However, what is known Mahan’s instruction contained Jomini. Beyond that, some alumni, such as Lee, had studied Jomini thoroughly, and may have been swayed by his teachings. General Thomas Jackson had utilized his years of leisure between the Mexican and Civil Wars, when he was professor mathematics at the Virginia Military Institute, to study a wider examination of military history to include Napoleon. Additionally, Henry W. “Old Brains” Halleck, one of Mahan’s favorite pupils, wrote his own version of Jomini’s The Art of War called The Elements of Military Art, published in 1846, and translated Jomini’s multivolume biography of Napoleon.
Beyond the military leadership, others may have been influenced by Jomini’s theory during the war. President Lincoln, during the first year in office, became a voracious reader of military works. Library of Congress records show that Lincoln checked out Halleck’s Jominian influenced Elements of …show more content…
This was understandable as the Confederacy needed to retain all the territory of the seceding states as grounds for recruitment and sources of supply for its army, as well as demonstrating sovereignty over a clearly defined realm that would help the cause for foreign recognition.
This continued until April of 1862, at the battle of Shiloh and Fair Oaks, the South went over to the limited offensive when certain of its leaders believed that the Confederacy’s politically defensive purpose in the war, to protect its claim to independence, did not necessarily require a defensive strategy. Most notable among the Confederate leaders ready to break loose from the inheritance of defensive military thought were General Lee, at the time military advisor to Confederate President Davis, and General Jackson, commander of a small Confederate force in the Shenadoah