My Greatest Quarrel with Fortune: Major General Lew Wallace in the West, 1861 1862 (Civil War Soldiers and Strategies), by Charles G. Beemer
To get over the problem, we now give you the technology to get the publication My Greatest Quarrel With Fortune: Major General Lew Wallace In The West, 1861 1862 (Civil War Soldiers And Strategies), By Charles G. Beemer not in a thick published data. Yeah, reading My Greatest Quarrel With Fortune: Major General Lew Wallace In The West, 1861 1862 (Civil War Soldiers And Strategies), By Charles G. Beemer by on-line or getting the soft-file just to review could be one of the ways to do. You could not really feel that reading a book My Greatest Quarrel With Fortune: Major General Lew Wallace In The West, 1861 1862 (Civil War Soldiers And Strategies), By Charles G. Beemer will certainly serve for you. But, in some terms, May people effective are those who have reading routine, included this type of this My Greatest Quarrel With Fortune: Major General Lew Wallace In The West, 1861 1862 (Civil War Soldiers And Strategies), By Charles G. Beemer
My Greatest Quarrel with Fortune: Major General Lew Wallace in the West, 1861 1862 (Civil War Soldiers and Strategies), by Charles G. Beemer
Best Ebook PDF Online My Greatest Quarrel with Fortune: Major General Lew Wallace in the West, 1861 1862 (Civil War Soldiers and Strategies), by Charles G. Beemer
Lew Wallace of Indiana was a selftaught extraordinary military talent. With boldness and celerity, he advanced in less than a year from the rank of colonel of the 11th Indiana to that of major general commanding the 3rd Division at Shiloh. Ultimately, his civilian, amateur military status collided headlong with the professional military culture being assiduously cultivated by Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, a cautious and difficult commander. The fallout was aggravated by Wallace's unwillingness to acknowledge the protocols that sustained the military chain of command. The primary result of the collision was that he failed to realize his most cherished ambition: leading men in battle.
Wallace grew from comparative obscurity to become a model for the civilian, amateur soldier. His participation in the Woolfolk affair in late 1861 personified the difficulties the Lincoln administration had with the army justifying, then enforcing, its official policy of conciliation. Wallace's testimony before the Joint Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War highlighted that problem anew and galvanized the opposition in his worsening relationship with Ulysses S. Grant. Author Charles G. Beemer's extensive investigation of primary sources reveals that a number of existing interpretations concerning Wallace, Grant, Halleck, Grant s aide John A. Rawlins, and the Union war effort in the West from Fort Henry to Shiloh, either need refurbishing or demand discarding.
Deliberately disobeying a direct order from Grant, Wallace thwarted the probable destruction of the Union right flank at Fort Donelson while simultaneously saving Grant s military career from oblivion. For this, he received little recognition, especially from Grant. At Shiloh, Wallace was absent from the field of battle the entire first day, and a thorough explanation of why this happened has yet to become an integral part of the Shiloh story. Predicated upon Wallace s presumed errors of judgment and alleged lack of productive activity that day, Halleck, Rawlins, and an unwitting but supportive Grant engineered a campaign of silence, thereby casting Wallace into the unofficial role of scapegoat for the failure of Union arms on the Tennessee. Wallace s unrepentant desire for exoneration clashed headlong with an aloof and ungrateful Grant, generating a controversy and a cover up that lingers even today.
My Greatest Quarrel with Fortune: Major General Lew Wallace in the West, 1861 1862 (Civil War Soldiers and Strategies), by Charles G. Beemer- Amazon Sales Rank: #792930 in Books
- Published on: 2015-10-12
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.56" h x 1.03" w x 6.53" l, 1.45 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 320 pages
About the Author
Charles G. Beemer, a retired attorney, earned an M.A. in history from the University of Wisconsin and completed further study toward a Ph.D. in history at Northwestern University. Long familiar with the truths, falsehoods, and fictions that highlight the brief but critical military career of Lew Wallace, Beemer currently serves on the Board of Lew Wallace Scholars sponsored by the Lew Wallace Study. He and his wife Nancy live in western North Carolina.
