more demands on adversary forces than can
  be handled both in terms of time and space
• Example Griersons raid against the Southern
  Railroad east of Jackson will cause Pemberton to
  almost completely ignore Grants move down the
  west side of the Mississippi River.

24
Facets of Operational Art

• Anticipation
• Remain alert for the unexpected and opportunities
  to exploit the situation
• Example Pemberton completely misjudges Grants
  intentions and fails to anticipate Grants
  crossing at Bruinsburg.
• Balance
• Maintain the force, its capabilities, and its
  operations in such a manner as to contribute to
  freedom of action and responsiveness
• Example Pemberton completely fails to achieve
  balance by being constantly distracted by Grants
  diversions.

25
Facets of Operational Art

• Leverage
• Gain, maintain, and exploit advantages in combat
  power across all dimensions
• Example Grants siege of Vicksburg caused
  Pemberton to have to deal with not just military,
  but civilian considerations as well.
• Timing and tempo
• Conduct operations at a tempo and point in time
  that best exploits friendly capabilities and
  inhibits the adversary
• Example Once Grant crosses the Mississippi he
  moves with such speed that Pemberton is left
  paralyzed.

26
Facets of Operational Art

• Operational reach and approach
• The distance over which military power can mass
  effects and be employed decisively
• Example Grants decision to cut loose from his
  base of supplies allows him to fight a war of
  maneuver.
• Forces and functions
• Focus on defeating either adversary forces or
  functions, or a combination of both
• Example Grants victory at Jackson isolates
  Pemberton from any potential support from
  Johnston. Grant effects both Confederate forces
  (reinforcements) and functions (logistics).

27
Facets of Operational Art

• Arranging operations
• Achieve dimensional superiority by a combination
  of simultaneous and sequential operations
• Phases Deter/engage, Seize initiative, Decisive
  operations, Transition
• Example Grants preliminary attempts, his
  maneuver, his assaults on Vicksburg, and
  ultimately the siege combine to produce a logical
  line of operation.
• Centers of gravity
• Those characteristics, capabilities, or sources
  of power from which a military force derives its
  freedom of action, physical strength, or will to
  fight
• Destroying or neutralizing adversary centers of
  gravity is the most direct path to victory
• Example Grant cuts Pembertons lines of
  communication to supplies and reinforcements.

28
Facets of Operational Art

• Direct versus indirect
• To the extent possible, attack centers of gravity
  directly, but where direct attack means attacking
  into an opponents strength seek an indirect
  approach
• Example Grants preliminary attempts such as
  the Yazoo Pass are all indirect approaches that
  try to avoid directly confronting Vicksburgs
  strong river defenses.
• Decisive points
• Usually geographic in nature, but can sometimes
  be key events or systems
• Give a marked advantage to whoever controls them
• Keys to attacking protected centers of gravity
• Example Victory at Champion Hill guarantees
  Grants success in the campaign by forcing
  Pemberton to withdraw to Vicksburg.

29
Facets of Operational Art

• Culmination
• Point in time and space at which an attackers
  combat power no longer exceeds that of the
  defender or the defender no longer can preserve
  his force
• Example Grant starves Pemberton into submission
  through his siege.
• Termination
• Military operations typically conclude with
  attainment of the strategic ends for which the
  military force was committed, which then allows
  transition to other instruments of national power
  and agencies as the means to achieve broader
  goals
• Example The surrender of Vicksburg gives the
  North control of the Mississippi River. Grant
  agrees to parole the 30,000 Confederates so as
  not to encumber his lines of communication with
  prisoners and to conclude the siege before
  Johnston might arrive to support Pemberton.

30
Forms of Maneuver
31
Forms of Maneuver

• The five forms of maneuver are the
• envelopment,
• turning movement,
• infiltration,
• penetration, and
• frontal attack.

