Conquered: Why the Army of Tennessee Failed By Larry J. Daniel

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Operating in the vast trans-Appalachian west, the Army of Tennessee was crucially important to the military fate of the Confederacy. But under the principal leadership of generals such as Braxton Bragg, Joseph E. Johnston, and John Bell Hood, it won few major battles, and many regard its inability to halt steady Union advances into the Confederate heartland as a failure at the top. Here, military historian Larry J. Daniel offers a far richer interpretation. Surpassing previous work that has focused on questions of command structure and the force's fate on the fields of battle, Daniel provides the clearest view to date of the army's inner workings, from top-level command and unit cohesion to the varied experiences of common soldiers and their connections to the home front. Drawing from his mastery of the key sources, Daniel's book is a thought-provoking reassessment of an army's fate, with important implications for Civil War history and military history writ large. Conquered: Why the Army of Tennessee Failed

A very good study—part campaign narrative, part topical—of the Army of Tennessee from its origins as a state military force at the beginning of the Civil War to its destruction in Hood’s assaults at Franklin and Nashville in late 1864.

The book concentrates most heavily on the years between Shiloh and the fall of Atlanta, which particularly good chapters on Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and Johnston’s defense of Atlanta. Daniel pays close attention to the personalities of the army’s leadership, whether the revolving door of commanders (AS Johnston, Bragg, Joe Johnston, Hood, et al) or the corps and brigade commanders, which included many famous names—only a few of them famous for the right reasons. Politics, personal rivalries, and bitterly held resentments played a huge role in the command of the army, to such an extent that I marveled that anything ever got done.

The meat of the book is the topical chapters, covering the army from multiple minutely observed angles—logistics and supply, food, medicine and sickness, the camaraderie of the troops, the dynamics of the officer corps, the home front, state rivalries, recruitment and conscription, and even Gen Cleburne’s famous and controversial proposal to liberate and arm slaves to help make up the army’s manpower shortage. While a few chapters—especially that on logistics, an important and often neglected topic—included overwhelming lists of numbers, the mass of data and written testimony from letters, diaries, newspapers, and official communiques impart a very clear picture of that most difficult to achieve part of historical study: conveying what it was like. Daniel’s book is densely researched and all the more rewarding for it.

My only complaints are that I do wish the campaign narratives had been a bit longer and more detailed, especially toward the end, and that the book had better maps. The few scattered throughout are pretty spare and don’t include many locations—especially fords, crucial geographic features in so many campaigns in the west—mentioned in the text. Also, while Daniel adjudicates a number of scholarly disputes regarding specific points of the army’s histories, particularly those among historians of the western theater and biographers of the generals involved, and Daniel shows sensible and open minded judgement in all of these disputes, the narrative does occasionally bog down in them. But just occasionally.

Overall a well researched, measured, and detailed study. Worth your while if you’re interested in learning more about this particular part of the Civil War, though I recommend it to those who already have at least a little familiarity with some of the campaigns, personalities involved. 1469649500 Probably the best single volume work I've come across focused solely on the Army of Tennessee. The author makes the argument that many factors contributed to the army's downfall. These included poor leadership decisions as well as supply and morale issues. Although the case can be made that R.E. Lee would have provided the better leadership sought by this western army, removing him from the Army of Northern Virginia may have caused more problems than it would potentially have solved. 1469649500 This is an interesting analysis of the failure of the Army of Tennessee over time. It experienced few victories in the West during the Civil War. Why?

Among the key causes was dysfunctional leadership. Often, there was animosity between and among generals. Most apparent with the acerbic Braxton Bragg. He had feuds with, inter alia, Generals, Polk, Longstreet, Hill (DH--not AP), Hardee, et al. Sometimes, as before and at Chickamauga, his generals didn't obey orders or were intolerably slow to act on these.

A good read. Not necessarily earth shaking results, but a sensibly presented argument. 1469649500 My great grandfather and two great great grandfathers were in this Army, with a host of their kin. Most physically survived but others had wounds of another kind. This book gave me much better insight into the travails they endured at Stones River, Hoover’s Gap, Chattanooga, Atlanta, and for one the surrender at Durham. This is a good macro-history of men, their battles, and their rationale for being there in the first place. 1469649500 [image error] 1469649500

Taught me a lot of things that were not mentioned in other books. 1469649500 I very much enjoyed this book. Civil War literature tends to focus a lot on the Army of Northern Virginia, so it was nice to dive into this work on the lesser known Army of Tennessee. There was a lot of drama, finger pointing and accusing, and not a whole lot of winning for this beleaguered army. I found the author's writing style to be engaging and the narrative to be interesting and quick paced. I am glad I read this book as I feel it gives me a greater perspective and context when studying the Western Theatre of the Civil War. 1469649500 A well documented account of the trials and tribulations of the Confederate Army of the Tennessee. Beginning with Braxton Bragg’s assumption of command, and documenting the army thru it’s demise in front of Nashville, this thorough study addresses perceptions of other well known historians in many debatable interpretations of the army’s hard luck history. Very well thought out and interesting in its interpretations of the many factors facing this army.
1469649500 It’s okay. Jumps all over the place in chronology of the army to focus on themes. 1469649500 Interesting, detailed and well-researched, showing how the South bungled the war for the West. The author's conclusion is that, while not completely Bragg's fault, he played a major role in the overall mess, leading to the final defeat. 1469649500