Customer Reviews

Autumn of Glory: The Army of Tennesse, 1862-1865

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Connelly was one of the best western Civil War historians and the expert on the Army of Tennesse. This Army with so much promise in the heady days of Perryville and near success at Stone's River experiences a costly but hard won victory at Chickamaugua only to have the master of personal conflict General Bragg throw the lost opportunity away by having volitile arguments with his Generals. Bragg was a very good organizer but had conflicts with his leadership that caused a cabal to build asking for his ouster. Connelly captured all the conflicts that finally require Davis to hold a council with all the generals. Amazing that Davis asked all the leaders of the army to express their feelings about Bragg with him present and then keep Bragg on causing a rupture of command. Several generals are reasigned, Longstreet and Bragg don't get along causing a serious coordination loss while the seige of Chattanoga is in process. As a result Longstreet and 1/3 of the army is sent to east Tennesse while Grant's swollen forces wash away the Army of Tennesse and taking Bragg's command away. Connelly not only covers the poor condition of the confederate soldiers, great detail on the campaigns but also the political manuevering. Joe Johnston replaces Bragg but in turn he is undermineed by Hood's letters to Davis. The cautious Johnson is replaced by Hood outside of Atlanta resulting in frontal assaults that weaken the army severely losing Atlanta in the process. Hood tries to lure Sherman on a wild goose chase which Sherman gives up but then Hood oddly leaves Sherman in Georgia while he marches back to Tennesssee. As Connelly vividly writes, after a lost opportunity at Spring Hill, Hood retaliates against his command by ordering the destructive frointal assualts at Franklin. Connelly covers the weak attempt to capture Nashville, the army's virtual destruction and the story of the sad remnants moving to North Carolina in a valiant but pathetic attempt to stop Sherman. The all star command is made up of many of the lost generals of the Confederacy, Johnson, McLaws and even Bragg. Connelly gives you the full monty, the story of the Army and politics within. What would have been had Davis not been so hung up on Bragg and if Hardee had stepped forward to command.

This book is not for beginners. You definitely need to have a working knowledge of the battles that the Army of Tennessee was engaged in.

The focus is on the political and ego wranglings between Bragg (later Johnston and Hood) and his staff, and then the wranglings with Richmond and key political figures.

In other words, you don't get a lot of such and such regiment moved here and such and such regiment moved there. It is more a critique of the leadership decisions. There are some battle details, but you're best off having a good understanding before you undertake this book.

The treatment is very fair to Bragg, I felt overly so, but Connely does back up his opinions. He comes down on Johnston and Hood for lack of a clear plan.

This is not a book about the overall war in the west. Just as the title says, it's specifically about the AOT. You hardly ever hear about Vicksburg, Mobile, Iuka, etc. other than to note troop concentrations and shufflings.

In short, an excellent read for the more advanced civil war student. I'll confess I probably read this and Army of the Heartland a little prematurely and much of the information went over my head. I will re-read once I feel up to par with the high quality level of information.

In the sequel to Connelly's superb "Army of the Heartland", "Autumn of Glory" follows the Confederacy's largest Western army from 1862-1865. The work picks up after the Kentucky Campaign and deals with some of the more dramatic moments of the war in the West-Stone's River, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, The Atlanta Campaign, the 1864 Tennessee Campaign, and the surrender in North Carolina. Connelly's real gift is weaving the story of battles, conflict between army leaders, the political aspects of the war, and the story of the common soldier. He weaves everything together in a highly readable, entertaining book. I feel this book is superior to "Army of the Heartland" and the chapters on the Atlanta Campaign are truly great. This book, along with the previous volume, is the resource on the Army of Tennessee to this day and will most likely remain that way for a long time to come. It is no wonder that Civil War Times Magazine named this book on of the top 100 books on the Civil War.