32
Envelopment
33
Envelopment

• The envelopment is a form of maneuver in which an
  attacking force seeks to avoid the principal
  enemy defenses by seizing objectives to the enemy
  rear to destroy the enemy in his current
  positions.
• Envelopments avoid the enemy front, where he is
  protected and can easily concentrate fires.
• Single envelopments maneuver against one enemy
  flank double envelopments maneuver against both.
  Either variant can develop into an encirclement.
• Example Gregg attempts an envelopment at
  Raymond but is confused and overwhelmed by
  McPhersons larger force

34
Turning Movement
35
Turning Movement

• A turning movement is a form of maneuver in which
  the attacking force seeks to avoid the enemy's
  principal defensive positions by seizing
  objectives to the enemy rear and causing the
  enemy to move out of his current positions or
  divert major forces to meet the threat.
• A major threat to his rear forces the enemy to
  attack or withdraw rearward, thus "turning" him
  out of his defensive positions.
• Turning movements typically require greater depth
  than other forms of maneuver.
• Example Grant turns Grand Gulf by crossing at
  Bruinsburg and seizing Port Gibson

36
Infiltration
37
Infiltration

• An infiltration is a form of maneuver in which an
  attacking force conducts undetected movement
  through or into an area occupied by enemy forces
  to occupy a position of advantage in the enemy
  rear while exposing only small elements to enemy
  defensive fires
• Typically, forces infiltrate in small groups and
  reassemble to continue their mission.
• Infiltration rarely defeats a defense by itself.
  Commanders direct infiltrations to attack lightly
  defended positions or stronger positions from the
  flank and rear, to secure key terrain to support
  the decisive operation, or to disrupt enemy
  sustaining operations.
• Example Running the gauntlet (?) (Probably
  better described as a penetration)

38
Penetration
39
Penetration

• A penetration is a form of maneuver in which an
  attacking force seeks to rupture enemy defenses
  on a narrow front to disrupt the defensive
  system.
• Commanders direct penetrations when enemy flanks
  are not assailable or time does not permit
  another form of maneuver. Successful penetrations
  create assailable flanks and provide access to
  enemy rear areas.
• Because penetrations frequently are directed into
  the front of the enemy defense, they risk
  significantly more friendly casualties than
  envelopments, turning movements, and
  infiltrations.
• Example Porter successfully runs the gauntlet
  of the Vicksburg batteries and takes a position
  south of the city to support Grants operation.

40
Frontal Attack
41
Frontal attack

• The frontal attack is frequently the most costly
  form of maneuver, since it exposes the majority
  of the attackers to the concentrated fires of the
  defenders.
• As the most direct form of maneuver, however, the
  frontal attack is useful for overwhelming light
  defenses, covering forces, or disorganized enemy
  resistance.
• It is often the best form of maneuver for hasty
  attacks and meeting engagements, where speed and
  simplicity are essential to maintain tempo and
  the initiative.
• Commanders may direct a frontal attack as a
  shaping operation and another form of maneuver as
  the decisive operation.
• Example Grant will make two failed frontal
  assaults on Vicksburg before resorting to a siege.

