Category: Strategy & Tactics
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Review In Brief: Mine Run: A Campaign of Lost Opportunities
Why Does Brett Review Older Books? Review In Brief: Mine Run: A Campaign Of Lost Opportunities Books on Bristoe Station & Mine Run Mine Run: A Campaign of Lost Opportunities October 21, 1863-May 1, 1864. Martin F. Graham & George Skoch. Lynchburg, VA: H.E. Howard, Inc., June 1987. 130 pp. 6 maps, including 1 large […]
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This Granger and Steedman Thing!
I have long been somewhat mildly disturbed by the story of the “last moment” arrival of Major General Gordon Granger with Brigadier General James B. Steedman’s First Division of the Reserve Corps of the Army of the Cumberland to the aid of Major General George H. Thomas in the late afternoon of September 20, 1863 […]
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A Small Lesson in Tactics Part II
2. Buying Time One of the reasons there were only 300 Spartan’s at the battle of Thermopylae was that the king could not win support of his constituents to go to war, and so took his own “bodyguard” of 300 off for a stroll. Apart from winning support for the war at home, Leonidis’ actions […]
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A Small Lesson in Tactics Part 1
Lessons of Thermopylae The battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC has long stood as the premier example of defending against a force that largely outnumbers the defenders. Fought in a small pass in the northern province of Greece, Analyzing this battle can teach many aspects of tactical planning and development that can be used even […]
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New Market Heights, Ft. Harrison, and Peeble’s Farm
I missed the series of August battles of Grant’s Fourth Offensive due to real life issues, but I’m back with a look at perhaps the North’s best chance to drive Lee out of Petersburg and Richmond between July 30, 1864 and April 2, 1865. The events of September 29, 1864 nearly proved fatal to Lee’s […]
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for Cause and for Country: A Study of the Affair at Spring Hill and the Battle of Franklin, Part 9
for Cause & for Country: A Study of the Affair at Spring Hill and the Battle of Franklin by Eric A. Jacobson and Richard A. Rupp Softback $24.95 plus shipping 519 pages! ISBN 0-9717444-6-7 Hardback $44.95 plus shipping 519 pages! ISBN 0-9717444-4-0 We are nearing the end of this series, as this is the second […]
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That Antietam Anomaly
Brian Downey has a new blog post up about a subject I mentioned in August — General French’s march away from the West Woods toward the Sunken Lane. This really is the mystery of the battle and I’ve often wondered why so many historians have sort of passed over it with little or no comment. […]