Jefferson Davis and His Generals: The Failure of Confederate Command in the West (Modern War Studies)

ISBN: 0700605673

Author: Woodworth, Steven E.

Condition: New

Winner: Fletcher Pratt AwardJefferson Davis is a historical figure who provokes strong passions among scholars. Through the years historians have placed him at both ends of the spectrum: some have portrayed him as a hero, others have judged him incompetent.In Jefferson Davis and His Generals, Steven Woodworth shows that both extremes are accurate-Davis was both heroic and incompetent. Yet neither viewpoint reveals the whole truth about this complicated figure. Woodworths portrait of Davis reveals an experienced, talented, and courageous leader who, nevertheless, undermined the Confederacys cause in the trans-Appalachian west, where the South lost the war.At the wars outbreak, few Southerners seemed better qualified for the post of commander-in-chief. Davis had graduated from West Point, commanded a combat regiment in the Mexican War (which neither Lee nor Grant could boast), and performed admirably as U.S. Senator and Secretary of War. Despite his credentials, Woodworth argues, Davis proved too indecisive and inconsistent as commander-in-chief to lead his new nation to victory.As Woodworth shows, however, Davis does not bear the sole responsibility for the Souths defeat. A substantial part of that burden rests with Daviss western generals. Bragg, Beauregard, Van Dorn, Pemberton, Polk, Buckner, Hood, Forrest, Morgan, and the Johnstons (Albert and Joseph) were a proud, contentious, and uneven lot. Few could be classed with the likes of a Lee or a Jackson in the east. Woodworth assesses their relations with Davis, as well as their leadership on and off the battlefields at Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, and Atlanta, to demonstrate their complicity in the Confederacys demise.Extensive research in the marvelously rich holdings of the Jefferson Davis Association at Rice University enriches Woodworths study. He provides superb analyses of western military operations, as well as some stranger-than-fiction tales: Van Dorns shocking death, John Hood and Sally Preston's bizarre romance, Gideon Pillows undignified antics, and Franklin Cheathams drunken battlefield behavior. Most important, he has avoided the twin temptations to glorify or castigate Davis and thus restored balance to the evaluation of his leadership during the Civil War.