Author : Gabor S. Boritt
Publisher : Gettysburg Civil War Institute
Page : 254 pages
File Size : 27,64 MB
Release : 2000-09-14
Category : History
ISBN : 0195139216
The relationships between Confederate President Jefferson Davis and five key generals during the Civil War are examined.
Author : Steven E. Woodworth
Publisher :
Page : 408 pages
File Size : 50,22 MB
Release : 1990
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN :
Jefferson Davis is a historical figure who provokes strong passions among scholars. Through the years historians have place him at both ends of the spectrum: some have portrayed him as a hero, others have judged him incompetent.
Author : Jefferson Davis
Publisher : LSU Press
Page : 770 pages
File Size : 13,88 MB
Release : 2003-11-07
Category : History
ISBN : 9780807129098
During the last nine months of the Civil War, virtually all of the news reports and President Jefferson Davis’s correspondence confirmed the imminent demise of the Confederate States, the nation Davis had striven to uphold since 1861. But despite defeat after defeat on the battlefield, a recalcitrant Congress, nay-sayers in the press, disastrous financial conditions, failures in foreign policy and peace efforts, and plummeting national morale, Davis remained in office and tried to maintain the government—even after the fall of Richmond on April 2—until his capture by Union forces on May 10, 1865. The eleventh volume of The Papers of Jefferson Davis follows these tumultuous last months of the Confederacy and illuminates Davis’s policies, feelings, ideas, and relationships, as well as the viewpoints of hundreds of southerners—critics and supporters—who asked favors, pointed out abuses, and offered advice on myriad topics. Printed here for the first time are many speeches and a number of new letters and telegrams. In the course of the volume, Robert E. Lee officially becomes general in chief, Joseph E. Johnston is given a final command, legislation is enacted to place slaves in the army as soldiers, and peace negotiations are opened at the highest levels. The closing pages chronicle Davis’s dramatic flight from Richmond, including emotional correspondence with his wife as the two endeavor to find each other en route and make plans for the future in the wreckage of their lives. The holdings of seventy different manuscript repositories and private collections in addition to numerous published sources contribute to Volume 11, the fifth in the Civil War period.
Author : Major Bruce V. Sones
Publisher : Pickle Partners Publishing
Page : 217 pages
File Size : 48,57 MB
Release : 2014-08-15
Category : History
ISBN : 1782896295
This thesis is a historical analysis and an assessment of Brigadier General Jefferson C. Davis’ life with special emphasis on his division’s performance during the Civil War. The thesis will discuss Davis’ quick rise through the military ranks, which led to his eventual assumption of a corps command by the end of the Civil War. Davis’ career was not without controversy. He was a non-traditional soldier in an army that was very traditional. He was a tough disciplinarian and took training of soldiers seriously. He was also aggressive, feisty, and confrontational. It was these later characteristics that on occasion led him into trouble with his superiors and may have been determiners in his non-selection for promotions and specific assignments. The thesis begins with an examination of Davis’ background and life from his birth through his participation in the Mexican War and the initiation of hostilities at Fort Sumter. Next, Davis’ Civil War experiences to include the Battles of Pea Ridge and Murfreesboro and details of Davis’ performance at the Battle of Chickamauga will be discussed. Thereafter, Davis’ march through the South with General Sherman and the remainder of his military career and life will be discussed. Finally, an analysis will be presented of who Davis was and why he did or did not achieve the potential that he thought he deserved.
