The Union Army in the Civil War Was Nearly Commanded by an Italian September 8, 2010

Had Abraham Lincoln Been Able to Offer his Emancipation Proclamation a Year Earlier, This Italian Military Hero May Have Been An American Military Hero As Well

Winfield Scott Lives up to his "Old Fuss and Feathers" moniker and the notion that he was a tired old man at 75

On This Date in History:  It has been well documented and reviewed that Abraham Lincoln had a difficult time finding a general to lead the Union Army at the outset of the Civil War and in the years to come.  The carousel of commanders ultimately ended with the elevation of General Ulysses S. Grant to the position of Lt. General of the Armies in 1864 following his victory at Vicksburg in 1863.  When the war began, Lincoln had a true military hero in General Winfield Scott who had gained accolades for his efforts in the War of 1812 and the Mexican War.  But “Old Fuss and Feathers,” as Scott was called, was 75 years old and in declining health when hostilities began in 1861.  After Scott had set forth his “Anaconda Plan” to strangle the South with a naval blockade, he retired from military service.

Lt. Colonel Robert E. Lee Could Not Turn His Back on Virginia

Before the war broke out. Scott had approached Lt. Colonel Robert E. Lee about taking command of the Union armies in the field.  Scott pleaded with Lee not to join the Confederacy.  Lee, however, felt great loyalty to his state of Virginia as its history had in some measure been shaped by his ancestors, including American Revolution hero Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee, Robert E. Lee’s father.  When Virginia voted to secede from the Union and Lee informed Scott of his decision, the aging general said, “Lee, you have made the greatest mistake of your life;  but I feared it would be so.”    Virginia officially proposed secession on April 17, 1861 and Robert E. Lee resigned from the US Army 3 days later.  Three days thereafter, Lee was named commander of the armed forces of Virginia.

McClellan's Deliberate Approach Was Good For Railroad Building But Not So Good For Waging War; Posing Like Napoleon Didn't Make Him Napoleon

From that point, it was all downhill for the Union.  President Lincoln turned to General George B. McClellan who was a West Point Graduate but had spent the most recent years with the railroads, most significantly plotting the course of the Northern Pacific Railroad across the Cascades.  He was gifted at organization and literally built the US Army from scratch.  But, McClellan envisioned himself as an American Napoleon and had a strained relationship with the president as exemplified by his reference to the Commander in Chief as an “idiot” or “the original gorilla.”  McClellan had been a good student at West Point and thus followed the doctrine taught at the academy which  was based on the ideas of Antoine Henri de Jomini.  In general, the military strategy involved maintaining supply and communications lines and securing key locations.  True to his organizational strengths, McClellan and other Union generals tended to take their time in preparation and tended to make deliberate, rather than decisive, moves.  Lincoln accused McClellan of having a case of “the slows.” 

Famous Alexander Gardner Photo of Dead Soldiers at Antietam

In September 1862, Lee invaded Maryland and split his army, which was unconventional, in order for him to follow the Jomini doctrine of securing his supply routes.  McClellan is said to have received advanced intelligence that informed him of Lee’s plans.  A Union soldier in Frederick, Maryland had found a pack of 3 cigars in the street and when he picked it up, he found the cigars were wrapped in Lee’s orders to his field commanders which outlined the strategy which were known as Lee’s Special Orders  no. 191.  McClellan was brimming with confidence that his much larger army could surprise and overcome the divided forces of the Army of Northern Virginia and achieve a great victory.  Alas,  in spite of the information, McClellan moved so slowly and with such deliberate care that Lee was able to regroup his army at Antietam.  The Battle of Antietam, which was fought near Antietam Creek  on September 17, 1862, was one of the bloodiest of the Civil War.  McClellan said it was a great victory but, in fact, his army with a two to one advantage in numbers missed an opportunity to destroy Lee’s army and perhaps end the war.  Lee escaped with his forces intact and McClellan failed to follow up with a pursuit.

Garibaldi Refused Command of Union Army Due To Lincoln's Reluctance to Commit to Free American Slaves

As it turns out, the name of George B. McClellan might be lost to history had Abraham Lincoln been successful a year before the Battle of Antietam.  You see, on this date in 1861, the president attempted to enlist the services of Italian Revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi to lead the Union Army.  Garibaldi had become famous in his own country in his successful operation to unify Italy.  Robert E. Lee did not join the Confederacy because he supported slavery, but instead out of loyalty to Virginia.  Garibaldi had no such loyalty issues and had fought against slavery in South America.  However, a sticking point in the attempt to gain the skills of Garibaldi was the Italian’s insistence that Lincoln promise that American slaves would be freed.  At that point, Lincoln’s objective was to preserve the Union and he doubted he could reach his objective and make such a commitment. 

