Compare and Contrast the leadership traits of the Confederate forces with that of the Union forces?

Answer 1

The Confederates had a well-defined leadership style, copied from the Cavaliers of the English Civil War, from whom some of them were descended. It was characterised by extreme risk-taking and swaggering arrogance, overlaid with acts of chivalric romance. Robert E.Lee was a good example of this, but the commander of the Western theatre, Joseph Johnston, was sacked basically because his style was not Confederate enough. His replacement, John Hood, was a Confederate to his fingertips, but led his troops to disaster, clearly by being too Confederate.

The Union side never had any established leadership style . At the outbreak of the war, the General-in-Chief was Winfield Scott, a highly-respected leader, far too old for the job, who was replaced by George McLellan, an overly cautious type who missed many opportunities for a quick end to the war. The incoming chief, Halleck, was an intellectual with poor leadership, who was over-concerned with communicaitons and supplies, unlike his subordinate, U.S.Grant, who was basically a simple man who was good at simplifying problems, and a soldier's soldier. In the end, Grant replaced Halleck, and fought the war to its close through a single-minded persistence, well-suited to a long war of attrition.