Author : L-Cmdr Michael S. Trench
Publisher : Pickle Partners Publishing
Page : 150 pages
File Size : 42,54 MB
Release : 2014-08-15
Category : History
ISBN : 1782894314
This is a study of the effectiveness of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis as Commanders in Chief during the Civil War. It begins by comparing their backgrounds prior to assuming the Presidency; then comparing their military strategies and command structures. The final area of comparison is their involvement in the first military draft in American history. Davis had extensive government and military experience, but exhibited personality traits early on that later hampered his performance as a war-time Commander in Chief. Lincoln had very little experience, but excelled at dealing with people. Lincoln tried several staff arrangements before finally appointing Grant as General in Chief. Davis changed his structure very little throughout the war. Although he appointed Lee as General in Chief in the first year, he lost his services by placing him in command of a field army. Both faced strong challenges from a powerful governor over the draft. Davis first tried to win over the governor, then appealed directly to the people. Lincoln publicly kept distant from the draft and worked behind the scenes.
Author : Jefferson Davis
Publisher : LSU Press
Page : 598 pages
File Size : 32,90 MB
Release : 1992-01-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9780807117262
Lynda Lasswell Crist, Editor Mary Seaton Dix, Coeditor Introduction by Frank E. VandiverVolume 7 of The Papers of Jefferson Davis offers a unique view of 1861, the first year of the Confederacy, Davis' presidency, and the Civil War.On January 21 Davis made his affecting farewell speech before a hushed Senate, then left for Mississippi. His uncertainty over a military or political course vanished when he received news of his unanimous election as president of the Confederate States of America. Inaugurated at Montgomery, Alabama, on February 18, Davis quickly set to work to forge a government, in a race with events to select a cabinet, establish departments, and plan for the common defense.Hopes for a peaceful separation from the North ended with the firing on Fort Sumter; subsequent documents reveal a president absorbed by the problems of waging a war that soon stretched from the Atlantic Coast to the Gulf of Mexico. Victory at Manassas produced euphoria among southerners but plunged the president into the first of several unfortunate controversies with his generals, this one over the failure to pursue the enemy and capitalize on success.Throughout 1861 the Confederate commissioners in Europe reported to Davis on their expectations of recognition, convinced that the demand for cotton would induce Great Britain and France to break the North's blockade of southern ports and help supply arms for the defense of the fledgling nation.Volume 7 provides a rare opportunity to assess anew Davis' strengths and weaknesses as executive, to reexamine his relationship with generals, governors, congressmen, cabinet officers, the press, and the public. Davis ended the year as he begun, aware of the difficulties of the course the South had adopted and confident that its cause would ultimately triumph. Containing illustrations, maps, and more than 2,500 documents drawn from numerous printed sources and more than seventy repositories and private collections, Volume 7 covers a year of paramount importance in our country's history.
Author : Steven E. Woodworth
Publisher :
Page : 888 pages
File Size : 44,84 MB
Release : 1987
Category : Generals
ISBN :
Jefferson Davis, though apparently well-qualified for the role of commander-in-chief, nevertheless proved to be a failure in that role because of his blind devotion to certain friends, some of whom turned out to be incompetent generals, and because he lacked the ability to grasp new ideas, to handle pressure, and to make crucial decisions. This was most clearly demonstrated in the western theater of the war. Davis showed favoritism in appointing a number of his pre-war friends as generals, notably Leonidas Polk. Polk proved to be incompetent and insubordinate to his commanders, but Davis could not see this and failed to remove him. Polk's presence was made especially damaging by his efforts to undermine his immediate superior, Braxton Bragg. Bragg was a fairly competent general who, though a pre-war enemy of Davis, came to possess a moderate degree of Davis's confidence and commanded the South's chief western army for over a year. Bragg's effectiveness was reduced by Polk, who regularly disregarded orders with which he disagreed, sometimes costing the army a chance for victory. Polk also organized a movement for Bragg's removal. The morale damage caused by Polk eventually brought about the army's collapse. Davis's personal friendship with Polk kept him from preventing this. Davis's inability to trust his own judgments and to act forcefully and decisively was demonstrated in his handling of Joseph E. Johnston. Though Johnston had already caused problems in Virginia, Davis appointed the popular general to overall command in the West. Besides lacking the nerve to engage in battle, Johnston disagreed with nearly all of Davis's strategic ideas. His subsequent foot-dragging hurt the Confederate cause, especially during the Vicksburg campaign. Davis, rather than forcing compliance or removing the stubborn general, engaged in a long and petty argument with his subordinate. Despite all this Davis, in early 1864, still gave Johnston direct command of the Confederacy's only remaining major army in the West. Johnston again failed, but Davis hesitated to remove him until it was all but too late to save the vital city of Atlanta.
