Johnston isn't removed, and the Franklin-Nashville campaign never happens.

Yes they did meet
Not a bad article. The article doesn't specifically states that Davis approved Hood's invasion of Tennessee. Interesting that Hood was openly razzed by at least some of his own soldiers right in front of their Commander in Chief because they wanted JJ back.
Davis was a bit delusional in comparing Sheman's March through Georgia vs Napoleon in Russia.
Maybe I am wrong but it doesn't snow a whole lot in Georgia especially in the Fall. Maybe a few inches here and there during the Winter which won't really start until lat December.
In order to starve Napoleon's troops the Russians actually burnt their food stocks and crops. The people of Georgia not so much.
The Russians had the superb Cossacks to attack French wagon trains. The Confederacy had approximately 5k cavalry troopers led by General Wheeler who seemed to be more of a nussiance to Sherman rather then a difficult obstacle.
Leftyhunter
 
For sometime now I've wondered what would've happened if JJ isn't swapped out for Hood, and instead of the failed Tennessee campaign, Johnston stays in front of Sherman.

I would speculate that this would've prolonged the war for two reasons. Potentially, the AOT could the delay the capture of Savannah and Charleston, two of the Confederacy's last ports. The second reason would be a more competent leader in Johnston.

So what do you think?

View attachment 348006

Johnston carries out a successful Peachtree Creek, which smashes up Sherman enough to prevent the Fall of Atlanta and thus you get a McClellan Presidency that ends the war in a stalemate peace.
 
Johnston carries out a successful Peachtree Creek, which smashes up Sherman enough to prevent the Fall of Atlanta and thus you get a McClellan Presidency that ends the war in a stalemate peace.

And with that, the Confederate States is independent with only it's 11 core states and the Indian Territory.
 
Another hypothetical is with Sherman stalemated somewhere in South East Georgia perhaps General Thomas moves into Western North Carolina which has quite a few Unionists and works his way to the coast where the USN can supply him easily and the AoC can take out Wilmington and eventually work their way to Petersburg via the back door.
Since the vast majority of Confederate troops are tied down fighting either at Petersburg or South Central Georgia who's to stop the AoC?
Leftyhunter
The only problem with either of your hypotheses is that in real time Thomas had been stripped of troops, men, material to allow Sherman's offensive to proceed. Even after Hood reaches the end of his wild goose chase into Tennessee, Thomas does not immediately attack him. Thomas was about to be relived by an exacerbated Lincoln when he finally launched his offensive which of course crushed Hood and essentially annihilated his army. So the concept of his lurching down to Georgia or east into South Carolina seems kinda far fetched.
 
A certain someone said " you go to war with the army you have ". By the summer of 1864 there's only a finite amount of Confederate soldiers willing to fight and they have their hands full.
Yes someone will say " but General Early almost seized Washington DC which isn't quite true.
War is the art of the possible and generals can't be expected to be miracle workers.
It's a tough one because some of our friends have argued that had Hood's men been a little bit quicker they could of caught and defeated General Schofield's army at Franklin and some have argued that had Johnston stayed in command he could of blocked Sherman somewhere in Georgia even if outnumbered two to one.
Leftyhunter
I hate to contravene you but I recently heard a presentation at the Augusta CW Round Table by an author of a book about the forts around DC. According to him no army on the face of the earth could have possibly broken through that defense system. IF THEY WERE FULLY MANNED. This was the only window from initial construction where the forts were not fully manned.

As events actually happened Grant was so strapped for troops that he removed almost all of the systems defenders. Had not Early let personal pique affect his orders/judgement he could have easily waltzed through the forts and at worst burned Washington more thoroughly than the British, but at best captured Lincoln and a good part of his cabinet
 
I think the key point, the schrwerpunkt, as the Germans put it is Peachtree Creek. I think we can all agree that the Confederates regardless of who the commanding officer was would have attacked. In no universe can I see Johnston mismanaging the assault. He unlike Hood, I am absolutely certain would have been at least present. Where else would he have been. On that day there was nothing else to supervise and given the fact that he was presented with the golden opportunity to absolutely destroy a portion of Sherman's army where else could he have been.

