Band books

I was glad of this slow ride with Thompson, for it gave me an
opportunity to study him. I wondered then and afterward why a man of his
general intelligence, industry, and special knowledge of the details of
farming, should fail of success when working for himself. He knew ten
times as much about the business as I did, and yet he had not succeeded
in an independent position. Some quality, like broadness of mind or
directness of purpose, was lacking, which made him incapable of carrying
out a plan, no matter how well conceived. He was like Hooker at
Chancellorsville, whose plan of campaign was perfect, whose orders were
carried out with exactness, whose army fell into line as he wished, and
whose enemy did the obvious thing, yet who failed terribly because the
responsibility of the ultimate was greater than he could bear. As second
in command, or as corps leader, he was superb; in independent command he
was a disastrous failure.
Thompson, then, was a Joe Hooker on a reduced plane,--good only to
execute another man's plans.


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