Mark Askew

Military Historian | Expert on Strategy, Operational Art, and Concepts

[Mark Askew @markaskew137]

Did they model Ron Swanson after this guy?

[Mark Askew @markaskew137]

The comments are gold.

[Angry Staffer @Angry_Staffer]

Do yourself a favor and read these comments.

Might be the best comment section I’ve ever seen

[Mark Askew @markaskew137]

🤣

[AngryFatWhiteGuy @AngryFatYtGuy]

This dude had the deadliest weapon on the battlefield.

[Mark Askew @markaskew137]

A fun research term I have found: “universal adversarial perturbations”

[Mark Askew @markaskew137]

I have to admit to being partial to Bonjanglestan. Long live the pimento cheese chicken sandwich!

[Josh Barzon @JoshuaBarzon]

I pledge allegiance to the Chipotle Dominion

[Mark Askew @markaskew137]

Nothing like a 0730 in the morning hockey practice!

[Mark Askew @markaskew137]

This is why we have the internet.

[National Park Service @NatlParkService]

This is the ideal marmot body. You may not understand it. But this is what peak performance looks like.

[Mark Askew @markaskew137]

@Md1819 @history_dame I could be wrong but I think Bragg requested additional manpower and Lee suggested sending Longstreet since the situation in the west was getting bad enough for him to be concerned and he couldn’t use his forces anyway because of the sustainment issue.

[Mark Askew @markaskew137]

@Md1819 @history_dame Couldn’t sustain them logistically. This was a frequent problem for Lee. It’s also why about half of Longstreet’s corps wasn’t at Chancellorsville either.

[Mark Askew @markaskew137]

@Md1819 The main thing to consider is if some small but persistent force of guerillas got started and forced the North to keep the war going doing counter-insurgency. It would have been very messy and difficult (as reconstruction showed).

[Mark Askew @markaskew137]

@Md1819 @2ndMississippi Davis couldn’t convince his cabinet nor Joe Johnston to continue the war because the damaged industries that Wilson had attacked made further conventional resistance impossible. Davis was open to irregular warfare, his remaining political and military advisors not so much

[Mark Askew @markaskew137]

@Md1819 So first, I think you’re right continuing resistance was always going to be shaky and maybe delaying the inevitable by weeks or at best months. There were two sources of potential
Manpower though and Grant and Wilson worried about both: 1) paroled rebels 2) arming slaves

[Mark Askew @markaskew137]

@Md1819 The degree to which that succeeded is contested by historians. Some say it worked, others that it backfired. I think it was probably very regional
And context specific. Anyway, not arguing just giving some more context on Union thinking about it

[Mark Askew @markaskew137]

@Md1819 You’re right in that the blockade running was minimal by 64. The other element in Union thinking is that the destruction was needed to psychologically shock the Southern civilian population into quitting the war. Grant emphasized the psychological effects in his orders to Wilson.

[Mark Askew @markaskew137]

@Md1819 @2ndMississippi You’re not wrong, but it misses that the war did not have to end there. It did because West Point trained military and civilian leaders in the South did not believe guerilla style warfare was a legitimate pathway to independence.

[Mark Askew @markaskew137]

@Md1819 @2ndMississippi Mobile mattered because it was the last gulf port for blockage runners. And initially it was supposed to be the launch point for an invasion of central and central Alabama to destroy the industry there (that Wilson got to first)

[Mark Askew @markaskew137]

@Md1819 @2ndMississippi The point wasn’t necessarily to hold out long term, but use the fortifications and the associated factories to rally any remaining support, rearm to the extent possible, and prevent a clean end to the war.

[Mark Askew @markaskew137]

@Md1819 @2ndMississippi There were major fortifications at Selma, Columbus, Macon, and Augusta that were all connected via rail with Alabama and GA’s war-industries. Davis wanted to rally Conf. Supporters to fill out these fortifications.

[Mark Askew @markaskew137]

@Md1819 @2ndMississippi I just finished my last page edits on Wilson’s raid (really his whole career) with LSU press, they did not know the war was going to end as abruptly as it did. The other factor that Wilson explicitly used in his correspondence was the need to destroy any strategic industries

[Mark Askew @markaskew137]

I feel like the Kelly Clarkson/Brooklyn puppet store incident is the most Brooklyn thing ever. Apparently no one is cool enough to own a 15k hand-crafted puppet. Hipsters going to hipster.