Abraham Lincoln Quotes
I can make a brigadier general in five minutes, but it's not so easy to replace 110 horses.
The President was distressed to hear that the Confederates had captured some horses and a Union general. He seemed more distressed about the horses. A copy of this quotation was given to Colin Powell when he was promoted to brigadier general.
Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865, 16th President of the United States (Republican, IL)
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Lincoln used the very “estimate” to mean value or hold in esteem, a meaning which is no longer in use.
Eaton was in the Middle East and at the time that region was a part of the Ottoman Empire controlled by the Turks.
This was an official publication of the U. S. Army. The First World War had very little affect on future military preparedness At that time conservatives in Congress were very isolationist and military preparedness was not a high priority or even a significant political issue. The Democrats then were more supportive of military spending than the Republicans. It took World War II, for which America was very unprepared, to produce a change in public and political opinion regarding military preparedness.
The First World War had very little affect on future military preparedness At that time conservatives in Congress were very isolationist and military preparedness was not a high priority or even a significant political issue. It took World War II, for which America was very unprepared, to produce a change in public and political opinion regarding military preparedness.
Note the egalitarian and democratic nature of the method of selection of military officers. This was typical of frontier thinking—the men who were putting their lives on the line should have a say in who their leaders would be. The Governor and the legislature could only select the top officers like the Adjutant General or the Major General. Congress had retained the power to appoint general officers but allowed them and the civilian secretaries of the armed services to select all other officers. The latter enabled wealthy people to be appointed officers without any necessary competence and many even in the Civil War in effect bought their appointments by paying for the uniforms or bringing weapons. While America became more democratic and egalitarian over its first two centuries, the appointment of military officers is the one area where it became less democratic and egalitarian. The election of officers so popular in many states was gradually and finally abolished.
Gates had been assigned to take over command of the Southern Department which was a total mess with no provisions or money. He took over from General Lincoln {49731} who had failed for lack of resources and support and then Gates’s career was almost destroyed by the same problem.
He had wanted more troops for the Afghan War than President Obama would approve. The Republican members of the Congress tried to make the difference a major issue of a President not supporting his commanders. The General made this brilliant response.
We are so accustomed to thinking about George Washington as a great military leader that it is surprising to see contemporary comparisons where Washington was found wanting or second. Actually Horatio Gates was a brilliant tactical general and a great leader of men—many think far better than Washington, but the genius of Washington was his strategic and political grasp of the situation. Essentially, with exceptions like the Battle of Trenton, Washington lost almost all the battles he fought as a tactical general. He realized early on that he did not have to win battles; he just had to prevent losing them so badly that he could not continue the fight. The insurgent wins as long as he can still fight. The British could not win unless they eliminated the ability of the revolutionists to fight. But Washington won the last battle at Yorktown, and that is the one that counted. Rush ran the hospitals for the Revolutionary Army and talked to many officers and enlisted men, and also observed much of the British military practices.
The President told McNamara that if the administration does not send the troops the Generals want, they will be blamed for any military failures that occur. If they do send all the troops that the Joint Chiefs wanted, they would be going far beyond the limits that the Defense Secretary recommended and the President would have preferred. JBJ felt he really had no political choice. He authorized the wanted troops further escalating the war. See his special assistant’s question about that decision in {617151}.
He was objecting to the current crop of senior military officer who have little experience in fighting and much in academic, strategic and technical training. Many however see him as a dinosaur who does not realized the complex nature of the modern military missions. In general, we have won almost all of our fighting battles but often failed in our maintaining civil society, occupation, nation building, military procurement, preventing sexual assault of our own troops by our own soldiers, assuring mental health of our soldiers. Hackworth, detractors argue, wants to change what already works and ignore what does not.
Ivan Khrfistoforovich Bagramyan. Most militaries including ours have generally been trained and equipped for the last war and not the next war.
Abraham Lincoln was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War—its bloodiest war and its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis. In doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy.