Ever Heard of Don Carlos Buell?

Of course, 5 days after Antietam, President Lincoln announced his intention of issuing the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 that would free all slaves in areas in insurrection.  Lincoln said it was a military measure to help limit the South’s ability to make war.   However, it effectively freed the slaves since it would be incomprehensible to free those in bondage only to put them back in their former state once the war was over.  Had Lincoln felt as if he was in a position to make such a commitment in September 1862, then George B. McClellan might have been relegated as a footnote of history, like General Don Carlos Buell or even, in some measure, Winfield Scott. 

Light Italian Aircraft Carrier Named For Garibaldi

As it stands, it was Giuseppe Garibaldi who has been lost to American history.  Ultimately, victory was acheived under the command of Ulysses S. Grant, who was not a very good student at West Point and therefore had not been indoctrinated in the Jomini philosophy.  He developed a strategy that involved the “theatre of war” as well as using his overwhelming superiority in stregnth to simply attack and overwhelm the enemy.  The tactics involved are known as “Grantonian Tactics” and were later used by the likes of Erwin Rommel and Bernhard Montgomery.  The philsophy continues to this day and is described by historian Russell F. Weigley as The American Way of War.  The media has given some of those tactics the moniker, “Shock and Awe.”  As for Garibaldi, while he was never named as commander of the Union Army, the Italians did name an aircraft carrier in his honor.

Weather Bottom Line:  I saw someone on TV on Tuesday night say that the track of what is left over of Tropical Storm Hernine would determine if our rain chances go up at the end of the week.  What a crock.  A tropical cyclone is a very large feature and this storm remained well defined even as far north as San Antonio.  Its flow opens up the Gulf and the storm will track into the plains states.  The flow is so broad that most certainly, the moisture drawn up to the east of the center of the low will over run the cold front that came through on Tuesday.  The question will be whether or not the moisture will overcome the dry air and when it does, not the track of the system.  Look for a coolish night in the upper 50′s, a warm afternoon on Thursday with low humidity and high clouds on Thursday afternoon and then thickening clouds as the day progresses on Friday.  The dry air will limit the rain chances for awhile but by late Friday, into Friday night, its likely that our atmosphere will be saturated enough to give us a decent shot at some much needed rain.   The system will lift the front north as a warm front on Friday night or Saturday morning and that will be the best chance.  Saturday may be a shade warm and humid in advance of a cold front which may not only provide decent rain chances Saturday evening, but also, I would think, a risk of some trouble-making t’storms.

America and Britain In Pig War Standoff June 15, 2010

Pig War, not War Pigs

On This Date in History:  Let’s see. We have had many wars in American History: American Revolution, War of 1812, Civil War, Spanish American War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Pig War.  The Pig War?  

Battle of New Orleans: Pointless Battle Almost NOT the final Conflict Between Britain and America

After the conclusion of the War of 1812 in late 1814 and after the Battle of New Orleans, which came about in January 1815 after the treaty concluding the war had been reached, America and Britain still had differences.  However, after a war of independence and then a second war between the former brothers, one would think that further armed conflict was not a possibility.  In 1818, both English and American citizens had settled in what was known as the Oregon Country, which includes present day Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia and parts of Wyoming and Montana.  So, the two sides simply agreed to be cohabitants of the region.  I suppose they figured that sooner or later that they’d straighten it all out.   However, by 1845, nothing had changed and the folks in the region seemed to be growing weary of each other.

Map of Pig War Dispute

Americans thought that the British presence was nothing but an obstacle to their divine “Manifest Destiny” and the Brits thought that the wild influx of American settlers were trespassers on land guaranteed to the crown through previous treaties and trading practices established by the Hudson Bay Company.  Cooler heads prevailed and in 1846, the Oregon Treaty was signed and it stipulated that the Americans had control of all territory south of the 49th parallel with the boundary extending “to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver’s Island; and thence southerly through the middle of the said channel, and of Fuca’s straits to the Pacific Ocean.”  The wording must have been made up by eastern lawyers who had never been there because the truth was there were two channels, not one.  Dividing the two straights was San Juan Island and each side claimed the island for themselves.

Griffin, no ordinary farmer, refused to pay tax to Uncle Sam

So, citizens of both nations quickly staked claims to the island.    The old bugaboo of taxation led to the first conflict when America tried to collect taxes on British produce.  Englishman farmer Charles John Griffin refused to pay, claiming he was not subject to American taxation.   Griffin was no ordinary farmer though.  He had been appointed as the chief agent of the Hudson Bay Company.  Nevertheless, it just so happens that of all the people on the island, it was Griffin’s pig on this date in 1859 that got loose and began to stick his snout in the potato patch of Lyman A. Cutlar(Cutler).   Being a true American, Cutlar did what any well bred Yankee would do: He shot the pig dead.  Griffing marched with quite indignation straight to the office of the British magistrate and demanded compensation of $100 from Cutlar.   To me, $100 is a lot of money today and back then it was a small fortune.  Naturally, Cutlar refused to pay, claiming that he was not subject to British law.

