Posted on Apr 11, 2014
Were General ranks just handed out during the Civil War era?
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It just seems like they would instantly promote leaders to General during this era due to the high number of extremely young Generals that you hear of. maybe some of you history buffs can enlighten me on how that was possible?
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 4
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In some cases, you are partially correct... I believe that there were many more general officers (as a percentage of the force) during that time then at any other time in our history. "Generalships" were in some cases the result of political favors and/or cronyism, but the vast majority of the appointments stemmed from attrition. This was from both battlefield looses and also it was also not uncommon during that period for a General to be relieved and replaced on the spot.
It's also very important to realize that much of your perception may be based on the fact that most of us studying the Civil War period are focusing much more equally on BOTH armies (CSA and GAR) vs any other period when you would naturally consider only the number of General Officers in the US Forces.
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CW2 Jonathan Kantor
I completely agree. Both armies operated very similarly save for one difference that may have been the losing factor for the Davis administration: Davis made his unqualified friends Generals and Lincoln used the standing command structure and listened to his GOs. He also would fire them if they were incompetent, Davis did not.
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Officers were, in a way, given the promotion to General as an appointment back then. Taking a new position could earn a star and a lot of the time, old retirees coming back in to serve would be given a high rank as an enticement. Give a man a Division, he may want to come in and get his star. Also, we had far fewer ranks back then.
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