Another, in a long line, of thought provoking E-mails in from Mr. Sharkey.

Mr. Sharkey wrote:

"I was at an all day seminar on the Red River Campaign and the term "Dirt General" was brought up and the fact there was not one "decisive" battle in the war. A "Dirt General is one who thinks in terms of defense and occupying places and land but not decisively breaking the enemies will in battle.

The speaker was General Parker Hills, a former War College lecturer on Forrest, and he laid the cause for this thinking (by both North and South, particularly at the executive level) on Lincoln's Chief military advisor, General Henry Hallack. Hallack had translated Jomini's Vie de Napoleon in 1846. Jomini saw the objective of war to hold and occupy territory not defeat the enemy in battle.

This lead to both Lincoln (under Hallack's influence) and Davis, who had studied it and based his western fort plan on it to withhold troops from commands engaged in offensive operations.

Hills claimed the American military reverted to this thinking after WWII and it is reflected in both Korea and Vietnam and the planning for WWIII in central Europe (had the Russians come through the Fulda Gap). He went on the say it took 15 years after Vietnam for it to finally be ended in the first Gulf war. He to went on to say, he thinks "Dirt" thinking maybe coming back to detriment of the military."

This is not an idle undertaking if you plan on following through with the links.

In fact, this will take many books and, many years of thought, if you have not already started...

--WP