General Jackson: Slackened His Own Exertions...

5fish

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The quote is form Edward Porter Alexander... Jackson "the Slacker"

"I may have to refer to this subject once more in telling of the "Seven Days" fighting beginning on June 26th, 1862, in which our great & glorious Gen. Jackson for once seemed to put all of his reliance on providence & very decidedly slackened his own exertions, with the result that Gen. Lee's victory was shorn of the capture of McClellan's entire army."

The "Seven Days" should have been a total victory and capture of the McClellan army, except for Jackson was a "Slacker!". The historians ignore this simple fact and future victories by Lee overshadows Jackson's failing at "Seven days".

Historians dog Longstreet, Stuart, and Ewell for their failings at Gettysburg but its Jackson's slacking at "Seven Days" that truly cost the confederacy victory in the war and for their cause. Jackson failings are ignored by the historians for his poor performance is only noted in passing, while the southern cause falls.

Stonewall Jackson's may have given the Southern cause many victories and his was a god general but his one time he had to perform he failed and the Southern cause failed with him. History gives him a pass but he should be known as Longstreet "And the Slows", or Stuarts "Vanity Ride", or Ewell's "Not understanding if practical". Jackson should be known as the "Slacker"..

History has done us an injustice and now it is time to make it right for now on Jackson "The Slacker"...
 

Jim Klag

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The quote is form Edward Porter Alexander... Jackson "the Slacker"

"I may have to refer to this subject once more in telling of the "Seven Days" fighting beginning on June 26th, 1862, in which our great & glorious Gen. Jackson for once seemed to put all of his reliance on providence & very decidedly slackened his own exertions, with the result that Gen. Lee's victory was shorn of the capture of McClellan's entire army."

The "Seven Days" should have been a total victory and capture of the McClellan army, except for Jackson was a "Slacker!". The historians ignore this simple fact and future victories by Lee overshadows Jackson's failing at "Seven days".

Historians dog Longstreet, Stuart, and Ewell for their failings at Gettysburg but its Jackson's slacking at "Seven Days" that truly cost the confederacy victory in the war and for their cause. Jackson failings are ignored by the historians for his poor performance is only noted in passing, while the southern cause falls.

Stonewall Jackson's may have given the Southern cause many victories and his was a god general but his one time he had to perform he failed and the Southern cause failed with him. History gives him a pass but he should be known as Longstreet "And the Slows", or Stuarts "Vanity Ride", or Ewell's "Not understanding if practical". Jackson should be known as the "Slacker"..

History has done us an injustice and now it is time to make it right for now on Jackson "The Slacker"...
Source?
 

5fish

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You know I usually have a link... page 59...

 

jgoodguy

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The quote is form Edward Porter Alexander... Jackson "the Slacker"

"I may have to refer to this subject once more in telling of the "Seven Days" fighting beginning on June 26th, 1862, in which our great & glorious Gen. Jackson for once seemed to put all of his reliance on providence & very decidedly slackened his own exertions, with the result that Gen. Lee's victory was shorn of the capture of McClellan's entire army."

The "Seven Days" should have been a total victory and capture of the McClellan army, except for Jackson was a "Slacker!". The historians ignore this simple fact and future victories by Lee overshadows Jackson's failing at "Seven days".

Historians dog Longstreet, Stuart, and Ewell for their failings at Gettysburg but its Jackson's slacking at "Seven Days" that truly cost the confederacy victory in the war and for their cause. Jackson failings are ignored by the historians for his poor performance is only noted in passing, while the southern cause falls.

Stonewall Jackson's may have given the Southern cause many victories and his was a god general but his one time he had to perform he failed and the Southern cause failed with him. History gives him a pass but he should be known as Longstreet "And the Slows", or Stuarts "Vanity Ride", or Ewell's "Not understanding if practical". Jackson should be known as the "Slacker"..

History has done us an injustice and now it is time to make it right for now on Jackson "The Slacker"...
Well, only Grant captured armies. He was more of a plodder than a Jackson.
A cautionary tale for those who think Jackson at Gettysburg would have been a sure victory.
 

5fish

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Below is each day of the Seven Days battle... what Jackson did or did not do... "The Slacker" ... the link...



25th...
Jackson's men, marching east from the Valley, would not be in place until the morning of June 26, so as Lee was moving his forces into place on the evening of June 25, a Union assault could create serious problems. In the end, though, Lee satisfied himself that McClellan did not plan to attack and kept his plan in place. McClellan, however, heard of Jackson's approach and called off Hooker's and Kearny's assaults on Old Tavern.

26th
Jackson was delayed, however, and at three o'clock, A. P. Hill, along with a brigade from D. H. Hill's division, attacked anyway. Making it all the way to the creek, his men were turned back by Union infantry and artillery.

Weary from the long march, Jackson and his men eventually arrived on Porter's flank, although it was too late in the day to make an immediate difference.