42
Maneuver and Tempo of Operations
1862
1863
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
March Down River
End TN/KY Campaign
Siege
Bayou Expeditions
First Offensives
Campaign
43
Yazoo River
Snyders (Haynes) Bluff
Millikens Bend
Chickasaw Bayou
Youngs Point
Edwards
Vicksburg
Champion Hill
Jackson
Raymond
Mississippi River
Big Black River
Vicksburg Campaign Overview
Grand Gulf
Willow Springs
Port Gibson
Bruinsburg
Route of Grants Army
Rodney
44
Millikens Bend
SPT
SPT
Youngs Point
March To Bruinsburg I 31 March-18 April
45
Millikens Bend
SPT
SPT
Youngs Point
March To Bruinsburg II 19-30 April
Rodney
46
SPT
SPT
Jackson
Mississippi River
Campaign of Maneuver 1 May
Port Gibson
47
SPT
SPT
Jackson
Mississippi River
Big Black River
Willow Springs
Campaign of Maneuver 2 May
Big Bayou Pierre
48
SPT
SPT
Jackson
Mississippi River
Big Black River
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 3 May
Big Bayou Pierre
49
SPT
SPT
Jackson
Mississippi River
Big Black River
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 4 May
Big Bayou Pierre
50
SPT
SPT
Jackson
Mississippi River
Big Black River
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 5 May
Big Bayou Pierre
51
SPT
SPT
Jackson
Mississippi River
Big Black River
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 6 May
Big Bayou Pierre
52
SPT
SPT
Jackson
Mississippi River
Big Black River
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 7 May
Big Bayou Pierre
53
SPT
SPT
Jackson
Mississippi River
Big Black River
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 8 May
Big Bayou Pierre
54
SPT
SPT
Jackson
Mississippi River
Big Black River
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 9 May
Big Bayou Pierre
55
Big Black River
SPT
SPT
Edwards
Jackson
Mississippi River
Raymond
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 10 May
Big Bayou Pierre
56
Big Black River
SPT
SPT
Edwards
Mississippi River
Raymond
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 11 May
57
Big Black River
SPT
SPT
Bovina
Edwards
Jackson
Mississippi River
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 12 May
58
Big Black River
SPT
SPT
Bovina
Jackson
Mississippi River
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 13 May
59
Big Black River
SPT
SPT
Bovina
Champion Hill
Mississippi River
Raymond
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 14 May
60
Big Black River
SPT
SPT
Bovina
Mississippi River
Raymond
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 15 May
61
Big Black River
SPT
SPT
Bovina
Jackson
Mississippi River
Raymond
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 16 May
62
Big Black River
SPT
SPT
Jackson
Mississippi River
Raymond
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 17 May
63
SPT
Big Black River
SPT
SPT
Jackson
Mississippi River
SPT
Raymond
Campaign of Maneuver 18 May
64
Siege of Vicksburg
Fort Hill
Stockade Redan
3d Louisiana Redan
65
METT-TC
66
METT-TC

• Mission
• Enemy
• Terrain and Weather
• Troops and Equipment
• Time
• Civilians

67
Mission

• Seize Vicksburg in order to control the
  Mississippi River and separate the Confederacy in
  two

68
Enemy

• Pemberton
• Five divisions totaling 43,000 effectives
• Pemberton fell under Johnstons Department of the
  West
• Represents some potential for a relief force
• No ironclads and only a few wooden gunboats

69
Terrain

• Vicksburg located astride the railroad that
  linked Shreveport, LA (and thus the three states
  west of the river) to the eastern transportation
  network
• Line of bluffs that dominated the river favored
  defense
• Northeast and west of Vicksburg was wetland that
  would inhibit offensive movement

70
Troops

• Army
• Grant has a maneuver force of ten divisions
  (44,000 effectives)
• Navy
• Porters Mississippi River Squadron has about 60
  combat vessels of which 20 to 25 would support
  the Vicksburg operation at any one time

71
Time

• Pemberton has ample time to prepare his defense
• Grant needs to attack before his supplies run out
  and before Johnston can reinforce
• Once the siege begins, time benefits the offense

72
Civilians

• About 5,000 live in Vicksburg
• Pemberton is responsible for their well-being
• Other civilians along the Mississippi River pose
  a guerrilla threat to the Federal Navy
• Potential source of intelligence

73
Strategy
74
Strategy

• Strategy is the pursuit, protection, or
  advancement of national interests through the
  application of the instruments of power
• Instruments of power (DIME)
• Diplomatic
• Informational
• Military
• Economic

75
Strategy

• Strategy is about how (way or concept) leadership
  will use the power (means or resources) available
  to the state to exercise control over sets of
  circumstances and geographic locations to achieve
  objectives (ends) that support state interests
• Strategy Ends (objectives) Ways (course of
  action) Means (instruments)
• Ways to employ means to achieve ends