George E. Pickett as a 1st Lieutenant

The Americans on the island called on the government for protection and so, Uncle Sam sent young Captain George E. Pickett with troops.  That would be the same Pickett who gained fame for his exploits as a Confederate General at the Battle of Gettysburg.   In response to the presence of Pickett and his 66 troops, Britain sent a bunch of warships with an eye toward routing the American command.  Pickett was reinforced by 171 more troops.  When it was apparent that the Americans were still outgunned by the British ships, more troops were called for.  Could the United States and Britain be headed back to war again over a pig rooting around in a potato patch?  For a time it looked that way until “Old Fuss and Feathers,” commanding American General Winfield Scott, arrived from Washington at the direction of President James Buchanan with a proposal.  Each side would station 100 men on the island in a contrived stand-off, or balance of power, until an agreement could be reached. 

There's Even a Book About the Pig War

Well, the slavery issue was boiling over in America around that time and Uncle Sam had bigger fish to fry.  So, the “Pig  War”, as it became known,  got put on the back burner for 12 years.  In 1871, there was an Anglo-American treaty signed called the Treaty of Washington.  That document called for the “Pig War”  matter was taken up by German Emperor Wilhelm I who promptly referred the question to a 3 member arbitration board.  The board, through the kaiser, ruled in favor of the Americans.  In November 1872, all British troops evacuated the island and two years later, all American troops left.  Thus, after the governments of both countries had kicked the sovereignty issue down the road to let someone else deal with, peace finally came to the Pacific Northwest.  Politicians had left the question of slavery to others from the Declaration of Independence  through the Missouri Compromise and the result was a war in which over 600,000 Americans died.  At least the punting of the San Juan Island issue only resulted in the death of a single pig, in what has been fondly remembered as “The Pig War.”

SPC Severe Outlook June 15 2010

SPC Severe Wind Probability June 15 2010

Weather Bottom Line:  On Monday night, Snow White and I went for a walk.  She is always quite concerned about thunderstorms and she got nervous when we saw distant lightning to our North and to our South.  I told her that I suspected that, not only would we have time for the walk, but also that we may get no rain at all as I thought that we would be in between the storms.  The lightning was cool.  This is the second time that I saw lightning shoot up from the cloud to no apparent destination.  The first time I saw this was at the Kitty Cat Castle on the Georgia Coast.  I’m guessing that what I am seeing are called sprites.  They were first discovered by astronauts on the Shuttle.  A very interesting phenomena that I don’t think anyone has quite figured out yet.  Anyway, I was right.  We got the walk in and we never had any rain.   When I came home, I looked at the radar and it appeared to me that the storms I saw to the north were almost all the way to Cincinnati and the ones to the South were in Meade county.  Quite a distance, though farther than I would have expected.  Needless to say, there was no thunder. 

SPC Tornado Probability June 15 2010

We remain in the same pattern but it seems to me that the storm track has shifted slightly north.  So, there is a shortwave out in Iowa on Tuesday afternoon and the vector appears to be taking it Northeast toward the Great Lakes.  It may swing around to a more easterly component later on but I would think that the main part of the short will be well north of our area.  Having said that, there is an appendage from that vortmax extending into Central Missouri and a new outcrop of storms ahead of the main short in Central Illinois. That too is moving Northeast.  I think our issue will be with the appendage. I see some indication of a low level convergence zone setting up with other parameters suggesting that the appendage may blossom into storms during the heat of the day as it moves into Southern Illinois.  I would think that there will be a reasonable shot of storms late in the day or the evening, very similar to what we had Monday.  Whether or not a line forms or if that line holds together by the time it gets here remains to be seen.  Also, I betcha we get some scattered guys ahead of the short wave in the heat of the day forming ahead of the shortwave, similar to what it already going on in Illinois.  That would be my greatest concern for severe weather…perhaps and errant supercell would not be totally out of the question.  As I am writing this, I see the boys at the SPC have seen the same thing because they just now changed the outlook to include a moderate risk for the region just north of Louisville, between say Charlestown and Indianapolis.  So, keep that in mind as you go into the late afternoon and evening.  If you find yourself in a thunderstorm, be sure to tune into your radio or tv to see what the story is. After today, the ridging of the storm track should continue and I think the storm chances will be decreasing for the rest of the week until Saturday when a weak cold front comes knocking at the door.