Jefferson Davis and the Civil War Era

6. JEFFERSON DAVIS AND THE WAR IN THE WEST

67 6 Jefferson Davis anD the War in the West Jefferson Davis and the war in the West is such a huge topic that treating it thoroughly in a brief essay is impossible.But rather than resort to a sketchy overview of the vast and important subject, it is more valuable to examine two critical questions, both of which have occupied historians and indeed captured the attention of everyone interested the war. First,did Davis comprehend the significance of the western theater, or instead did his living in Richmond, Virginia, lead him to relegate the West to secondary importance? Second, did Davis do a good job of managing the western war, or put more directly, did he succeed in the West as commander in chief? For the purposes of this study, the West covers the area basically from the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River.The Trans-Mississippi theater will not be discussed herein except as it relates directly to events east of the river. Of the two questions, the first is the easier. Just as many historians have claimed that too many of their number have focused too sharply on the eastern theater, likewise many have asserted that Davis did the same. Their argument goes something like this. Davis lived in Richmond , the Confederate capital, only one hundred miles from Washington . From there he riveted his attention on Robert E. Lee and the Jefferson Davis and the Civil War Era 68 great contest for the two capitals. I disagree strongly with that opinion .There is no doubt that Davis not only understood the importance of his West but also deemed it utterly crucial. The evidence is simply overwhelming. Three examples make this point clear. The initial one predates 1861; the other two come from the war years.1 People often fail to remember that Davis did not move to Richmond until the late spring of 1861. He was from Mississippi, and for the quarter century before the war, home was a plantation in Warren County fronting the Mississippi River. In his experience the Mississippi was not just another river. Davis often went to Washington via steamboat on the Mississippi and up the Ohio. Moreover, he shipped his cotton downriver to New Orleans and traveled on the river to that metropolis for business and pleasure. Even before becoming a planter, his active-duty service in the U.S. Army centered on the Mississippi River Valley. Thus when he became president of the Confederacy, Davis knew full well the importance of the great river. In September 1861 he created Department Number Two,the Confederate West,stretching from the Appalachians to the Mississippi and even beyond it. He placed in charge of this vast domain the man he considered the premier soldier in his army, General Albert Sidney Johnston. This is not the place to debate Davis’s judgment about Johnston,but clearly he had an absolute conviction about the general’s great ability. Early in September, confined by illness to the second floor of the Executive Mansion,Davis recollected that he heard a familiar footstep, recognizing it immediately as Sidney Johnston’s. He sent for the general to come up to see him. Although Davis knew that Johnston was en route to Richmond from the West Coast, he had not known when he would arrive.A brevet brigadier general in the U.S.Army,Johnston had been on duty in California as commanding general of the Department of the Pacific when he learned that his adopted state of Texas had seceded.Thereupon, he resigned his commission and started east. Davis was delighted to have Johnston in Richmond ready for duty. “I felt strengthened and reassured,” he wrote, “knowing that a great 69 Jefferson Davis and the War in the West support had thereby been added to the Confederate cause.” He had no doubt about the proper post for Johnston—the great West. In the president’s opinion that command posed the greatest challenge in the new nation. And he declared Johnston the “only man who seemed equal to it.”2 Of course,Sidney Johnston had a short-lived career in the Confederate army.He was mortally wounded at Shiloh on April 6,1862,while rallying his troops on the front lines. Johnston’s death hit Davis hard. He not only lost a friend but also a man he later termed “the great pillar of the Southern Confederacy.” With Johnston...