General McDowell states, "I felt myself to be a horse who's ordered to gallop while still hitched to a post." What do you think he means? Why does he feel that way?
I think he means that he is given orders that he can't fulfill yet. A horse can not start galloping when he is hitched to the pole, you would need to untie him first. He probably feels this way because he was suppose to defeat the Confederates and take Richmond their capitol all within ninety days because they were ninety day enlisted men. This is very difficult and takes precise planning and with the ninety day men were allvery new to war so it was difficult
also if they rebelled or did not act on his exact order it would look bad on his part, the soldiers would do what they wanted to do at times and this only made the General look bad. He has to make decisions that will be the difference between life or death for many people nd when he is expected to do this in a matter of days, that is really stressful. They have not given him the certain tools he needs to be succesful, like time, more experienced troops, and to not have to do so much of the work all by himself. I bet he would feel more reassured if he had someone helping him out a little more on what he could do.
Thanks for replying Kassidy. I think you are right about the orders, it must be rather frustrating as well. Everyone expects great things from him yet the troops are not ready, their equipment is not ready, and McDowell does not seem to think that he is ready. Not a confident position! You sure are right about the planning that is needed. Thanks again for joining us.
I think he means that he is given orders that he can't fulfill yet. A horse can not start galloping when he is hitched to the pole, you would need to untie him first. He probably feels this way because he was suppose to defeat the Confederates and take Richmond their capitol all within ninety days because they were ninety day enlisted men. This is very difficult and takes precise planning and with the ninety day men were allvery new to war so it was difficult
ReplyDeletealso if they rebelled or did not act on his exact order it would look bad on his part, the soldiers would do what they wanted to do at times and this only made the General look bad. He has to make decisions that will be the difference between life or death for many people nd when he is expected to do this in a matter of days, that is really stressful. They have not given him the certain tools he needs to be succesful, like time, more experienced troops, and to not have to do so much of the work all by himself. I bet he would feel more reassured if he had someone helping him out a little more on what he could do.
DeleteThanks for replying Kassidy. I think you are right about the orders, it must be rather frustrating as well. Everyone expects great things from him yet the troops are not ready, their equipment is not ready, and McDowell does not seem to think that he is ready. Not a confident position! You sure are right about the planning that is needed. Thanks again for joining us.
ReplyDeleteI think I understand that kassidy good job
ReplyDeleteI think he feels that way because he can't really fight with green troops so thats why he feels like that.
ReplyDeleteI think that he said that because he is the orderer and he is being told to do stuff when he is still doing something else at the moment!
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