Death Comes to a General "While the Shout of Victory Was Ringing In His Ears."

[@FuzzyWuzzy75]

Excellent work once again Ron! The Confederates had some excellent officers in the west such as Patrick Cleburn ("the Stonewall Jackson of the West") and Nathan Bedford Forrest, William Hardee, John Singleton Mosby and others but they also had some real bone heads too. Arguably the biggest bone head Confederate General in the west was Braxton Bragg who commanded the Confederate Army of Tennessee through some of it's most crucial campaigns. Braxton Bragg was the Confederate version of Captain Sobel from Band of Brothers. There are some down right uncanny similarities between General Bragg and Captain Sobel but Confederate President Jefferson Davis seemed to have an affinity for the man that he could not shake and it would cost the Confederates dearly. By most accounts of the men and many in the officer's corps of the Army of Tennessee Braxton Bragg was just not a likeable man. He was often of mediocre health at best and had all kinds of nagging infirmities that kept him grumpy and ornery. Bragg quarreled with many of his subordinate officers and even blamed the rank and file men for many of his failures and short commings. They said of Bragg that he had an uncanny knack for rescuing defeat from the jaws of victory and the history books would agree. Bragg often kept the men of the ranks and his officer's corps alike in a constant state of low morale. Arguably the men of the Army of Tennessee were tougher soldiers than those of the Army of Northern Virginia that Robert E. Lee commanded. Many of the men of the Army of Tennessee were born and raised on the frontiers and you had to be one tough son of a bitch to survive on the frontier in early American history. But what good are tough hard fighting soldiers when their officer's corps is dysfunctional from the top down? As a life long resident, born and raised in North Carolina, I always presumed that Fort Bragg was given it's name to mock the Confederacy. I had no other reason to explain why the US Army would name one of it's largest bases after one of the Confederacy's worst generals. It would seem to me that if modern "progressives" wanted to mock the Confederate States of America they should have not changed the name of Ft. Bragg to Ft. Liberty lol.

[@marksaucier]

Fort Gay in honor of Roger Wicker

[@tomjones2202]

I love what you do and I look forward to each of your posts. Isn't it interesting that ONE inch or ONE second in the right direction and yes, he would lived to fight again,, but we'll never know.

[@davide9658]

Thanks for your interesting account of Gen Little and his unfortunate demise and of the Battle of Iuka.

[@TermiteUSA]

Excellent, Ron. Thanks.

[@mattpiepenburg8769]

Another gem

[@oldgeezerproductions]

Another really great pieces to resurrected the memory of a long dead hero. What magnificent valor and sacrifice, what talent and military prowess, what devotion to duty and all for one of the very worst causes that men had ever given their lives to. Yes, WHAT IF that bullet wouldn't have found its target and General Little had served on? WHAT IF indeed. The outcome would have been the same, there would have been victory for the United States of America in the end, but even more American young men would have been killed and horribly wounded and the South even more devastated. Who knows but through "The Butterfly Effect" even one or both of my own ancestors might have died (rather than almost died). It is amazing to me that talented and intelligent men, such as Little and R.E.L, who owed their education and careers and who should have been bound by their solemn military oath to defend the United States of America, would abandon all that to protect "The South's Particular Institution," again, one of the very worst causes that men have ever given their lives for. I honor men like General Little for being everything I would want to be, but am not, but I do not honor him for his choice to break his oath and fight against his (an my) country.

[@telbon8869]

So by your illogic, you do not honor those who broke their oaths to the U.S.- a country founded by the founding fathers who also broke their oaths to be loyal to Britain and King George??? People like you are sanctimonious hypocrites!!

[@utuber13x]

did this battle happen after Gettysburg or before? Love your show, great job.

[@lifeonthecivilwarresearchtrail]

Iuka occurred Sept, 19, 1862-two days after Antietam. The press focused its coverage on the dramatic stopping of Lee in Maryland, leaving Iuka in the shadows.

[@KevinCave-rj8eq]

I have never heard of this officer and I thought I knew most all of them both sides another great story on how many generals was lost in the war on both sides?

[@lifeonthecivilwarresearchtrail]

From a trusted source, the National Museum of Civil War Medicine: Almost 1,000 men served with the rank of general between both Union and Confederate armies throughout the Civil War. These men led troops on the front lines, made key decisions before, during, and after a battle, and were responsible for either victory or defeat. Needless to say, it is a pretty critical position and one that should be protected. 19% of Confederate generals died as a result of battle wounds and 49% were wounded. 8% of Union generals died of battle wounds, however we do not have an exact number of how many Union generals were wounded. www.civilwarmed.org/wounded-generals-part-i/

[@KevinCave-rj8eq]

@@lifeonthecivilwarresearchtrail thank you I was wondering about that so if that many generals died think about colonels majors and captains lieutenants??? A non-commissioned officers on down

[@jamesorth6460]

I guess Little would be known

[@garymorton-tg7nd]

ww2 Douglas MacArthur ARK BOY ha my dad AN ARK boy was with HIM in the Phillipines E O MORTON FIRST CAV Div ON LUZON