Where to Download My Greatest Quarrel with Fortune: Major General Lew Wallace in the West, 1861 1862 (Civil War Soldiers and Strategies), by Charles G. Beemer
Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Excellent Book on Lew Wallace By Ryan Q. Beemer’s biography of Wallace in the first year of the war is a strong defense of Wallace’s actions. Before descending into the controversies and mix-ups of the battle of Shiloh, Beemer first introduces the reader to Wallace’s childhood and early Civil War service. Losing his mother at a young age and with a father involved with Indiana politics, Beemer explains, Wallace developed into “an independent, self-reliant, and self-absorbed spirit” (16). Wallace would rely on that independence and self-reliance, for good or bad, throughout his life, and it is impossible to understand the Hoosier general’s decisions during the Civil War without this background.From Wallace’s childhood, Beemer explains Wallace’s early Civil War experience as colonel of the 11th Indiana Zouaves, actions at Romney, West Virginia, and then, the decisive actions at Fort Donelson. Commanding a division for the first time at Fort Donelson in February, 1862, it fell to Wallace to march to the endangered right flank of the Federal army without orders—an example of the self-reliance from his childhood.The battle of Shiloh and the ensuing controversies take up, rightly, the lion’s share of the book. In this controversy, Beemer pits Wallace against U.S. Grant, his aides, and Henry Halleck. Beemer lays blame for some of the Federal army’s surprise on Halleck and a “mind-numbing caveat” to not offensively engage the rebel forces without reinforcement (121).When it comes to Grant and his aides, Beemer shows that Grant held himself at an arm’s length from the infighting with Wallace, instead relying on three aides (John Rawlins, William Rowley, and James McPherson) to argue in reports and the papers with Wallace. This fighting is characterized as a “cover up”: efforts by the different aides to assert that Wallace took the wrong road to the battle (206). Beemer writes with authority that these aides, and Grant himself, were incorrect, and Wallace did everything in his power to get to the battlefront and that through the aides’ writing, they “did irreparable damage to Wallace’s relationship with Grant” (230).Wallace, however, was not unassailable in all regards, as Beemer makes clear in what is probably the book’s strongest attribute. It would be too easy to paint Wallace as the victim slandered and libeled, as he innocently tried to clear his name. Instead Wallace’s main fault was that the man never knew when to keep his mouth shut. “Virtually on his own,” Beemer writes in the book’s conclusion, “with unrestrained self-assurance and unfettered arrogance, Wallace did more than enough by himself to achieve Halleck’s objective of ridding his army of at least one civilian amateur” (240). This conclusion, added to the book’s equally strong introduction with such damning statements as “Wallace was a victim at Shiloh… a victim of his own arrogance and inflated sense of self-importance” do more than enough to prove Beemer’s point that yes, Halleck and Grant were antagonist, but Wallace did more than enough on his own to hurt his character’s standing.This study of Wallace is a vital asset for anyone who wants a glimpse into the general’s life and service, as well as a student of the Western Theater’s early operations. It should take a well-deserved spot on most bookshelves.“My Greatest Quarrel with Fortune”: Major General Lew Wallace in the West, 1861-1862 by Charles G. Beemer(Kent State University Press, 2015)248 pages main text; 330 pages totalEndnotes, Bibliography, Index[Adapted from a review that was posted to Emerging Civil War: http://emergingcivilwar.com/2015/12/03/review-my-greatest-quarrel-with-fortune-major-general-lew-wallace-in-the-west-1861-1862/
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Four Stars By Amazon Customer Very detailed account of Wallace's character and military skills.
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Five Stars By Cyber Mountain Comp Cook When I read this book I saw a man with a zeal to make a mark on History. I saw a man who in my limited understanding with a huge parallel to George Patton. He was a great military man that most often let his mouth outrun his common sense. He seemed to have won the battle but lost the war. His winning and loosing was not with the war itself but with the establishment. Chuck, a personal friend of mine really brought out the personalities in this book. To me Chuck introduced me to a man (Lew Wallace) I had never heard of, surprised me with a "different view" of a historical figure (US Grant) I thought I knew, and showed me the establishment I am all to familiar with.Bottom line I really enjoyed the book.
See all 3 customer reviews... My Greatest Quarrel with Fortune: Major General Lew Wallace in the West, 1861 1862 (Civil War Soldiers and Strategies), by Charles G. BeemerMy Greatest Quarrel with Fortune: Major General Lew Wallace in the West, 1861 1862 (Civil War Soldiers and Strategies), by Charles G. Beemer PDF
My Greatest Quarrel with Fortune: Major General Lew Wallace in the West, 1861 1862 (Civil War Soldiers and Strategies), by Charles G. Beemer iBooks
My Greatest Quarrel with Fortune: Major General Lew Wallace in the West, 1861 1862 (Civil War Soldiers and Strategies), by Charles G. Beemer ePub
My Greatest Quarrel with Fortune: Major General Lew Wallace in the West, 1861 1862 (Civil War Soldiers and Strategies), by Charles G. Beemer rtf
My Greatest Quarrel with Fortune: Major General Lew Wallace in the West, 1861 1862 (Civil War Soldiers and Strategies), by Charles G. Beemer AZW
My Greatest Quarrel with Fortune: Major General Lew Wallace in the West, 1861 1862 (Civil War Soldiers and Strategies), by Charles G. Beemer Kindle