27th
The Confederates charged throughout the day to little effect until late in the afternoon when Jackson and D. H. Hill arrived. An uncoordinated but basically simultaneous attack finally broke Porter's position

28th
A lull...

29th
Jackson believed he was to stay north of the Chickahominy instead of crossing the river and heading south and east as Lee had intended.

30th
Jackson contented himself with a bombardment at White Oak Swamp Bridge, allowing thousands of Union troops to reinforce the Glendale lines.

So Longstreet and Hill attacked unsupported, and broke the Union line initially before Union reinforcements made possible by Jackson's and Huger's failures pushed them back.

1st
The Confederates followed slowly. Lee was cautious approaching an area he knew well from his youth, and he determined only to attack if an artillery concentration proposed by Longstreet was effective
 

diane

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Not so sure slacker is the term. Something was wrong with Jackson at White Oak Swamp but I'm pretty sure nobody will ever know what it was. He was very literal about his orders - very. Some consider this happened at this battle, Jackson simply sat down more or less waiting for clarification. However, there seemed to be something else going on. He fell asleep - rather suddenly - and his officers could not awaken him. They yelled, hollered in his ear, shook him, sat him upright - snoring all through it! There was an episode like this before the war, when Jackson fell asleep during the sermon. His sawing logs irritated the woman sitting in back of him so much she took a big ol' hat pin and stabbed him in the arm with it. He didn't wake up!
 

jgoodguy

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Thanks for the leaf to chase.

Interestingly enough there is a Stonewall Jackson Sleep Lab.


History provides vivid demonstrations of the importance of sleep to military competence. The medical historian Philip Mackowiak compared eyewitness and officer accounts of Stonewall Jackson’s performance during a series of Civil War battles with the general’s opportunities for sleep, if any, in the days leading up to those battles. In 100 percent of the battles when Jackson had had no chance to sleep in the three days prior, his leadership was rated “poor.” In the Battle of Gaines’ Mill, his chief of staff described him as “thoroughly confused from first to last.” The Battle of Glendale found Jackson “benumbed, incapable … of deep thought or strenuous movement … uninterested and lethargic.” In the midst of the Battle of McDowell, he was discovered napping.



In one study – “Sleepless Vigilance: ‘Stonewall’ Jackson and the Duty Hours Controversy" - published in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences (December 14, 2011), the authors examined "the effect of sleep deprivation on Jackson's battle decisions in light of experimental data.” The report adds a historical perspective to the modern study of the effects of sleep deprivation in the modern military (as well as debates over limiting the duty hours of physicians and other professionals).

Drawing on a variety of material - “myriad letters and reports and…eyewitness writings of numerous intimate associates” – the authors describe Jackson's sleep habits, his famous "night marches," and offer an interesting statistical analysis of the quality of Jackson's command decisions in battle based on his "sleep opportunities" prior to the engagements.

They conclude (with due caution) that Jackson's poor decisions resulted from sleep deprivation which mirrors modern scientific medical studies which show that lack of sleep is associated with "decreased vigilance, deterioration in mood states, difficulty in concentrating and impaired learning and memory."
 

Jim Klag

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Sleep deprivation is very effective interrogation technique. No beating required - just don't let your subject sleep for a long time and he will talk. Sleep is much more important than food to a soldier. In WW2 when infantrymen halted the first thing they did, before eating, was catch a nap.
 

5fish

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Getting shot to death? What kind of waste of time is that?
Read through the thread get a feel read about Jackson during the battle...

Seven Days Battle... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Days_Battles

Lets talk real history... the several day battle was Jackson most inept moment in the war... it cam early... You can say Longstreet's and Stuart's moments cam at the battle of Gettysburg...
 

diane

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Well, there's really a good case to be made for sheer exhaustion - Jackson had marched non-stop clear from the valley. He could sometimes set superhuman bars for himself and believed God would give him the strength to clear them. This time God was apparently saying get some rest! Jackson fell asleep under one of those oaks for over an hour, then fell asleep again on the ground, and yet again at dinner time right in the middle of biting into a biscuit. His aides had to pry it out of his mouth fearing he'd choke, but that woke him up and he continued the conversation he'd been engaging in as if there had been no interruption. This was the same thing he did earlier under the tree - wrote his wife a nice letter about paying their church tithes and regular chit-chat. Could been he was sleep-walking the whole time!

Jackson wasn't the only one who may have lost a fight because of sleep issues. Jeb Stuart may have lost to Gregg and Custer at Gettysburg because he was asleep. Not impossible with him! He came into a house for dinner - the hostess was serving boiled eggs so she handed him the bowl full to pass. He ate one after the other like Cool Hand Luke...then told the hostess they weren't that good. He then laid down on a couch and was out like a light for a couple hours. When he woke up he was very confused, had no idea where he was or that he'd eaten a bowl full of eggs or insulted the hostess! It's well documented that Stuart, when very exhausted, would sleep-walk and talk.
 
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