Author : Wilmer L. Jones
Publisher : Greenwood
Page : 464 pages
File Size : 21,52 MB
Release : 2004
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN :
Portrays the interactions of Lincoln and Davis, as commanders-in-chief, with their key generals and the resulting impact on the course of the war.
Author : Jefferson Davis
Publisher : LSU Press
Page : 760 pages
File Size : 16,79 MB
Release : 1995-01-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9780807119389
Volume 8 of The Papers of Jefferson Davis brings the Confederate president to the second year of the War Between the States and shows that during 1862 Davis was almost completely overwhelmed by military matters. Indeed, early that year, in an address to the Confederate Congress, he admitted that in trying to defend every part of its far-flung territory, the “Government had attempted more than it had power successfully to achieve.” During 1862, Judah P. Benjamin was replaced as secretary of war by George W. Randolph, who was then succeeded by James A. Seddon. As the year advanced, Davis’ relationships with certain key generals continued to sour. Chief among them were P.G.T. Beauregard, who was finally removed from his last significant command, and Joseph E. Johnston, whose fall from grace precipitated Robert E. Lee’s rise to influence as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. Lee proved to be as adept in communicating and coordinating plans with the president as Johnston had been inept. At the inconclusive Battle of Shiloh, Davis lost Albert Sidney Johnston, a trusted friend and the general he had most admired. Like Shiloh, many other campaigns of 1862 ended in stalemate and withdrawal, including Henry H. Sibley’s New Mexico campaign, Braxton Bragg’s Kentucky campaign, Earl Van Dorn’s battle at Elkhorn Tavern, and the Confederacy’s greatest gamble—Lee’s Invasion of Maryland. Correspondence with Davis’ brother, Joseph E. Davis, reveals the ever-worsening situation in Mississippi. The Federal occupation of New Orleans, the fall of new Madrid and Island No. 10, and Grants repeated attempts to capture Vicksburg heightened anxiety about the area and persuaded the president to tour the western theater in December. Because the Union’s springtime invasion of Richmond prompted Davis to send his wife and children away, Volume 8 contains an unusually rich collection of letters exchanged during their separation. This correspondence offers a rare glimpse into the minds and hearts of Davis and his wife. Altogether, more than 2,000 documents, many never before published, are included in Volume 8; 133 are printed in full. Culled from fifty-nine repositories, twenty-one private collections, and numerous printed sources, they reveal that despite the many setbacks he suffered in 1862, Davis maintained a deep devotion to duty and an unbending will to win.
Author : Jefferson Davis
Publisher : LSU Press
Page : 704 pages
File Size : 46,58 MB
Release : 1971-11-01
Category : History
ISBN : 0807158623
Much of Jefferson Davis' life and career has been obscured in controversy and misinterpretation. This full, carefully annotated edition will make it possible for scholars to reassess the man who served as President of the Confederacy and who in the aftermath of war became the symbolic leader of the South.For almost a decade a dedicated team of scholars has been collecting and documenting Davis' papers and correspondence for this multi-volume work. The first volume includes not only Davis' private and public correspondence but also the important letters and documents addressed to and concerning him. Two autobiographical accounts, a detailed genealogy of the Davis family, and a complete bibliography are also included. This volume covers Davis' early years in Mississippi and Kentucky, his career at West Point, his first military assignments, and his tragic marriage to Sarah Knox Taylor. Together, the letters and documents unfold a human story of the first thirty-two years of a long life that later became filled with turbulence and controversy.
