President Davis & the Army of Tennessee at Missionary Ridge- What Would You do?

[ewc]

The scene: Headquarters of General Braxton Bragg and the Army of Tennessee on Missionary Ridge, beseiging the Union Army of the Cumberland holed up in Chattanooga, the evening of 9 October, 1863.

The background: In late September, Bragg has turned the tables on Rosecrans driving into Georgia and smashed his army at Chickamauga. He feels his own losses are too severe to briskly follow up this signal Confederate victory, much to the disgust of his subordinate commanders, who are ill at this lost opportunity, consider this the last straw and apply to Richmond for relief from Bragg. Bragg likewise has begun censuring and relieving officers, including two corps commanders (Generals Polk and Hindman) and one of his two cavalry division commanders (Genl NB Forrest). President Davis feels compelled to travel west to learn more and arrest this ugly and most unfortunate development. He has consulted with Bragg, who has offered his resignation. He now consults with the chief generals, all of whom advise Davis that Bragg's best service to the Confederacy would be done elsewhere.

The dilemma: President Davis likes and trusts Bragg. He is a proven commander of unquestioned loyalty and courage (save by Forrest, but that is another matter). He has just won a great victory when it was most needed, and by all evidence, has the Union army in Chattanooga on the ropes. But the unhappiness of the commanders of the Army of Tennessee with Bragg is fulminant and liable to grossly degenerate, such that there is no question that something must be done to restore confidence and stabilize the command situation.

The players:
-DH Hill, lieutenant general commanding a corps, not close to Bragg, very outspoken in his condemnation of his commander, but a proven commander at the corps level and in independent command;
-Leonidas Polk, longtime Davis crony, lieutenant general commanding a corps, but vociferously at odds with Bragg and relieved by him, has exercised independent command before, but not expertly;
-James Longstreet, lieutenent general commanding his corps sent from the East, not impressed by Bragg and very distraught with the conditions in the Army of Tennessee;
-William Joseph Hardee- lieutenant general commanding a corps, longtime campaigner under Bragg, trained and competent, not the dashing cavalier, not outspoken but not a supporter of Bragg;
-Simon Bolivar Buckner- major general commanding a corps, like most of these men, on Bragg's poop list, has served with Bragg off and on, though not as shrill as the others, like them believes Bragg might best help the cause as a Union prisoner of war.

The question: You are Jefferson Davis, what do you do?

Options:
-Retain Bragg in command, and find other jobs for the unhappiest of the generals. More than any of the generals present, Bragg has Davis's trust. He has just won a major battle, the present tactical situation appears favorable. Can you remove this general now, no matter how incomplete the victory might have been? Historically, this is what Davis did- retain Bragg. But should he have done this?

-Remove Bragg and elevate one of the corps commanders. Longstreet and Hardee have already declined the offer, anyway neither has exercised independent command previously. Hill is new to this sector, but has command experience, however, he has no friends in Davis or Richmond, and a way of calling a spade a ******* spade even if it were just a shovel. Polk has the experience, but has not demonstrated the aptitude for independent command. Buckner is junior and less experienced at higher command.

-Remove Bragg and bring in an outside, experienced commander. Davis would love to have a Lee or Lee himself take over, but Lee does not care to leave Virginia save for forays into Maryland and Pennsylvania, and besides, is too valuable where he is. Beauregard is safely out of the way at Charleston where the waves he makes can be redirected out to sea. The corps commanders themselves want JE Johnston but the very idea gives Davis convulsions. Davis has brough the currently exchanged and unemployed Lieutenant General JC Pemberton west with him, hoping to find him a job, but realizes he is too unpopular with both the army and citizenry to even give him a corps command, let alone higher command.

So what to do?? What would you do?

[ewc]

Well, this was supposed to be a poll- but it didn't work and I don't care to redo all this- so i will leave it as an open question. Sorry folks, as i was hoping to have it as a fun thing. Oh well.


