One comment uses the Vicksburg campaign to show how failed operational experiments may look crackpot until a workable combination emerges. Before the successful movement, Union forces tried canals and minor waterways around the Confederate position. The eventual approach ran gunboats and transports past the Vicksburg batteries at night, then used them to cross troops downstream. The comparison is a reminder that repeated experimentation can be rational when geography blocks a direct approach.
Notable Point · 3:10-3:31
Vicksburg rewarded repeated riverine experimentation
A Vicksburg comment shows how canals and minor waterways could look crackpot before gunboats and transports found a workable route past the batteries.