Should Bragg's resignation have been rejected?

atlantis

Sergeant Major
Joined
Nov 12, 2016
In late November of 63 Bragg tendered his resignation as army commander. Should it have been rejected with a stern order to re establish the order of battle and rest and refit his command.
Reasons to reject the resignation, it was high priority to restore the army as quickly as possible and he was already in command and on site. Also replacing the commander might alert the enemy to the dire straits of the army.
 
I think the Enemy had some pretty good Intel about the Dire Straits about Bragg’s Army. The center portion of it fled Missionary Ridge. Left behind 40 pieces of artillery and most everything else.

Bragg probably thought Davis would reject his offer, again. However to apaise Davis’s political detractors, Davis is forced to accept it.
 
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Bragg's command problems and difficulties with his subordinates were longstanding since the Kentucky campaign in September 1862. At that time, Davis was on the verge of replacing Bragg with Johnston but Johnston refused to take command. But that didn't halt the breakdown in the leadership of the AOT. The almost mutinous like revolt of his senior officers after Bragg lost Chattanooga in November 1863 was probably the last straw for Davis, who probably seized on Bragg's resignation as a convenient way of fixing the problems in that army. Whether or not one agrees with his replacement by Johnston, the decision to accept Bragg's resignation was probably the correct decision.
 
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Bragg had proven throughout 1863 that he wasn't capable of bringing the Army together. There were too many bad feeling between himself and the other Generals with none of them really prepared to put their personal quarrels aside for the greater good. To make matters worse, when Davis gave Bragg the authority to remove his critics within the AoT, Bragg maliciously went after his dissenters with little thought as to how this would effect the army's morale or cohesion.

He'd outstayed his welcome by the end of 1863 - in truth, he'd probably outstayed it by the end of 1862 - and the routing of his army at Missionary Ridge left no room for redemption.
 
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