Talk:Winder

A famous (infamous?) Winder

Noted here because it's hard to see how it fits (nore conclusively) with the main text and the character. But there are some interesting points here!

But during the war of 1812-1814 between Britain and the United States, the American general appointed to defend the Cheasapeake front was one [1]William Winder.

A politicial rather than a military appointee, the indecisive and over-promoted Winder completely and signally failed to prevent the British from reaching Washington and burning down the city (including the White House). He had no skill and talent whatsoever as a general, and his dispositions at the decisive Battle of Bladensburg were so disastrous as to allow the British to rout a far larger American army which, more intelligently handled, could have stopped them there a long way from Washington. Bladensburg was also distinguished by a weak command structure where some American formations only answered to the officer or local commander who had raised them, and not to a Federally appointed commander such as Winder.

The result was a total rout and an open road to the White House...--

Another Winder - his son - served as a Confederate general during the Civil War and was accused, in his role as Inspector-General of prisons, of deliberate neglect, starvation, and ill-treatment of Union prisoners of war. It is possible that had he lived to see the Confederate surrender later in 1865, he would have been tried by the victors as a war criminal.[2]

AgProv 19:53, 4 September 2009 (UTC)