And note that it was not uncommon for the creme of the officer corps, the engineers, to spend some time in the cavalry. Lee himself was assigned there for a time, though he spent precious little of it actually in the field.

Harry

The picture that Dimitri draws of McClellan & Johnston’s conniving only adds to the impression left by Rafuse & Beatie, of what seems to be McClellan’s serious issues with authority, and tells me a lot more about McClellan & Johnston than it does about Sumner, who even here is still something of a hollow blank in his own story.

I still don’t have a clear picture of who Sumner was. How did he react to his conspiring officers? What were things like in the 1st Cavalry? I have some picture of what things were like in the 2nd Cavalry – Freeman’s portrait in the first volume of his biography of Lee’s dreary slog of court-martials and paperwork, punctuated by reports of other officers’ excursions against bandits and Indians, is quite evocative.

HArry

Is chain of command sacrosanct? Does it work both ways? Can you see where this is going?

We might also keep in mind that what Johnston and Davis were thinking about was not just the 1st US Cavalry regiment (Sumner’s domain), but the Cavalry arm as a whole. Certainly no one expected McClellan to come back from Europe and report his findings to Sumner.

I don’t see this “scheme” as nefarious.

Harry

Dimitri makes the case that McClellan and Johnston (and maybe Jefferson Davis) weren’t going to include Sumner in the decision process, anyway.

Not because he was stupid, but because he was an old soldier set in his ways.

OK, I understand why McClellan and Johnston thought they needed to bypass Sumner. I still see it as fundamentally wrong. Still smell arrogance, too.

You’re a junior Army officer. Don’t like the way things are going? Talk to your boss. You put it to your chain of command.

The boss still doesn’t get it? Request higher authority review. There are procedures for that. Procedures in place for a good reason. Good order and discipline, for example.

Still not satisfied? Get over it. Become a civilian. Write a book. Run for office.

I think maybe more needs to be done IRT Davis/Sumner. Davis had served with Sumner in the Dragoons, and seems to have continued his interest in mounted forces and tactics. As a US Senator, he was involved in forming Army policy in using mounted troops in executing the Indian policy. I assume he drew some conclusions, resulting in the creation of cavalry vs additional dragoons. So I have to also assume that in Sumner, he saw something that he liked (as he had done with favorite AS Johnston in the other Cav regiment). Unless Sumner had been pressed on him by other political forces, or part of a compromise which allowed appointment of Johnston.