The author picks up where he left off in, Army of the Heartland: The Army of Tennessee, 1861-1862. This volume begins in 1862 and closes with the surrender of the army in April, 1865.
If your interested in the War Between the States (Civil War) in the Western Theatre and the primary Confederate army of the West then this is a must read. Both of my great-great grandfathers served in the Army of Tennessee so this was particularly interesting to me.
The book deals primarly with the political issues between army commanders and Richmond. It is unfortunate that there was so much jealousy and grudges between all parties as this servely effected the objectives of the army. The Army of Tennessee didn't have a General Lee.
Campaigns and battles are analyzed. There is not lengthy discussion of the battles as this is not in the scope of the book. I found it very helpful to have the campaigns and battles laid in order. I have read books describing the diffferent battles but a more complete understanding of why and how the battles came about is accomplished in reading this book first. After this book, read accounts of the battles of the army from other sources.
There could more detailed maps included. However, this is informative and excellent historical reading.

Since other reviewers have covered the contexts of this monumental book in detail, I guess I'll have to be content just to list a few of the most important ideas that I learned from reading it. 1) The whole command structure of the Confederate army in the West from Davis down, was ineffective, nearly hopeless, and this book chronicles its sad demise about as well as it can be chronicled. 2)Bragg, who got reasonably high grades for his impressive but ultimately pointless invasion of Kentucky, becomes a pathetic, bitter general in charge of a nearly mutinous army. The fact that Davis could not or would not replace him until after Chattanooga says volumes as to why the South ultimately lost the war. 3)Joe Johnston, who I always rather admired, becomes The General Who Always Ran Away. And Connelly proves it. Talk about a change of attitude. He also gets alot of the blame for failing to relieve Vicksburg. 4) The famous cavalry commanders like Wheeler, Hunt, and Forrest did little to nothing to stop Sherman from marching on Atlanta and are therefore completely overrated, despite their often specacular tactical successes. If you have to read one book on the Confederate effort in West, read this one. It's eye opening.

The Lost Cause Tradition revolves around Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia. Most of books written on Civil War history are about battles that occur in the Eastern Theater. This was the case during the war and has not improved in the years since. If the Confederacy had a chance to win, if they had heroic figures they were in the battles and leaders of the AoNV. From 1861 to the end of the war, a second army fought and died for the South. These men gave as much as the men in the East without inspiring leadership. Time after time, they saw victory taken from them. Often they endured forced marches to save themselves only to repeat the cycle of defeat. Their story is largely ignored or told as the "other army" in histories of Union armies. The was the Confederate States of America's Army of Tennessee, brave men badly lead who saw the war through.
Army of the Heartland, first published in 1967, is the history of the building the army. Isham Harris, the CSA governor of Tennessee delivers an army to hold his state. Jefferson Davis sent Albert Sidney Johnston, his best general, to lead it. However, the army was not much more than an unarmed semi drilled mob. Johnston was unequal to the task and Leonidas Polk demonstrated a willingness to do his own thing. Facing them was an unknown Union General named U.S. Grant. This is the story of Grant's move to Corinth Mississippi as seen by the army he defeated. After Johnston's death, Braxton Bragg assumes command. Bragg is a close personal friend of Jeff Davis, who has great confidence in him. However, Davis is even closer to Leonidas Polk and has great confidence in William J. Hardee. Add in an endemic of "Kentucky Fever" and we have the Perryville Campaign.
Autumn of Glory, published in 1971, takes us from Perryville to Nashville. While the AoT still existed after Nashville, it was no longer an army. The author covers this time but rightly considers the survivors to be more a collection of veteran units than an army. This is the years when they fight and lose central Tennessee under Bragg. The Georgia campaign under Joe Johnston and the return home under Hood. 1862 to 1865 are the years of the big battles and the political infighting that paralyze this army. No American army was ever as poorly lead or suffered government indifference on this scale. Richmond was paralyzed unable to choose between pro and anti Bragg factions. Unable to consider removing either faction, Davis dithered, as Tennessee was lost. This is a hard book to read as the army is doubly damned for not winning and for losing its' supply base. In the end, John Bell Hood leads this army to death in the largest charge of the war at Franklin and destruction at Nashville.
Connelly wrote these books years ago. The maps are not great and they are not highly detailed. They are one of the most readable army histories ever written. Classic is a very over used word and one we see often. This is one of the few times that it applies and should be used. On publication, these were seen to be special and needed books. That has not changed and shows no sign of changing. The only improvement would be to publish them as one book. You can do that with a single purchase and reading one after the other. Enjoy them; they are a great and informative read.