Civil War History - "What if..." DiscussionsWhat if they had attacked instead of digging in...? What if he was in charge of the army instead...? Did you ever have a "What if..." question, and you weren't sure where to post it? Here's the place to ask these speculative questions!
In late summer of 1863 Longstreet was sent to Georgia to reinforce Bragg's army. With Longstreet's help Bragg won the Battle of Chickamauga. Longstreet urged Bragg to follow up the Confederate and make another attack before the Union Army could get back to Chattanooga. Bragg would not do it. He did not listen to any of Longstreet's advice during the Chattanooga campaign. What if Jackson had been alive? Would he have been the one sent to reinforce Bragg? If so, with his fame and successes in the battles he had fought, could he have used his influence to convince Bragg to follow up the Confederate victory at Chickamauga? Could he have convinced Bragg to do things different in the Chattanooga campaign? Could he have done any better than Longstreet?
Jackson wouldn't have consulted. He'd have been long gone on Rosecrans' tail.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
I don't think anyone short of Bragg himself could change his mind or strategy. Even if Bragg would have changed his mind and pursued Old Rosey with vigor, he probably would have found too much time to think it over and would have changed his mind again.
It is hard to say what would have happened in that case. At least there would have been two, Jackson and Forrest that would have gone. There was so much miscommunication between Bragg and his other Generals that it would have been almost impossible for any one General to go over Bragg's head and push the AoC back into the Tennessee river. Both sides had suffered huge losses in the two days of hard fighting.
This question is like asking why Lee was not pressed after the third day at Gettysburg. Jackson may have pressed the issue but would he have gotten the support needed to finish the drive. Not too many Generals on both sides had the nerve to go against the commanding General. One only has to look at Hood at Franklin.
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Jackson only worked with one Commanding officer and that was Lee and they had a close relationship beyond just a military one. Jackson was a difficult person to work with and be around so I think their would have been a clash with Bragg once Jackson saw how incompetent he was.
I think Jackson and Bragg most likely would have not got along and Jackson would have either replace Bragg or went back to VA.
I see a little hope Jackson would have brought to Bragg in the west but the mutiny by Bragg's junior officer might have work if Jackson had been there to support it.
The only hope Jackson could have given was getting rid of Bragg.
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"States Rights are about States Wrongs" - Jesse Jackson
Jackson only worked with one Commanding officer and that was Lee and they had a close relationship beyond just a military one. Jackson was a difficult person to work with and be around so I think their would have been a clash with Bragg once Jackson saw how incompetent he was.
I think Jackson and Bragg most likely would have not got along and Jackson would have either replace Bragg or went back to VA.
I see a little hope Jackson would have brought to Bragg in the west but the mutiny by Bragg's junior officer might have work if Jackson had been there to support it.
The only hope Jackson could have given was getting rid of Bragg.
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I agree that Lee would never have willingly let Jackson go.
No question that Jackson was a brilliant Corps commander, but would he have made a good Army commander?
__________________ "There must be more historians of the Civil War than there were generals figthing in it... Of the two groups, the historians are the more belligerent." David Donald, Lincoln Reconsidered (1961)
Bragg was a *****ly character in his own right and it is difficult, to imagine that Jackson's presence with Bragg's Army would not have been seen by Bragg and the other officers of the AoT as Bragg's enventual replacement.
How that would have worked out in real life, is difficult to assess, but it would have made a difficult command situation much worse, rather than better.
Place the bio's of both Bragg and Jackson side by side and it would seem that the personal and professional similarities And differences between the two men all would conspire against any lasting success for the AoT.
Personally, I do not think General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson would have gotten along with General Bragg. I recall that General Bragg was a favorite of President Jeff. Davis. The friendship with Bragg was 'iron clad' and General Robert E. Lee knew of it and 'manipulated' what he could as to get some harmony with the Generals he had to work with.
As many conflicts General Bragg had with other Generals, I doubt if General Jackson would have done what Longstreet had done. Lee paid great attention when General Longstreet began to complain. Others had complained but--they complained about everything. Longstreet, on the other hand would say nothing until it was intollerable and unacceptable behavior. He also was coming off of Gettysburg and the sting of the the losses. He knew about General Ewell's lack of 'drive' in taking Little Round Top and Big Round Top. This was enough to get General Trimble's sash in a bunch and threw down his sword in frustration (allegedly). A general who throws down his sword in front of a commander is a huge deal and a punctuation mark.
Frankly, if General Bragg had anybody with a similar personality, even Jackson and or other Generals --I have to agree with OpnDownfall's post that they be sabotaging one another something fierce, attempting to create a situation for failure of the other. (Who needs enemies when you have generals at each other's throats).
On the other hand, Jackson and Bragg might have become fast friends and shared an "organ recital," enumerating their real and imaginary ills over a plate of lemons! They might have gone to take the waters together.
I'll share again my unpopular opinion that St. Thomas of the Stone Wall died before he could show his true mettle, one way or the other.
My other unpopular opinion is that it didn't matter who was in command of the particular troops who plunged through the gap in the Union lines. The hole was already there and they just went through it. It was Rosecrans' ineptitude that created the gap and lost the battle for the Union, not the brilliance of any Confederate general.
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