Life's Odyssey

In 1915, the passenger ship Lusitania was sunk by a German U-Boat sending shock waves through the world and the American nation. President Wilson warned the Germans to suspend such action on ships that were neutral, but the warning went unheeded and submarine warfare continued. Diplomatic relations were severed in 1917, and the President asked Congress to declare war on Germany.

Thomas Woodrow Wilson grew up in Augusta, Georgia, where he witnessed the Civil War and Reconstruction first hand. He saw the tragedies that came from war. The dying men, both Union and Confederate, seared a permanent vision of lose and destruction into his young mind.

It was only across the street from his residence that Wilson was able to view the yard in front of the First Presbyterian Church where his father preached. From this vantage point, the young boy was able to see the wounded soldiers being held in what was a hospital, as well as a prison yard of Union solders. During Reconstruction, he lived in Columbia, South Carolina.

He knew that when the United States entered the war it would be unlike any that had been seen before, even the Civil War on his home soil. He remembered how the Civil War affected a nation, and if possible, did not want it to relive another.

Woodrow Wilson rarely spoke in public about his time in Augusta as a child, the Civil War, or Reconstruction. He would, at times, speak to his wife Edith Bolling Galt Wilson about his innermost thoughts about the two wars and how they related to his ideas, but it was in very rare instances. He never liked to relive parts of those times.

An Overview of General Jackson’s Valley Campaign and the Operational Level of War

General Thomas J. Jackson’s, operational level of vision has been the topic of debate among scholars for many years. Jackson was a genius in the tactics of warfare; his valley campaign during the Civil War is widely studied as the exemplum of his military career.

Jackson’s successes, even though to some might have seemed failures, were successes nevertheless, a process that only he was able to see at the time. There were tactical failures to be sure, but disregarding these, he perfected his ability to become a leader at the operational level. Jackson kept his plans to himself, which often meant that those under him did not know what his primary objective would be, but he did.

Jackson was successful in most of his campaigns. During his campaign against Romney, he changed from a primary assault there, to one at another position that consisted of a Union outpost. An attack of the outpost was unsuccessful, but Jackson was still able to level a bridge and tear up miles of railroad track in the area. Because of this destruction, Jackson was able to maneuver the Union military forces out of Romney and occupy it without bringing on a confrontation. Within this method it can be determined that Jackson could use a roundabout way of directing an open-ended decision to the problem.

These approaches to the operational level can also be seen in other situations such as his ability to confuse his opponents without a physical confrontation. This confusion, caused an inability of the enemy to decipher Jackson’s true intentions. His psychological methods frustrated everyone, most importantly the Union officials in Washington.

Jackson’s intentions were to use risk-taking measures to solidify the safety of the civilian population and maintain control of the economy. He was attempting to keep Western Virginia from being severed from the Confederacy, and was using what methods he could to cause confusion.

Another element of surprise that Jackson used in the Valley campaign was the deep attack maneuver, which he tried to implement against Union forces. In the end, his actions ended in tactical misery, but the spirits of his troops remained high and the effect on the enemy was phenomenal.

Jackson was able to use the operational level far beyond the scope of most military leaders. Instances abound where he was able to envision possibilities far enough ahead that he was able to go beyond the traditional tactical methods. There were times he lost in a physical confrontation, but more often than not he was able to achieve another goal. That goal was one in which the operational mind was at work for the preservation of his smaller forces and the utter discomfort for his foe.