I agree with Generic Username that such a crushing defeat could easily have prevented the fall of Atlanta and the failure of Lincoln to be reelected.
 
I hate to contravene you but I recently heard a presentation at the Augusta CW Round Table by an author of a book about the forts around DC. According to him no army on the face of the earth could have possibly broken through that defense system. IF THEY WERE FULLY MANNED. This was the only window from initial construction where the forts were not fully manned.

As events actually happened Grant was so strapped for troops that he removed almost all of the systems defenders. Had not Early let personal pique affect his orders/judgement he could have easily waltzed through the forts and at worst burned Washington more thoroughly than the British, but at best captured Lincoln and a good part of his cabinet
We can't know a hypothetical. I read what Early said in the book " Battles and Leaders" that it wasn't possible to pierce the Washington DC defenses.
We can't know what was really in Early's mind.
Leftyhunter
 
The only problem with either of your hypotheses is that in real time Thomas had been stripped of troops, men, material to allow Sherman's offensive to proceed. Even after Hood reaches the end of his wild goose chase into Tennessee, Thomas does not immediately attack him. Thomas was about to be relived by an exacerbated Lincoln when he finally launched his offensive which of course crushed Hood and essentially annihilated his army. So the concept of his lurching down to Georgia or east into South Carolina seems kinda far fetched.
Don't know about that. There were approximately 27k Union soldiers at the battle of Franklin and 55k at the battle of Nashville. As for logistics Thomas may or may not of had enough to mount van offensive into Western North Carolina.
Leftyhunter
 
We can't know a hypothetical. I read what Early said in the book " Battles and Leaders" that it wasn't possible to pierce the Washington DC defenses.
We can't know what was really in Early's mind.
Leftyhunter
And yet, Early's army had to march most of the way to Washington, D.C.. It had to fight a small battle to get to the Washington forts and by the time it got there, Grant had deployed 2 divisions from his hardest fighting corp, and more reinforcements from Louisiana, who traveled on naval transports to get to Washington, D.C. And when he did that, he still have enough forces in Virginia to severe the Wilmington RR, and to support Farragut's Mobile Bay operation.
Truly, Early may have scared Lincoln, but one of General Lee's vital Virginia railroads was permanently severed, and one of two blockade runner ports was closed.
 
The biggest possible win for the Confederates is if JEJ conducts a Fabian strategy. If he suddenly appears in front of Sherman five days into the March To The Sea and starts blocking and delaying Sherman from moving south, while there's a track of foraged-out land behind Sherman too deep to drive his horses back over, then it's quite possible that the combination of Sherman having to move more slowly (to turn JEJ out of each blocking position) and stay more concentrated (so JEJ can't snap up foraging parties, or pounce on a single 15K column with his whole force) means that the already-tricky logistics of the March To The Sea start to collapse.
 
The biggest possible win for the Confederates is if JEJ conducts a Fabian strategy. If he suddenly appears in front of Sherman five days into the March To The Sea and starts blocking and delaying Sherman from moving south, while there's a track of foraged-out land behind Sherman too deep to drive his horses back over, then it's quite possible that the combination of Sherman having to move more slowly (to turn JEJ out of each blocking position) and stay more concentrated (so JEJ can't snap up foraging parties, or pounce on a single 15K column with his whole force) means that the already-tricky logistics of the March To The Sea start to collapse.

Maybe. Preventing the fall of Atlanta and thus allowing McClellan to win would be the most impactful.
 
The biggest possible win for the Confederates is if JEJ conducts a Fabian strategy. If he suddenly appears in front of Sherman five days into the March To The Sea and starts blocking and delaying Sherman from moving south, while there's a track of foraged-out land behind Sherman too deep to drive his horses back over, then it's quite possible that the combination of Sherman having to move more slowly (to turn JEJ out of each blocking position) and stay more concentrated (so JEJ can't snap up foraging parties, or pounce on a single 15K column with his whole force) means that the already-tricky logistics of the March To The Sea start to collapse.

Which facts Sherman likely had in mind at the time. (“If he will go to the Ohio River, I’ll give him rations....”) Grant, initially reluctant, probably wouldn’t have given approval to the operation if the AoT is still in the way.
 
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