During our tour of some of the western Civil War battlefields, I came to suspect that God was working “behind the scenes” to keep the United States together. There seemed to be too many coincidences.
Confederate Mistakes
Sometimes, it was a matter of poor decisions on the part of the Confederate generals. For example during the battle of control of Champion’s Hill in Mississippi, the train carrying ammunition supplies was inexplicably ordered back to Vicksburg after two days of fighting. The Confederates lost…because they ran out of ammunition.
Grant’s Luck
At least twice, General Grant owed his life to “coincidence.” He liked to go out scouting on his own, and he dressed like one of the regular soldiers. Once, some Confederate soldiers saw someone dressed like a common Union soldier out in a field. They asked their commander if they should shoot him, and the commander told them to do whatever they wanted. They chose not to shoot. If they had, Grant would’ve certainly been killed and the war might have taken a whole different direction.
Another time, Grant had escaped onto a riverboat and sat down to rest on a chair or a kind of chaise lounge. Within seconds after he stood up, a musket ball penetrated the cabin and hit exactly where his head had been only a moment before.
Enlisted Hijinks
On a lighter note, our ancestor’s letters tell of a time when their unit was training for many hours a day in the hot sun. The soldiers didn’t appreciate the fact that they were required to perform maneuver after maneuver with no relief from the heat while the commander enjoyed the shade of a tree. One night, several of the soldiers snuck out and cut all the branches off the tree.
No word on the commander’s reaction or the consequences, but hopefully that commander learned that a good leader doesn’t expect more of his troops than he’s willing to endure.
