Customer Reviews

No Band of Brothers: Problems of the Rebel High Command (SHADES OF BLUE & GRAY)

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This book lays out its thesis right up front (Page xi): "Among Jefferson David and his often rebellious generals, a. . .different spirit prevailed. Pride, jealousy, mistrust, and cross-purposes among those in high places hamstrung the South's war effort. Whatever the bonds that linked Southern common soldiers, the men who sent them into battle were clearly no 'band of brothers.'"

Examples abound. The irascible Braxton Bragg appears to have routinely feuded with his corps and division commanders. During the battle at Chickamauga, there were all manner of command mishaps, with Bragg not being able to work with his generals. Another chapter looks at President Jefferson Davis' command choices when he sacked Joseph Johnston just before the battle for Atlanta itself. He selected the impetuous John Bell Hood. Often,, people have said what other options Davis had? Well, either Hardee or Beauregard would have been far better than Hood. Hood's failure at Atlanta was dwarfed by his catastrophic "victory" at Franklin and the near devastation of his army in front of Nashville. Hood had quarreled with his generals after several near misses at trapping Union forces as the Yankees marched to join General George Thomas at Nashville. In a fit of pique, Hood decided that he should attack strongly entrenched Union forces in front of Franklin.

The book opens with David and the hero of Fort Sumter and (to some extent) First Manassas, P. G. T. Beauregard, feuding. David's abiding support of Leonidas Polk, one of the poorer corps commanders in the southern army, is an example of dysfunctionality in the other direction--sticking with someone who was inept. Polk's aggressive actions in Kentucky cost the south this state in the earlier part of the war.

And so on. The book does a nice job of showing the dysfunction among the Confederate high command, between David and his top generals. The book could have examined even more cases (the conflict between Johnston and Davis could be even more e3laborated upon). All in all, a useful volume.

Steven Woodworth has written some excellent books on the Civil War but at $34.95 for a book that is barely over 200 pages in length, this one seems to be overpriced for its size.