I've been following this thread with interest but Norse I think its quite wrong to extrapolate from Fort Donelson that having 'prepared defences WAS a trap'. It was'nt the prepared defences that was the problem it was that there was no line of retreat for the defenders. With prepared positions outs...

If, for example Grant had decided to continue his drinking binge and resigned they liklely would have had this problem and Im sure Jeff Davis, RE Lee, et al would have found a way to convert these into divisions. The 20K plus troops from Ft, Doneldson would have been a nice start on having too many...

To bk6583: Please tell me a big ACW battle (ours was 99.000 men against 77.000 men) were the winning side lost more than 50% of the men (from 99.000 down to 48.000) while the losing side was was almost anihilated, losing about 80% of his force (from 77.000 men down to 16.000 men). A.S. Johnston had...