Both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis named prominent political leaders as generals to help rally their constituents and appease certain interests.
Some of these politicians were actually fairly solid commanders -- Frank Blair, John Logan, James Garfield and the woefully underrated John McClernand come to mind for the North, while John C. Breckingridge, who had been James Buchanans vice president, Richard Taylor and Thomas Hindman were all competent Confederate political generals.
But most politicians in uniform were disasters in command. Political generals routinely appear on almost every list of the most incompetent Civil War commanders -- Nathaniel Banks, Ben Butler, John Fremont, Dan Sickles, Felix Zollicoffer, John Floyd, Gideon Pillow.
The late conservative scholar M.E. Bradford may have had a point that the war was lengthened and the lives of many Union soldiers wasted since the Lincoln administration often seemed more concerned with ensuring that its generals had the correct political beliefs rather than actual ability. Henry Halleck, the military theorist who was Lincolns chief of staff, said that giving politicians command was little better than murder.
Political generals were on my mind this week when the state Department of Veterans Affairs offered a first glimpse of the initial inductees for the new state Veterans Hall of Fame. Some of the names that were being floated included more than 20 former governors -- including a host of Gilded Age governors who had served in the Confederate army -- and Gov. Rick Scott who served 29 months in the Navy. Scott, to his credit, struck his name from the list.
On Friday, after a mini storm of controversy, the Scott administration retreated and the state Department of VA -- led by Scott's former chief of staff Mike Prendergast -- went back to the drawing board. The Cabinet was set to look at the first inductees on Tuesday, but that vote will now be pushed back.
The list drew heavy fire from Democratic Senate Leader Pro Tempore Arthenia Joyner of Tampa, one of the leading liberals in the Legislature, who took aim at the list for having too many white males and some who fought for the Confederacy to boot. But conservatives should also have problems with the first draft of the list.
Its a troubling sign that a Republican administration, led by a governor who based his campaign on the fact that he is a businessman and not a politician, was all set to honor men who are, on the whole, better known for their political offices instead of their military service. Some of the former governors on the initial list should be honored -- for example, Edward Perry. Despite being struck with typhoid fever during the Gettysburg campaign when his Florida Brigade fought gallantly and suffered heavy losses, Perry, governor from 1885 through 1889, was a solid brigade commander for the Confederacy who had a knack for being wounded.
But other former governors served in the military with honor, if not distinction. While critics have focused on Abraham K. Allison being included on the list since he was jailed during Reconstruction for harassing African-Americans, most of his service to the Confederacy was in political offices and not as a soldier, despite his brief service in the Second Seminole War.
Its puzzling that Henry Laurens Mitchell, who resigned his post as attorney general in 1861 to fight for the South, was included on the initial list. In 1863, during the middle of the war, Mitchell left the army and headed right back into politics. Madison Starke Perry, who was governor from 1857 until 1861, was also included despite the fact that he also resigned from the Confederate service in 1863, though he was in poor health and would die before the end of the war.
There are plenty of Florida politicians who can be honored for their service in the armed forces, and many of them did much more than some of the Gilded Age governors. Robert Wyche Davis, a Florida congressman best known for being Henry Flaglers candidate against eventual winner Napoleon Bonaparte Broward in the 1904 Democratic gubernatorial primary, was honored with the Southern Cross during the Civil War for heroism.
Longtime First Coast Congressman Charles Bennett helped fight against the Japanese occupation of the Philippines and, while there, contracted polio which paralyzed his legs. After more than a year performing rehabilitation at a hospital, Bennett walked the rest of his life with crutches, braces and a cane.
James Patton Anderson, who represented Florida at the Confederate constitutional convention, went on to be a fine division commander in the Southern army. George T. Ward, who was elected to the Confederate provisional congress in 1861, would be killed at the head of a regiment of Florida soldiers in Virginia the next year.
Conservatives should know better than anyone that there are more important things than politics, and more productive members of society than politicians. Thats been a central tenet of American conservatism for decades and one that is increasingly being lost. There are more retired veterans in Florida than in any other state -- and, of course, most of them never held or sought office. For 15 years, Florida has honored the states Medal of Honor recipients with a wall in the state Capitol. Its galling to see politicians advanced to the front while other proud veterans were not included.
Platoon Sergeant Ernest Ivy "Boots" Thomas led the attack on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima and was one of six Marines who raised the first American flag over it, for which he was awarded the Navy Cross. Eight days after raising that flag, he was killed in combat. He was only 20.
Based out of Mayport on the First Coast, Navy pilot Captain Scott Speicher was the first American casualty of the Gulf War. His body was not recovered until 2009, 18 years after his plane was shot down over Iraq.
Born in Pensacola, Air Force legend Chappie James, probably best known for being the first African-American to become a four-star general, flew more than 100 missions in the Korean War and almost 80 over North Vietnam. Joyner said James should be included in the state Veterans' Hall of Fame -- and his record would be worthy of the honor.
Senior Master Sgt. Sherry Lynn Olds, from Panama City, was a decorated member of the Air Force and an early casualty in the war on terror. In 1998, at the age of 40, after years of service, Olds was killed in the embassy bombing in Kenya, East Africa.
If the list is to include generals, Joe Stillwell and Roy Geiger led American forces in the Pacific during World War II. Edmund Kirby Smith was a full general in the Confederate army and, after the war, was an educator to help build the South for future generations.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Veterans from Florida have assembled a long and honored history of which we should all be proud. The governor's team and the state VA department have said the list will be changed. Lets hope that it is -- and remember that in the military, as in most aspects of life, its not the politicians who push us to greatness, its ordinary people.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
