No Such Thing as “Luck” Happy Saturday!

I hope all my American friends had a great Thanksgiving. I was fortunate enough to spend it with my family. I was more unfortunate to watch the Napoleon movie; I plan on writing a review about the movie later next week. I am no fan or critic of Napoleon; instead, the film’s interpretation of Napoleon was unfamiliar to me. I could tell Ridley Scott cared little for Napoleon’s military career.

Today marks the anniversary of the battle of Missionary Ridge. It was a famous scene of the Civil War as Union soldiers advanced without orders from their positions below the ridge. It remains controversial whether Grant had anything to do with the assault on the crest. He wanted his Army of Tennessee to outflank the Confederates on their right but could not advance beyond Cleburne’s men. Based upon my own interpretation of events, Grant did plan to attack Missionary Ridge after seeing some movement atop the ridge, and he planned an attack as early as 18 November. Meigs even corroborates this view as Grant wanted lines reformed at the bottom of the ridge, but that did not take place, surprising Grant. No matter the truth, Grant placed his soldiers in positions of success that allowed for a great Union victory at Chattanooga.

This past week, I finished the second volume of Kenneth Williams's work, and I am now reading his third volume on Grant's campaigns out west. I am about done with Remini's first volume on Andrew Jackson and Churchill's abridged biography of John Churchill. It was terrible to read about how many American soldiers died attempting to help wounded British soldiers after the battle of New Orleans. Despite Jackson's lopsided victory against the British, he remained unpopular in New Orleans by maintaining martial law in New Orleans. Only after the public heard about the ratification of the Treaty of Ghent did the public come to appreciate his well-fought victory.

The new edits to my dissertation move slowly but surely as I find more primary works to use in my dissertation. Gordon Rhea looked at a few chapters to provide constructive criticism of my dissertation. These new edits will help me get it published in the future. Finally, I am still working on the second chapter of More Than Grit.

Question of the Week: What are you most thankful for this year?