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ETD Abstract Container

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Maintaining Order in the Midst of Chaos: Robert E. Lee's Usage of His Personal Staff

Sidwell, Robert William
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1239652034

Abstract Details

2009, MA, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History.
In the mid-nineteenth century, prevailing military theory held that a commanding general was supposed to use his personal staff to deliver his orders and supervise their execution by his subordinates, thus facilitating his command and control over his army. Historians have usually portrayed Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s personal staff as inept or incompetent to perform these tasks. An in-depth examination of the historical record, however, reveals that despite its inexperience, Lee’s personal staff performed its assigned duties with skill and dedication. Lee, on the other hand, often did not use his personal staff officers as military theory dictated. While his usage of the staff improved as the war progressed, he never fully realized the Jominian ideal of using his staff as an extension of himself, to assert his will over the Army of Northern Virginia. Because of this failure, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia suffered from mistakes in coordination and communication which often led to battlefield reverses. This thesis does not suggest that better staff work alone would have changed the outcome of the Civil War; rather, it argues that if General Lee had better utilized his personal staff, the outcomes of several battles might have been different.
Kevin Adams (Advisor)
Kim Gruenwald (Committee Member)
Leonne Hudson (Committee Member)
145 p.
Military History
military history; U. S. Civil War; Confederate army; Army of Northern Virginia; Lee, Robert E.; staff

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Sidwell, R. W. (2009). Maintaining Order in the Midst of Chaos: Robert E. Lee's Usage of His Personal Staff [Master's thesis, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1239652034

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Sidwell, Robert. Maintaining Order in the Midst of Chaos: Robert E. Lee's Usage of His Personal Staff. 2009. Kent State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1239652034.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Sidwell, Robert. "Maintaining Order in the Midst of Chaos: Robert E. Lee's Usage of His Personal Staff." Master's thesis, Kent State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1239652034

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

kent1239652034
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© 2009, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.