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Originally Posted by Josh678 I would say unfit leader award goes to Custer for what happened at the battle of the Little Bighorn.He could have waited for gatling guns I found that out on the History Channel.But I agree with the rest of the awards. |
I saw this a bit late, but I want to reply to it anyways. Custer was blinded by something else that day, something that most people do not know about. IIRC, he was the youngest Union general officer during the Civil War, and was universally hailed as an excellent combat leader and tactician. However, he was very jealous of the success of one of his contemporaries, Ulysses S. Grant, who became the US president. Custer felt that he was a better officer than Grant, but due to the fact that the war was over, he could not prove it. So he embarked on the Frontier Wars, hoping that a major victory would give him the popularity that he needed to win the Presidency. The results were plain to see, and the 7th cavalry paid the price in full.
OTOH, Burnside was one of those rare officers about which I can find very little good. He did conduct at least one successful campaign against Confederate forces, but he also lost at least 3 other battles. The one good thing about him is that he refused the command of the Army of the Potomac, probably due to the fact that he knew he could not handle the responsibilites of that command. The one place where Burnside comes out on top is that he recognized at least some of his weaknesses, whereas Custer was unaware that he had any.
Dean.