76
Strategy

• End
• Deny Federal use of the Mississippi River
• Way
• Interdict river traffic at Vicksburg
• Mean
• Pembertons force at Vicksburg

77
Traditional Military Strategies

• Attrition
• The reduction of the effectiveness of a force
  caused by loss of personnel and materiel
• Exhaustion
• The gradual erosion of a nations will or means
  to resist
• Annihilation
• Seeks the immediate destruction of the combat
  power of the enemys armed forces

78
Strategic Leadership
79
Strategic Leadership Skills

• Interpersonal Skills
• Communicating
• Using Dialogue
• Negotiating
• Achieving Consensus
• Building Staffs

80
Strategic Leadership Skills

• Conceptual Skills
• Envisioning
• Developing Frames of Reference
• Dealing with Uncertainty and Ambiguity

81
Strategic Leadership Skills

• Technical Skills
• Strategic Art
• Leveraging Technology
• Translating Political Goals into Military
  Objectives

82
Strategic Leadership Skills

• Interpersonal Skills
• Communicating
• When you first reached the vicinity of
  Vicksburg, I never had any faith, except a
  general hope that you knew better than I, that
  the Yazoo Pass expedition, and the like, could
  succeed. When you got below, and took Port
  Gibson, Grand Gulf, and vicinity, I thought you
  should go down the river and join General Banks
  and when you turned northward east of the Big
  Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now which to
  make the personal acknowledgement that you were
  right and I was wrong.
• Lincoln to Grant

83
Strategic Leadership Skills

• Interpersonal Skills
• Using Dialogue
• Pemberton prefers to command behind the scenes
  and has little direct communication with his
  soldiers or subordinate commanders
• Negotiating
• Grant and Porter are able to achieve Army-Navy
  cooperation in the absence of a hierarchical
  command relationship
• Achieving Consensus
• Pembertons superiors, Davis and Johnston, do not
  achieve consensus on the proper strategy and give
  Pemberton conflicting guidance
• Building Staffs
• Grant will draw great benefit from his logistical
  staff that will keep him resupplied after he
  cuts loose from his base

84
Strategic Leadership Skills

• Conceptual Skills
• Envisioning
• Success at Raymond convinces Grant to shift his
  decisive point from the Confederate railroads to
  Jackson, which will allow him to isolate
  Vicksburg from reinforcements.
• Developing Frames of Reference
• Pemberton brings from Charleston a dictum that he
  must not do anything to leave Vicksburg
  vulnerable.
• Dealing with Uncertainty and Ambiguity
• This is Pembertons chief failure. He is
  continually left guessing by Grants diversions
  and maneuver and is always a couple steps behind.

85
Strategic Leadership Skills

• Technical Skills
• Strategic Art
• Control of the Mississippi would separate the
  Confederacy into two halves and controlling
  Vicksburg would give the North control of the
  Mississippi
• Leveraging Technology
• At the time of the Vicksburg Campaign, the
  Confederacy has no ironclads. The Federal
  Mississippi River Squadron included thirteen
  ironclads.
• Translating Political Goals into Military
  Objectives
• The Anaconda Plan was rejected as a military
  strategy because it failed to meet the political
  objective for a quick, offensive war.

86
Impact of Mexican War

• Limited War
• Turning Movement
• Technology
• Junior Officers

87
Limited War Winfield Scott

• Epitomized the professional officer
• Served in War of 1812, brevetted to major general
• Studied European tactics
• Became general-in-chief in 1841
• Selected by President Polk to lead a second major
  campaign in Mexico (Zachary Taylors was the
  first)

88
Limited War Objective

• Objective as a principal of war
• When undertaking any mission, commanders should
  have a clear understanding of the expected
  outcome and its impact
• Commanders need to appreciate political ends and
  understand how the military conditions they
  achieve contribute to them.
• Winfield Scott saw Mexico as a war of limited
  objectives, to be waged by limited means

