All for the Regiment

"All for the Regiment traces how the amateur soldiers who formed the Army of the Ohio bridged widely varying backgrounds to organize themselves into individual regiments of remarkable strength and cohesion. Successive commanders Robert Anderson, William T. Sherman, and Don Carlos Buell all failed to integrate those regiments into an effective organization, however. The result was a decentralized and elastic army that was easily disrupted and difficult to command - but also nearly impossible to destroy in combat.". "Exploring the army's behavior at minor engagements such as Rowlett's Station and Logan's Cross Roads, as well as major battles such as Shiloh and Perryville, Prokopowicz shows how its regiment-oriented culture prevented the army from experiencing decisive results - either complete victory or catastrophic defeat - on the battlefield. Regimental solidarity was at once the Army of the Ohio's greatest strength, he argues, and its most dangerous vulnerability.". "More than a traditional campaign narrative, the book uses the Army of the Ohio's example to advance an innovative argument regarding battlefield performance in the Civil War. How an army fared in battle was primarily determined not by the skill of its commander or the technological sophistication of its weapons, Prokopowicz says, but by the way in which it was recruited and organized."--BOOK JACKET.