- Joined
- Nov 8, 2018
- Location
- Palm Coast, Florida
After perusing many a book on the many campaigns in the Western (personally I prefer referring to it as the Central theater because there's a more western Transmississippi theater), and many a "What if" thread on the actions of the Army of Tennessee in one situation or another, it seems the Confederate armies in the West lacked solid leadership at the upper levels of command. Men like Braxton Bragg, Joe Johnston, John Bell Hood, even P. G. T. Beauregard and Albert Sidney Johnston all seem to come up short in many regards. Their failings were only exasperated by the wide front they needed to protect (in essence, from 1862-1863, the Confederates pretty much divided their Western armies in two; Bragg's remaining in Central Tennessee, and the other Operating close to the Mississippi under the likes of Van Dorn, Pemberton, and Joe Johnston).
The question I pose is: could these problems have been overcome? If so, how, and by whom? Would it require folks like Bragg and Polk and other troublesome combatative officers cooperating better and with less outward antagonism? Or would that not be enough to save the whole situation?
The question I pose is: could these problems have been overcome? If so, how, and by whom? Would it require folks like Bragg and Polk and other troublesome combatative officers cooperating better and with less outward antagonism? Or would that not be enough to save the whole situation?