89
Limited War Objective

• Based on this belief, Scott developed a largely
  political strategy
• Believed that Mexican political life centered
  around Mexico City so completely that capturing
  the capital would paralyze the country and oblige
  the Mexican government to sue for peace in order
  to remain a government at all
• Therefore his objective was to capture Mexico
  City, not to destroy the Mexican army

90
Limited War Treatment of Civilians

• Scott conducted his campaign with strict regard
  for the rights of the Mexican citizens, making
  every effort to confine bloodshed and suffering
  to the Mexican army rather than the civilian
  population.
• He scrupulously regulated his soldiers conduct
  and interaction with Mexican civilians, reducing
  contact to the minimum necessary for the
  sustenance of his army and the morale of his
  troops.

91
Limited War Treatment of Civilians

• But, my dear Sir, our militia volunteers, if a
  tenth of what is said to be true, have committed
  atrocitieshorrorsin Mexico, sufficient to make
  Heaven weep, every American, of Christian
  morals, blush for his country. Murder, robbery
  rape of mothers daughters, in the presence of
  the tied up males of their families, have been
  common all along the Rio Grande. Truly it would
  seem unchristian cruel to let loose upon any
  peopleeven savagessuch unbridled
  personsfreebooters, c., c.
• Scott writing the Secretary of War after visiting
  Taylors army (Weigley, History, 187-188).

92
Limited War

• Scott will carry his ideas about limited war into
  the Civil War with his Anaconda Plan
• Many Federals, such as George McClellan, will
  advocate a strategy of conciliation toward the
  Confederacy
• Such an approach will be rejected and the Civil
  War will become increasingly total
• Popes General Orders
• Emancipation Proclamation
• Conscription
• Suspension of some civil liberties
• Shermans March to the Sea

93
Limited War Changing Times

• while Scott was the preeminent military
  strategist of the first half of the nineteenth
  century, he occupied a lonely plateau in more
  senses than one that at the zenith of his powers
  he was already a museum piece, a soldier of an
  age gone by whose perceptions of war and strategy
  had little influence on most of the very West
  Point graduates whose service in Mexico he so
  fulsomely praised, because the young graduates
  inhabited a new world of very different values
  from Scotts, the military world of Napoleon
  (Russell Weigley, American Way of War, 76).

94
Turning Movement

• Scott conducts amphibious landing at Vera Cruz
  and must then move by land to Mexico City along a
  predictable, well-defended avenue of approach
• Wants to avoid frontal assaults by maneuver

95
Turning Movement

• Maneuver
• As both an element of combat power and a
  principle of war, maneuver concentrates and
  disperses combat power to place and keep the
  enemy at a disadvantage
• Achieves results that would otherwise be more
  costly
• Keeps enemies off balance by making them confront
  new problems and new dangers faster than they can
  deal with them
• The form of maneuver that Scott is going to rely
  on in Mexico is the turning movement

96
Turning Movement

• In a turning movement the attacking force seeks
  to avoid the enemy's principal defensive
  positions by seizing objectives to the enemy rear
  and causing the enemy to move out of his current
  positions or divert major forces to meet the
  threat.
• A major threat to his rear forces the enemy to
  attack or withdraw rearward, thus "turning" him
  out of his defensive positions.

97
Turning Movement Cerro Gordo

• Scott wants to avoid a costly frontal assault so
  he has Robert E. Lee and other engineers recon a
  possible route around Santa Annas flank
• Lee finds a way to outflank the defenders, and
  Scott executes the first of several flanking
  movements in his march to Mexico City.

