Grant's Lieutenants: From Cairo to Vicksburg (review)

Grant's Lieutenants: From Cairo to Vicksburg. Edited by Steven E. Woodworth. (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2001. Pp. 264. Cloth $29.95.)

Ulysses S. Grant was the most successful general to emerge during the American Civil War, and many military historians rank him as the greatest general ever produced by the United States. Certainly, no other Union commander contributed more to the destruction of the Confederacy. According to Russell F. Weigley, Grant's approach to warfare would shape American military doctrine well into the second half of the twentieth century.

Yet for all Grant's greatness, he did not crush the Confederacy alone. A military commander is part of a complex organization, and his performance depends on the talents, cooperation, and support of his subordinates. Inspired by Douglas Southall Freeman's classic, Lee's Lieutenants, the prolific Steven E. Woodworth, an associate professor at Texas Christian University, assembled a team of Civil War historians to join him in reassessing Grant's generalship by examining the latter's relationships with key officers who served under him. The essays composing this book deal with personalities who figured prominently in Grant's operations from Belmont through Vicksburg. A second volume will cover officers who were associated with Grant during the final two years of the conflict.

Woodworth and his colleagues exercised sound judgment in selecting the subjects for Grant's Lieutenants. All of them played an important role in some phase of Grant's Civil War career, although some had more impact than others did. In addition to their historic significance, the officers profiled represent major groups with whom Grant had to work. William T. Sherman, Charles Ferguson Smith, William S. Rosecrans, and James B. McPherson all came from the same regular army background as Grant and subscribed to similar professional values. John A. McClernand, Lewis Wallace, William H. L. Wallace, and Grenville M. Dodge entered the Union Army from the civilian world and traded on political ties to secure their commissions. Peter J. Osterhaus was one of the abler German immigrants to offer his sword to his adopted country. While not technically Grant's lieutenants, Andrew Hull Foote and David Dixon Porter commanded naval forces whose assistance was vital to the capture of Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, and Vicksburg.

In addition to evaluating the character and performance of these officers, Grant's Lieutenants touches on broader historiographical themes. Grant's interaction with political generals and other volunteer officers sheds new light on many of the tensions that shaped civil-military relations in America. His ability to form amicable partnerships with naval commanders such as Foote and Porter formed a prime ingredient in the success of Union combined operations on the waterways of the Western Theater.

What stands out in Grant's Lieutenants is a composite portrait of the kind of subordinate that Grant favored. Competence topped the list of traits, but Grant could overlook occasional errors if he considered the officer in question loyal and devoted to the good of the service. He mistrusted officers who openly criticized their superiors or who sought to promote their careers by slighting their colleagues. As a West Pointer, Grant tended to view volunteer officers as politically connected amateurs, but that prejudice could be overcome by meritorious service. At the same time, Grant could be petty and unforgiving, as in the case of Lew Wallace, who became the scapegoat for his superior's failings at Shiloh.

Every essay in this collection contains praiseworthy elements, but some attain a higher level of insight and analysis than others do. John Marszalek skillfully traces the origins and evolution of the Grant-Sherman friendship. Benjamin F. Cooling depicts Charles Ferguson Smith as a model of military professionalism. As commandant of cadets at West Point in the early 1840s, Smith became a mentor to the young Grant. When fate made him Grant's subordinate in December 1861, he behaved with the same zeal and respect he would have expected...