June 25, 1876

[Steve Blair]

Mackenzie is a deeply fascinating individual, and an example of one of the talented officers who rose without clear political patrons (Custer had Sheridan, Miles had Sherman, Crook had a combination, and so on). I blundered into him some years back when I got my hands on a piece of historical fiction about the Remolino raid (by 'Red' Reeder...can't remember the title offhand although I still have it somewhere) and just never stopped researching. Actually working on a novel about him in my spare time...along with other projects.

Mackenzie is especially noteworthy for the low number of casualties he suffered in his operations. In fact, his highest losses came when he had to support Crook in the later part of the Great Sioux War. He never divided his forces, trained his men and officers hard (something he picked up from Upton in the Civil War), and seemed to have a good, almost instinctive, grasp of Indian warfare. He tolerated no cliques in his officer corps, weeded out the bad ones, and tried his best to get his good officers promoted. His men considered him a hard ass, but they'd also follow him anywhere.

[120mm]

MacKenzie was the Anti-Sanchez.

I learned about good ole' Ranald Slidell from one of the best leaders I've ever met in the Army, COL(ret) David L. Porter. Being raised from a young pup, at the knee of Porter, and reading about MacKenzie, ruined me for life. I have become extremely intolerant of managers in uniform.

My favorite quote attributed to R.S. MacKenzie, upon being made the youngest Corps Commander in U.S. History during the Civil War, at the tender age of 23:

"It's about time."

It's somewhat interesting to note that he had an ignoble ending. Nevertheless, my youngest is named after him.

[Steve Blair]

There's still some reasonable debate about Mackenzie's "end." Conventional historical thought had him going insane due to syphilis...while more recent analysis (headed by Charles Robinson) attributes his insanity to PTSD. I'm actually in the Robinson camp on this one. There is no real contemporary discussion of syphilis with Mackenzie (and he was unpopular enough with other officers that there would have been mention of it somewhere), and he certainly had other signs of PTSD. Combine that with the sunstroke he suffered as a child and the picture of his last days becomes a very sad thing. I honestly think he was one of those officers who gave everything he had to the Army (including his sanity at the end of the day).