Why did US President Lincoln replace General Don Carlos Buell?

Answer 1

The over involvement of President Lincoln in military strategy and operations cannot be overestimated. He was not a military "person". On October of 1862, Lincoln removed General Buell for failing to pursue Confederate forces retreating from Kentucky. Lincoln replaced Buell with General Rosecrans. Repeatedly throughout the war, Lincoln displayed a lack of military knowledge. The examples of Lincoln removing generals for the lack of pursuit are numerous. This included generals Halleck, Meade, and McClellan as examples.

Answer 2

In President Lincoln's defense, he was not a military man and clearly was not a good manager of other politicians either. Lincoln had never managed an organization as large as the Federal government, and even in a time of peace, how well he would be remembered if he took office after the 13th Amendment was passed. Regretfully the poor man was brutally assassinated in front of his own wife. This brings back the memory of JFK's assassination.As for the war, he failed to see that the main reason he dismissed generals, even re-appointed those he previously dismissed, was for the same reason. That reason was that these generals failed to defeat in total, or in detail, the armies of the Confederacy that had lost a battle or had withdrawn from the battle field.

General Don Carlos Buell was removed form command of the Army of the Cumberland for "failing" to pursue Confederate General Bragg after the "no contest" withdrawel of Bragg from the Battle of Perryville. The new commander was General Rosencrans.

Clearly among the McClellans, Popes, Burnsides, Hookers and others, there was no conspiracy to allow the Southern armies to escape after a defeat.

If Lincoln had replaced one or two generals for this reason, that can be understood. But it was allot more than two.

The generals he came to favor were ones that had no regard for the lives of the men they commanded.