Embattled Rebel: Jefferson Davis as Commander in Chief

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Embattled Rebel: Jefferson Davis as Commander in Chief

From the Pulitzer Prizeâ€“winningÂ author of Battle Cry of Freedom, a powerful new reckoning withÂ Jefferson Davis as military commander of the Confederacy

History has not been kind to Jefferson Davis. HisÂ cause went down in disastrous defeat and left theÂ South impoverished for generations. If that causeÂ had succeeded, it would have torn the UnitedÂ States in two and preserved the institution ofÂ slavery. Many Americans in Davisâ€™s own time and inÂ later generations considered him an incompetentÂ leader, if not a traitor. Not so, argues James M.Â McPherson. In Embattled Rebel, McPherson shows usÂ that Davis might have been on the wrong side ofÂ history, but it is too easy to diminish him because ofÂ his causeâ€™s failure. In order to understand the CivilÂ War and its outcome, it is essential to give Davis hisÂ due as a military leader and as the president of anÂ aspiring Confederate nation.

Davis did not make it easy on himself. HisÂ subordinates and enemies alike considered himÂ difficult, egotistical, and cold. He was gravely illÂ throughout much of the war, often working fromÂ home and even from his sickbed. Nonetheless,Â McPherson argues, Davis shaped and articulatedÂ the principal policy of the Confederacy with clarityÂ and force: the quest for independent nationhood.Â Although he had not been a fire-breathingÂ secessionist, once he committed himself to aÂ Confederate nation he never deviated from thisÂ goal. In a sense, Davis was the last Confederate leftÂ standing in 1865.

As president of the Confederacy, Davis devotedÂ most of his waking hours to military strategy andÂ operations, along with Commander Robert E.Â Lee, and delegated the economic and diplomaticÂ functions of strategy to his subordinates. DavisÂ was present on several battlefields with Lee andÂ even took part in some tactical planning; indeed,Â their close relationship stands as one of the greatÂ military-civilian partnerships in history.

Most critical appraisals of Davis emphasizeÂ his choices in and management of generals ratherÂ than his strategies, but no other chief executive inÂ American history exercised such tenacious hands-onÂ influence in the shaping of military strategy.Â And while he was imprisoned for two years afterÂ the Confederacyâ€™s surrender awaiting a trial forÂ treason that never came, and lived for anotherÂ twenty-four years, he never once recanted theÂ cause for which he had fought and lost. McPhersonÂ gives us Jefferson Davis as the commander in chiefÂ he really was, showing persuasively that whileÂ Davis did not win the war for the South, he wasÂ scarcely responsible for losing it.
Country USA
Manufacturer Penguin Press
Binding Hardcover
ItemPartNumber black & white illustrations, maps
ReleaseDate 2014-10-07
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781594204975

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Penguin Press
Binding	Hardcover
ItemPartNumber	black & white illustrations, maps
ReleaseDate	2014-10-07
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781594204975

Embattled Rebel: Jefferson Davis as Commander in Chief

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