Two of Davis's options i didn't mention, because of the nature of the polling devise I will now. When i referred to the generals' desire to have Joe Johnston as their commander, it is so and what finally even Davis came to realize needed to be done after Bragg again failed him. But he could not bring himself to name Johnston on Missionary Ridge and give him so much authority. This ultimately condemned Bragg to the command. As far as the generals were concerned, if they couldn't have Joe Johnston, they would have taken the other Johnston, Albert Sidney, stuffed and tied onto a horse, as preferable to Bragg.

There is also the question of Davis himself staying and taking over command. One of his great advantages as president was also being an educated and veteran soldier. Many in the South, in fact the Provisional Congress that elevated him to the top executive office were heartened and did so with this in mind. Davis never took the field, though he held the possibility as sort of a trump card. Personally, i think his staying with the Army of Tennessee superceding Bragg and with Bragg in another quarter would have had a most salutory effect on the army and people of the western Confederacy. There is no evidence that he considered this however, though I'm otherwise certain he accepted the office of the presidency with this availability in mind. By this point of the war, no doubt, he considered it inopportune and impolitic to be away from Richmond and the vultures, naysayers, and misguided imps who would lead the country astray if he was not stationed there ever-watchful to see to things. There is also the fact that the leaders of the Army of Tennessee were now much more experienced than he was himself, and therefore, though woefully in the dark as to his intentions for the army, were better able to guide it. It was just a matter of having the right man in place. He had the man at one time- Albert Sidney Johnston, but had him no longer, and would have to find the next best thing, not being himself. In a way, Bragg was his surrogate to command the army- it came down to trust, and not having anyone available he trusted more.

[ewc]

Well, thanks bosses, for fixing the poll thing for me. Much appreciated.

A minor clarification or two I would like to make. Though Davis asked various generals about taking over (except Johnston) and none came forward, he could have, had he wished, named any of them to the command, including Lee from Virginia. DH Hill was not offered the command, he was probably the only one at the meeting who would have jumped at it. (He was sent back to North Carolina, more dyspeptic and bitter than ever.)

Also Bishop Polk wasn't at the meeting, relations between him and Bragg had so deteriorated that Polk was unceremoniously ousted by Bragg and Davis ordered him to Atlanta to see to the defenses there for the nonce. I include him here as he is a major player in the Army of Tennessee and was with the army during this trying post-Chickamauga time. Also his anti-Bragg influence was alive and kicking in the army; he had written directly to his old pal Davis about the deplorable conditions then extent in this army. After also hearing from Bragg that it was time for a clean slate of generals, Davis knew he had better get out there pretty dang quick.

[gary]

Bragg is an excellent administrator and organizer. But he's no fighter and doesn't inspire his men. I think Old Warhorse Pete is overrated and didn't do too well when operating independently (Siege of Suffolk & Siege of Knoxville). I'm not convinced that Polk was all that good either.

So, it'll be a toss between Hardee, Hill or Buckner. I don't know enough about them to even know which to choose. I think Buckner would conduct himself well and Grant thought that if Buckner was in charge at the inception of Donelson, he would not have had such a hard time.

[manofdreds]

I'm of the opinioned that Bragg should've been sacked and if JJohnston was unfavorable to the administration then why not get Kirby Smith to command. He seems to be the obvious choice.

On several occasions during the war rumors flew around that A.P. Hill would be heading to the west but Lee refused to let him go. Not that Hill would have done it but I think had he remained in suitable health and with the generals already in Tennessee, he'd have meshed nicely. Provided he and Forrest did not shoot each other. Personally I'd have left Johnston in charge.

[pvt gauss]

Bragg should of been asking his questions from the Mayors House in Chattanooga not from on top of some hill [no pun intended]. the city should have been his. Forrest at Chickamauga: "Every hour lost is worth a thosand men"
His loss of that city afterward was the death nell of the cause.
can you tell Bragg ain`t my favorite

[lrd89]

Well since Longstreet turned it down, I'd say DH Hill.

[larry_cockerham]

The folks at NC State in Raleigh saw fit to name an eighteen story library for DH Hill. He must have been worth something, which put him a step above Bragg.

[lrd89]

18 stories? I'd get lost for days.