98
Turning Movements and the Civil War

• The Mexican War created an informal, unwritten
  tactical doctrineto turn the enemy. (Archer
  Jones)
• Civil War battles and campaigns that involved
  turning movements include the Peninsula Campaign,
  Second Manassas, and Vicksburg
• Nonetheless the Civil War will also include many
  costly frontal attacks such as Fredericksburg and
  Picketts Charge

99
Technology Rifles

• Two things that make these frontal attacks so
  costly are the rifled musket and the Minie Ball
• A few volunteer units like the Mississippi Rifles
  had rifles in Mexico, but the Regular Army
  stubbornly held to smoothbore muskets

At Buena Vista, Jefferson Davis commanded the
Mississippi Rifles to Stand Fast,
Mississippians!
100
Technology Changing Times

• By the time of the Civil War, the rifled musket
  and the Minie ball will cause a change in
  military tactics
• The defense will gain strength relative to the
  offense
• Artillery will loose its ability to safely
  advance close to the enemy and breach holes in
  defenses
• Close-order formations will become dangerously
  vulnerable

101
Technology Other Examples

• Steam-powered ships
• Ironclads
• Telegraph
• Railroads
• Balloons

102
Junior Officers Rehearsal for the Civil War

• Approximately 194 Federal generals and 142
  Confederate generals previously served in Mexico
• Lee, Jackson, Hill, Pickett, Longstreet,
  Beauregard, Bragg, etc
• Meade, Grant, Kearney, McClellan, Hooker, Pope,
  McDowell, etc

103
Junior Officers Impact of West Pointers

• In 1817, Sylvanus Thayer replaced Captain Alden
  Partridge as superintendent of West Point and
  began reversing the damage Partridge had done.
• Thayer broadened and standardized the curriculum,
  established a system to measure class standing,
  organized classes around small sections, improved
  cadet discipline, created the office of
  commandant of cadets, and improved military
  training.

The Father of the Military Academy
104
Junior Officers Impact of West Pointers

• By the time of the Mexican War, Thayers reforms
  had produced a generation of men who would fill
  the junior officers ranks in Mexico.
• These lieutenants and captains stood in sharp
  contrast to the older officers who had not
  benefited from a systematic military education
  and training.
• The impact of Thayer and West Point was readily
  apparent in Mexico.

West Point was founded in 1802 and was
instrumental in training engineers in the 19th
Century
105
Junior Officers Impact of West Pointers

• Winfield Scott called his West Pointers his
  little cabinet
• Scott was unwavering in his acknowledgement of
  West Pointers declaring,
• I give it as my fixed opinion that but for our
  graduated cadets the war between the United
  States and Mexico might, and probably would, have
  lasted some four or five years, with, in its
  first half, more defeats than victories falling
  to our share, whereas in two campaigns we
  conquered a great country and a peace without the
  loss of a single battle or skirmish.

106
West Pointers in the Civil War

• West Pointers will play a key role in the Civil
  War
• 151 Confederate and 294 Federal generals were
  West Point graduates
• Of the Civil Wars 60 major battles, West
  Pointers commanded both sides in 55
• A West Pointer commanded on one side in the other
  five

107
Grant and Pemberton

• A more conscientious, honorable man never
  lived. I remember when a general order was
  issued that none of the junior officers should be
  allowed horses during marches. Mexico is not an
  easy country to march in. Young officers not
  accustomed to it soon got foot-sore. This was
  quickly discovered, and they were found lagging
  behind. But the order was not revoked, yet a
  verbal permit was accepted, and nearly all of
  them remounted. Pemberton alone said, No, he
  would walk, as the order was still extant not to
  ride, and he did walk, though suffering intensely
  the while.
• Grants recollection of Pemberton in Mexico

108
Grant and Pemberton

• Grant claimed that his recollection of this
  incident would convince him at Vicksburg that
  Pemberton would not easily yield.
• This I thought of all the time Pemberton was
  in Vicksburg and I outside of it and I knew he
  would hold on to the last.

Grant as a lieutenant in Mexico
109
Next

• Federal Forces
• Confederates Forces

Illinois State Memorial
Mississippi State Memorial